I do have butterfly weed leaves from my landlady's plants. I broke off two, wrapped their ends in a wet paper towel, and put them in a container with these guys. I think I know where to find milkweed plants - I didn't expect these eggs to hatch so soon!

It looks like dogbane only grows in the Western half of the US? And I'm in Virginia. Though I found dogbane beetles the other day...

on Dogbane! We have several species of Dogbane in the east. Check out the genus Apocynum in your flower guides or online. Pick a leaf of the plant where you found the Dogbane beetles and you should see white milky latex at the break.

were on a small sapling that I'm fairly certain is a persimmon tree (are there metallic persimmon tree beetles that look the same, maybe?). When I get pictures and post them, I'll be sure to post some leaves, too - I took a piece of branch with the beetles home to shoot.

Thanks for letting me know I can still find dogbane around here, though - I'll look at photos and educate myself. =)

I also found a chrysalis of some sort recently, and brought it home to see what it becomes.