You spend way too much time on butterfly list serves.

You actually buy rotting fruit at the store because they won't give it to you and you need it for the butterflies.

In the summer, you don't have dinner in the dinning room because the table is covered with butterfly containers.

You think caterpillars are beautiful even if they are ugly.

Whenever one of your leps eclose (emerge), you feel like a proud parent.

Your house is one of the only ones on the block that keeps losing lawn to butterfly plants.

You let clover and other weeds take over the lawn and mow very high to avoid killing caterpillars that use them.

You share your rum and beer with the butterflies.

You go outside at night with a flashlight if need be to get leaves to feed your caterpillars.

When you find out what the host plant is for a new butterfly - like the southern pearly eye - you dig up some of the wild host plant from down the road and nurture it in pots to plant out in fall.

You spend hours of time and much of your money filling the needs of caterpillars.

When others say "Ewwwww!" when they see a caterpillar, you look at them like they've got two heads and rightly so! :)

Sherry

You have your homepage set to the GW Butterfly forum.

You proudly show your caterpillars to visitors and talk about your babies until your guests' eyes glaze over.

You consider getting some type of miner's hat for when you have to go outside at night to get leaves for your caterpillars.

You no longer plan your garden according to what you like but what butterflies and caterpillars like.

You keep potted plants on your screened back porch (with caterpillars on them, of course) and have gotten in the habit of always looking down.

You make regular trips to Lowe's to scout out their herbs. When you find caterpillars on the parsley or dill, you buy it and can't resist showing them to a few people on the way out.

Even though you tell your husband every year that you'll try to keep plastic containers with caterpillars off of the kitchen table, they manage to find their way to it anyway.

You build a butterfly cage almost big enough to stand up in and big enough to lay down in (not that you'd really want to).

Butterflies eclose in your house and you wonder each time, "Now where did that come from?" The one that really has you stumped is when you find a butterfly fluttering around in a plastic bag that had been thrown in the trash! You breathe a sigh of relief when you know it's fine.

You get a backache from bending over so long looking for Monarch eggs on the milkweed.

You wonder where you're going to plant all of the trees that you have sitting around in pots.

You wonder if your family will ever consider you to be normal. :)

When you get excited over a bush or plant that has been chewed to shreds.

When finding frass is fun!

You find yourself talking "baby talk" to a caterpillar, as in "Well aren't you just precious" :-)

OMG, I've done all these and more!

Currently, I find every excuse in the world to go outside instead of staying inside.

I'm not addicted, I'm obsessed.

You cannot go on summer vacation because your caterpillars need you.

All of the above and--

Butterfly ADD gets out of control: You can't have a conversation with anyone outside because your eyes are scouting for any movement or anomalous shapes on plant leaves. You randomly break off in conversation to go follow a fluttering figure, chattering excitedly about whatever you think it is.

You guys and gals are hilarious! I feel much better now.
I am off to show my husband this post so I can say "See, its not just me!" Luckily has has a bit of it himself...
Cheers,
Elisabeth

LOL kcclark and bernergrrl you have me pegged. Then the other person always says "HOW did you even SEE that??" when I come up with some tiny egg or cat on a leaf.

Amen! That's me! All of the above...except for dreaming about mating moths. LOL!
It's good to know I'm not the only "different" one who can't get enough when it comes to leps.

No DOUBT! I am SOOOO obsessesed! Woo HOOO!!

Yesterday when I was talking with someone a butterfly flew by and from then on I wasn't listening. I was watching the butterfly. I had to tell the person that I was sorry because I get distracted when butterflies fly by. I'm always trying to identify them or watch what they are doing.

Sometimes when my son and hubby and I are sitting on our deck, and they're talking to me, and all of a sudden I stare off in the distance because I see an interesting new butterfly, and they say "What's wrong????" because it looks like I'm having a stroke. :)
Thanks for starting this post Elisabeth. Its hysterical!

...if you read this post and instead of thinking, "My, what strange people", you think "Hey ... that's me!"

and laugh.

Jeff

My wife reminds me:

...When you take caterpillars with you on vacation.

True story: last summer, we had several Monarchs that were too young to be left alone for the week (everyone else got double rations in the cage).

We took them along in Tupperware and I foraged for local milkweed.

At the end of the week, I fessed up to the manager that we had mildly violated the "no pets" policy. I was forgiven. :)

Jeff

Jeff--Hysterical! That's awesome you took the caterpillars!

I had to find the best "petsitter" when I was gone for a week and the frits were due to eclose. The directions that I wrote were longer than what I wrote for our felines. :)

(You know you're obsessed when you have to write felines on this forum. :) )

When you lie in the grass with your face six inches from poop to take a picture of butterflies....

{{gwi:501984}}

When every single plant that you read about that is either a host or nectar plant, you put it on a list, research it, and try to find it so you can grow it--even when it is not recommended for your planning zone.

