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How do we care for the eggs.
The eggs are generally fairly easy to store and depending on whether do or don't hibernate, there are two ways to treat them.
Storage
Eggs that don't hibernate, are best kept in small, sealed plastic boxes without ventilation. I use small transparent plastic boxes that needles and pins are sold in or plastic Petri dishes, the eggs are kept there as soon as they arrive. Because the hatching caterpillars should have better grip, often a piece of paper towel is laid on the bottom. I stopped doing that and it never gives problems, the disadvantage of paper towel is that the caterpillars have a good grip on it and separating eggs from caterpillars is not easy. Once a day I lift the lid so there is more than enough oxygen in the box. Before I close the box, I breathe a few times against the inside of the lid so it condensates a little, this ensures that the humidity is maintained. This way, the eggs are not in direct contact with water and prevents mold growth on the eggs. Make sure the box is cleaned well in advance and try to avoid touching the eggs, washing your hands before handling the eggs is not a luxury. Usually I keep the eggs in the living room because I can observe them easily. The temperature is not that important, between 15 and 25 °C will do and all species seem to do well at these temperatures. Of course, the box with eggs should not be placed in the sun. The temperature will affect the time that the eggs need to hatch, a low temperature causes slow development and eggs will take longer to hatch.
The treatment of eggs that usually hibernate is basically the same as the eggs that do not hibernate. To keep the temperature to low, I store the eggs in my garden closet or in the refrigerator, a cold shed should do fine as well if the temperature don't rise to much on a sunny day. Fortunately I am blessed with a wife who does not have that much of a problem with the spot I reserved in the back corner of the refrigerator. Opening the lid ones every two to four weeks will be enough, I usually put a paper towel on the bottom during winter storage. I use this to monitor if the humidity is right and to absorb possible condensation. If the paper towel in the box feels dry, I breath once on the inside of the lid , if it feels moist I exchange it for a dry piece of paper towel. As soon as the first food plants have leaves in the spring, the eggs are removed from the refrigerator. After that it may take several days or weeks before the eggs hatch. A thing to be careful with purchasing overwintering eggs is the time you buy them. Do that during autumn or in spring as soon the food plants have leaves, not during the winter. Eggs that have been kept cool for a while can be triggered to awaken from hibernation by heated spaces during transport. They will not emerge immediately but once the development has started, it won't stop. Even in the refrigerator, development will continue at slow rate and eggs will hatch in the fridge while food plants are not at hand.
No leaves
While waiting till the ova hatch, leaves don't belong in the box. The caterpillars that hatch will start eating some or all of the egg shell and have enough food for an entire day. Adding leaves to the eggs carries the risk that the larvae inside will die before hatching. During daytime when the leaves absorb light, they produce oxygen but in the evening oxygen is used and carbon dioxide (CO ²) is produced. Also decaying leaves produce quite a deal of carbon dioxide. The air in the sealed box doesn't move and carbon dioxide will stay on the bottom because it is heavier than the remaining air in the box, exactly the place the eggs are. The eggs will not be able to uptake sufficient oxygen and the caterpillars will die in the egg, especially when the young larva begins to take strenuous efforts to escape from its egg.
Shipment
My favourite stage of purchasing an selling breeding material is the egg stage. In general, eggs are less vulnerable than other stages and are easy and inexpensive to ship. To protect the ova during shipment, a piece of aquarium air tube, syringe cap or fuel tube do well. These have an inside diameter of approximately 4 mm. and are wide enough for almost all eggs. The ends of the tubes or syringe cap can be closed with a piece of cotton wool so exchange of carbon dioxide an oxygen is possible. These tubes go in a plastic bubble envelope so they will get safely through the machines that handle the envelope. Although eggs are less vulnerable than other stages, sending eggs in the winter months can cause some problems. Shipping eggs with severe frost is not recommended, even if you leave the envelope with eggs at a post office. It goes without saying that envelopes containing eggs don't belong in a sunlit mailbox either.