Swallowtail caterpillars April 2011

It is definitely springtime. My Mom and I saw a swallowtail butterfly flitting around our citrus trees the first part of April. Well, Tuesday (the 26th) I brought in 5 caterpillars. I like to bring them in and watch them change. It also gives them a better chance of not being eaten!

The first pic is of the five caterpillars the day I brought them in.
The second pic is two days later - Thursday the 28th. I found a sixth caterpillar and couldn't leave it outside to get eaten by birds.

Then the third pic is Friday the 29th. They sure are growing fast!

Pics 4 and 5 are another batch of caterpillars. I found six more this morning!
In pic 4, I am holding a leaf with a tiny baby caterpillar on it. In the top left, on two different leaves, you can see two mid-sized caterpillars.
In pic 5, you can see a couple more of the baby caterpillars. There is a third baby on the backside of the leaf the two are on.

I now have 12 swallowtail caterpillars in my jar in the house. I think I might need to get a bigger jar!

 

They sure do look different!

 

Ive been kind of busy, so I haven't updated this thread for a while. I keep finding more caterpillars when I bring in fresh leaves for the caterpillars in the house. Several of the caterpillars have shed their skins and are in the chrysalis stage. I had the first two butterflies hatch out Monday morning, and a third butterfly hatched out this morning. I'll post those pictures as soon as I transfer them to the computer.

Here are some more pics of the caterpillars.

Pic two is of the caterpillars that are ready to split their skins and shed into the chrysalis. The first step is what I call "going humpy". They attach their tails to a stick or other surface, then spin a thread that supports their upper body. Then they shed into the chrysalis.

Pic five is of some of the chrysalis's.

 

How are they coming along Gremlin?

 

Oh my gosh, you definitely have a lot of experience with this. That's amazing.

 

The first four or five butterflies have hatched and flown away. Everytime, they wait to emerge until no one is around. I check them before I go to bed, I check them when I get up in the middle of the night, I check them first thing in the morning, it doesn't matter. We went to Costco last week and when we came home there was a butterfly. Still a chrysalis when we left, a flitting butterfly when we came home. Sneaky little so and so...

Anyway, each of these pics is a different butterfly. The first two emerged the same day (same time). I came in and they were trying to fly through the sky light. Then they tried to fly through the glass block window by our fireplace. I let them land in a box and took them outside. The landed in our apple tree for a bit, then one (the one in the second picture) went up into the orange tree.

The last picture is of the last three caterpillars. They are still munching away...

 

Beautiful!
You sure do have the touch, don't you.

 

Nah. I just let them do their thing. It is fun to watch them. I need to try to get a picture of a mad caterpillar. It is hilarious.

 

lol, yes you must!
Now I have a vision in my head of a 'mad' caterpillar!

 

I remember collecting caterpillars and letting them transform into butterflies when I lived in Southern California.

Good luck with your latest batch of caterpillars.

Great pictures!

 

Okay. I "teased" the caterpillar so I could get some pics. It's kind of hard to really see well, but the lift their head up and swing it around. They stick antennae out that are very orange. They also stink. The antennae are normally completely hidden. It is fun to watch them stick their antennae out and swing their heads around. If another caterpillar (especially a larger one) tries to come onto a leaf where there is already a caterpillar, the resident caterpillar will use this defense to try to chase away the intruder. They also do this when something bumps them. I guess they think it is a bird or something trying to eat them. The antennae actually stick out pretty far. I had a hard time snapping the picture before the caterpillar sucked in his antennae again.

 

That's really neat Congrats on the butterflies!

 

Great shots Gremlin!

 

Great pictures! I don't recall seeing anything like that before.

 

Aww! They are so cute!!! How did you feed them?

 

Aww! They are so cute!!! How did you feed them?

They munch on the leaves I bring in. All I have to do is make sure the caterpillars have fresh citrus leaves to munch. Since we have a large orange tree and a tangerine tree, bringing in leaves is no problem. Once the butterflies emerge, I turn them loose.



I was out looking at the tangerine tree yesterday and noticed several new butterfly eggs. Hmmm - I wonder if these are the babies of the butterflies I turned loose . . . I guess I'll get to raise the next generation too!

Two more of the butterflies emerged Sunday morning.

I still have several caterpillars that are munching on leaves, and some that are still in the chrysalis stage. I'll probably be growing butterflies all summer. But it sure is fun.

 

That's just too cool!

 

Really interesting! Thanks for sharing. This kind of stuff is what I love about Spring.

 

Well, I finally got a video of one of the caterpillars shedding into a chrysalis. I was closing stuff up to go get my shower and go to bed, and I noticed one of the caterpillars that had attached itself was wiggling. I grabbed my camera and hit record. I missed the very first - you can see the skin is already split and part of the head is already out. The caterpillar on the right was in the process of attaching itself to the stick. It will probably shed tonight.

 

Thank You so much for sharing the pictures! You know I love all things Butterfly.
Carol

 

Wow, that video is something!

 

Fascinating. Hope you get one of the emerging butterfly.