Constantly worry about whether your butterflies are going to make it. Will the egg hatch, will the caterpillar pupate, will the pupa eclose (emerge), will the adult fly.... )i( Most of them do, but you still worry.

You drive 25 miles to find LFP for your butterflies, cause you're running out of food.

You check out the posts on the Butterfly forum before you go to Facebook!

And your daughter accuses you of taking more butterfly pictures than you do grandkid photos.

All of the above
and you smile when your grown daughter (who thought mom was nuts) proudly talks about how she and the grand-kid's introducing one of their neighbors to butterflying and how the neighbor got so excited and went looking and found cats and eggs with her and the kids and how it was so much fun to watch, this adult get so excited.

1. When you see a butterfly that might be a new one to the garden.....

and in your rush to get a look at it.......

you forget there are 3 steps down from the porch between you and the butterfly.....

WHOOPS! ....

Another broken bone!

My sidewalk and I have become quite familiar with one other.

2. You are mulling over whether to put up signs around the garden, e.g., "Butterfly Crossing", "Caterpillar Crossing", "Slow! Butterflies Nectaring!".

3. You feel like your entire yard is one big Labor and Delivery Room.

4. EVERY container in the fridge is a potential candidate for butterfly larva.

5. EVERY container at the Supermarket is a potential candidate for butterfly larva, even if you don't eat the contents!

6. When the lady who works 2 blocks away takes her coffee break sitting in your yard so she can see the plants and the butterflies......

Susan

This thread is too funny--people keep adding to it. Elisabeth--6 inches???

Susan--I LOVE that there is a woman who comes on her coffee break--so sweet of you and her! Wish you weren't so friendly with your sidewalk though.

I thought of this thread when a friend brought over a cecropia caterpillar, and I just fell in love with its feet. The whole cat is really and amazing looking creature, but the feet are adorable. Looks like those moonwalker boots from the 80's.

So you know you're obsessed when you can't get enough of cecropia feet. :)

{{gwi:501985}}

{{gwi:501986}}

Seriously, aren't they the cutest things?

AGH! Thanks for the post. I can tell I'm a newbie, I threw the rotten bites of fruit away this morning....wonder if I could fish them out of the garbage?????

Oh my! Moon boots! I always wanted those in the '80s!

Last night I dreamt I found a Urania Swallowtail moth in Ohio. I was rushing to confirm it so I would get "credit" for it! I am spending too much time on this board! As an aside, I am amazed at Miss Sherry's knowledge that she recognized the Urania!

-Elisabeth

When you start naming your caterpillars (first and last name) and start to make up songs about them. LOL

catterwallin wrote:
"You make regular trips to Lowe's to scout out their herbs. When you find caterpillars on the parsley or dill, you buy it and can't resist showing them to a few people on the way out."

Kids and I went to Home Depot today. Checked the dill and found nothing. Wandered around and found that they carry Anise Hyssop, something I just learned about today on this forum. Remembered we had not checked the parsley. Went back and found a 5th instar BST on some parsley so I grabbed that plant. I noticed that 4 or 5 of the other plants had been stripped of much of their foilage so I knew other BSTs had been there. Looked around for a little while and found a BST on one of the displays, just getting started on making its hoop pads. Put that BST on our plant and headed to the check-out. Per caterwallin, I had to go to a line with a cashier. Cashier scanned everything and then asked me if I wanted a bag for the plant. I said "yes" so she went to grab the plant when she noticed a caterpillar moving and stepped back. We ended up with 3 cashiers for an impromptu caterpillar demonstration. I was able to get one to show off its horns.

First time I have found cats at a store. I'll have to go caterpillar shopping more often.

KC

Hahaha! I've done many of these things also, and I guess I'm still a bit of a newbie with this only being my third year. My family thinks I'm a bit nuts, but today, my 22 year old daughter said, "Mom I think you should go get the rest of the swallowtail caterpillars before the wasps get them" and then she went outside with me to collect them. :-)

(PS) I currently have a gigantic bruise on my left chin from taking a tumble in the yard (tripping over the garden hose) when I was running as fast as I could to get inside to get my camera because I had a Buckeye in the yard!

~Laura

laura, your daughter sounds like a wonderful girl. Love it! I'm sorry about your tumble. Hope you heal quickly.

KC, it's fun to find caterpillars on plants at nurseries/stores, and see people respond when you tell them you actually WANT them!!

Sandy

1) When you have all of the nurseries within 35 miles on your contact list in your cell phone so you can check to see if they have any butterfly host plants in yet.

Sooner or later they will start carrying more so they don't have to keep talking to me on the phone.

If I knew more, I would try to talk them into having a Butterfly Day and give a demonstration to get more people addicted. (This is on my 'To Do' list when I get more experience.)

2)When you take host and nectar plants to all of your family and friends hoping they will get addicted, too!

I'm taking a co-worker some butterfly friendly plants today. She likes to take pictures, so I'm hoping I can get her hooked on butterflies!

