Herb garden VS Swallowtail caterpillars

[toobusytostitch]

This is an amazing thread! I can't wait to log on each day and find out more news on the cute little bugs! Too few people these days pay attention to the little things in life but this just goes to show how much joy they can bring - good on you for taking care of them

[Digitlanalog]

Thank you guys for being so supportive! ^___^
Day 11
Today was really wacky. Got up and checked my newly moved caters in their bucket and lo and behold ITS STARTINGGGGG!! Surprisingly this is the smallest one in the cage and he's turning first!
Looks like he decided he didn't like my stick collection and made his little house on the door.
If you look really closely near one of his upper sections you can see silk "hammock" he made and wiggled into holding him up.
He should be shedding out of this last form sometime today or tomorrow, he's already changed to a darker color since this morning.

Here is a side picture of how he's hanging sorry for the bad pic, its was a hard angle to get at but you get the idea.


After showing my boyfriend, he says, "hey, there were 9 in here yesterday, now there are 7" ... "that crack in the door is probably big enough for them to get out of. " O... M... G
Luckily I have them on a screened in porch so they weren't going to get too far and after crawling on the floor for a while, playing the "If I was a Caterpiller, where would I crawl" game. I found one! But he's already strung himself up! So I'm just going to have to leave him there. Sneaky sneaky...
upside down under the frame of the porch..


They are SO amazingly rad at spinning their little seat and since I don't have the proper equipment to film them doing so, If you're interested here's a short video of it that someone else did! It's really cool! Enjoy!
He's a Pipevine swallowtail caterpillar but they do the same thing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN42dXsr3l4

[Digitlanalog]

WAHOOOO!!! Butterfly mania!!! I just Found this guy hanging out in a milkweed plant in one of our flowerbeds a few minutes ago!!
Monarch butterfly Caterpillar I'm def not collecting him but if I end up finding his chrysalis at some point I'll put it with the rest.

Its amazing how easy it is to overlook these kinds of things, my eyes are perma-peeled now every time I go outside!!

[La Ptite Bete]

Wow... so beautiful... you're lucky, Digitlanalog !!!

[Ally]

I love checking this thread, caterpillars are awesome I'd love to do the same but I have never seen caterpillars in my backyard, except for some little green dudes who massacred my broccoli last year!

[kuja.girl]

We've just found some caterpillars in our yard, and we have two young daughters who would flip to watch them grow. What are the essentials we'd need to do what you're doing?

Oh, and don't forget not all caterpillars go into their chrysalis the same way, The black swallow tails hang back on an angle and make a little sling to support themselves, so I have to put in a bunch of angled sticks for them. And I know Monarchs can hang from stuff like the top of the cage and they make a "J" shape as they change.

If you want to know what you have (and you're in NA) post pics on bugguide.net. If it's a good photo they can usually get it to Family or Genus level. Professional entomologists do visit the site and contribute :)

You should also know what you have before putting it in a cage because besides making pupae that hang, some lepidoptera (usually moths) actually pupate in the ground or in ground-cover so you'll need to know what to provide. And moths can be just as worthwhile to raise as "butterflies" :)

[m4pl3g1rl]

A great book to read is A Girl of the Limberlost - by American writer Gene Stratton-Porter which was published in 1909. Elnora Comstock, the main character, is a girl who pays her way through high school (back when you had to pay to go) and eventually into some college by collecting moths and butterflies. It doesn't really go into detail, but she's just as interested in bugs as our very own Digitlanalog. Apparently the author was a bit of a naturalist, and poured that into this book and another book called Freckles.

I am fascinated by this thread. Please keep the pics coming, even of them in their chrysalis. Do you know when they'll open? It's in the spring right?

[BooChocoBoom]

m4pl3g1rl - That book is my grandmother's FAVORITE! And I agree - this is an awesome thread. Even if I am heaving great big sighs.....my parents always had great big gardens and the hubby and I are now stuck with a balcony in the city. So I have my window boxes full of herbs and petunias but it's just not the same. Can't wait to see them fly!

[RMDC]

So I never found the caterpillars again... but our local library put on a monarch tagging talk, and my 6-year-old got to tag a monarch and release it. So now we'll be keeping our eyes on the website to see if his tag is discovered somewhere in Central America.

[Digitlanalog]

How wonderful RMDC!!! I saw some of the tracking information on http://www.monarchwatch.org/. I'd love to be a part of tagging and stuff but maybe next year when I have a better hand at all of this.
Sorry I haven't been keeping up with this but I had a family emergency out of town this last week.
The swallowtails caterpillars are gone, wandered off, I have 3 chrysalis hanging out and I know I said I wasn't going to take care of any monarchs BUT.. I found a Monarch chrysalis in my garden but it was destroyed by a Tachinid fly larva.. I was so devastated. . . I have now collected two caterpillars and one chrysalis that I HOPE HOPE HOPE are not a host to the flies. I have fresh milkweed on hand so it's no problem keeping them. It looks like both of my monarch cats have stopped eating anyway, one has spun his silk and is hanging ready to pupate and the other has started looking for a place to string up.

I am SUPER EXCITED to have some emerge. Sitting at work I've been watching Monarchs pass me by, always flying the same direction. Migration is in effect and I am so enchanted with everything that's been going on in the bug world this year! (although I think my family is sick of hearing about it and has started calling me Professor Bugsworth. (I wish I was kidding) )
I have a few pictures I'll put up in a bit.