3) When you take a Butterfly Bush to your neighbor's yard, plant it, water it, mulch it and put wire around it to protect it from the bunnies! If he agrees, I will be adding host and more nectar plants!

4) When you pay lots of $$$$s to take the whole family to a new Butterfly House hoping they will ALL get addicted.

My daughter suggested it! YAY!!!

5) When you are happy to get nothing but butterfly host/nectar plants and soil amendments for your 15th wedding anniversary!

6) When you are deathly afraid of spiders, but one hops off of the bale of straw into your van when the store employee sets it in your van and you still drive home because you've just GOT to mulch your butterfly plants!
(It's still in there if it didn't climb out of the window I left open that night!) EEWWWW!!! Scary!

I could go on...... lol

Betty

When you buy a giant barrel of cheeseballs for your kids because the container will make a good butterfly habitat.

When you tell your hubby those little black things on the bathroom counter top are "seeds"

When your kid calls you a Butterfly Pimp.

"When your kid calls you a Butterfly Pimp."

My wife says I run a mothel.

After reading this thread,
it's a true comfort to know there are so many other people who really do care about the smallest of living things. You guys are really nice people. It's funny, 'people like us' seem to be few and far between, at least when it comes to neighbors.
I have to come to the internet to find peeps like you (and me)
Ah well, that'll do. After all, it leaves more time for those bugs that others call 'creepy crawlies' lol :)

I love this thread, alot of is Me?!
When your DH thinks your obsessed! (But he understands)
When you take your lunch break in your car so you can be with your butterflies that have hatched for the day, mind you I park in the shade and run the air conditioner.
When the first thing you do in the morning is check on your catepillars and butterflies.
When you cry when you lose one for whatever reason.
When you have to pull over quick so you can help butterfly eclose as the chrysalis had fallen down and the superglue did not hold. (it eclosed just fine with some help from me)
When you have jars all over your kitchen.
When you have jars all over your house.
When you have milkweed in your refrigerator.
When you have jars of catepillars or chrysalises instead of food in your cabinet.

You know your addicted when your high is butterflies and not drugs! Twice in the past week I've been told I have it bad. My naturalist friend, Amy, told me so yesterday. She commented that when I showed up at the Pollinator's party at Oxley, I was on a "high". That was the week I got to see my first Regal Fritillary!

And, I had seen a Broad-winged Skipper in my yard that same day while getting False Nettle for the Red Admiral cats that Susan gave me. I didn't get to document it--no camera--but it's etched in my brain. I think it would have been a county record.

Sandy

When you go to Home Depot and buy 2 fake owls because Mr. Cardinal has decided your rearing sleeves hold his next meal. I bought them Monday morning because my family literally had to watch my rearing sleeves most of Sunday. He killed at least two cats and was determined to peck at more even though he does not get to eat them (cannot break through the sleeve). So far, the owls are working.

Yay for the owls, KC. The birds swoop through my garden this year trying to pick off the butterflies.

When you keep buying more buckets, dirt, and peat moss for all the extra dirt pupators you raised this year.

you are addicted when you: knew the meaning of these words: Eclose, ELF, chrysalis, molting, Instar, OE, host/nectar plants, frass......Lol for me? googling the entire neighborhood for homes with host plants in their yards, frequent trips to home depot, lowe's, walmart, and when I go, my other half says, "going to walmart again?", my 3 year old son say", mommy where is that big a$# daddy caterpillar?", he is the only kid in the neighborhood who gets to hold a monarch caterpillar on a daily basis, the only little 3 year old who lets go a gulf frits, a monarch butterfly every week:-). and probably am the only person in my work place who rush home from an evening shift just to make sure the caterpillars are okay and did not ran out of food....finally the only person who has more butterfly, caterpillar pictures on Facebook:-), talking about butterfly selfie !!!! have a great weekend everybody:-)

You know you're addicted when you spend as much on butterfly plants as you do on your dog!!

You know you're addicted when you rush home for lunch to see your caterpillars and then rush back to work to see more caterpillars.

You know you're addicted when your "cats" don't need a litter box!!

When you go to farmer markets just to see if there are and black swallowtail:)

When you set your alarm clock to get up early on a weekend because you know that your Black Swallowtail cats need more fennel, and you need to cut it while it's still cool outside.

When you squeal aloud at finding 2 MORE Black Swallowtail cats on that fennel, even though you already have 50 of them in your tent!

When your down the street neighbor texts you to ask if she can come down and cut some more of your caterpillar food for the caterpillars she is raising because YOU got her addicted to them too!

When you back up on the interstate (much to your spouses dismay) to ID a butterfly you saw flitting amongst some wildflower on the side of the road (and consider digging up the plant it was nectaring on to bring it home and pot it up......even though you are in a national forest and may face federal prison time for removing it)......No, I just considered digging it up!....Although I will dig up the occasional plant by the side of a county road.....LOL.....Fred