LIFE CYCLE OF A BLACK SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY

THE MIRACLE OF METAMORPHOSIS

I have been questioned many times about the various stages involved in the metamorphosis of the
Black Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio polyxenes). Although not scientific data, I can relate my experiences as I witnessed them.

The host plant for Black Swallowtails is likely to be any of the carrot family such as dill, parsley, fennell and others.
The adult female lays her fertilized eggs (yellow in color) on the host plant and the next generation begins.
One instar after another feeds gregariously on the host plant, shedding it's skin to allow room for growth of
the next instar (four total I believe), until the full grown caterpillar is ready to enter the chrysalis stage.

At this point in the wild, the full grown caterpillar seems to disappear never to be seen again. I confess, I have
never found a BS chrysalis in the wild. I really have no idea where they go but I suspect nearby weedy vegetation where
they can string up and morph into a chrysalis. Others have told me they find them in the garden or attached to a foundation etc.

If you wish to watch the mystery of metamorphosis unfold, you may want to collect the caterpillar when it is in the last instar
and before the birds make a feast of it. I fashioned a 10 gallon fish tank into a rearing chamber using a small window screen
to enclose the open side and still allow airflow through it. Keep fresh host plant readily available for the caterpillar as
it continues it's journey to a butterfly. I place small bare branches, 8-9 inches in length and about the same
girth as a pencil, propped up in the corners to provide a stable place for the cat to "string up". Once it has strung up,
it sheds it's skin for the final time and appears in the pupa stage. Inside that chrysalis during the next 2-3 weeks,
a whole new life is created, the adult butterfly.

I have found that the chrysalis changes to a darker color just before the adult ecloses. This may not always be the case.
Even the colors and pattern of the wings may be visible through the now thinning shell. As eclosing time nears, you will
want to watch it closely as this happens fairly quickly. Under the photos in my slideshow

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORPHING FROM CATERPILLAR TO ADULT BUTTERFLY

you can get an idea of the time lapse. Once the adult has emerged it will cling to the branch near the chrysalis shell
as it pumps fluids to the body and wings. After some time, the wings have dried and the adult is ready to fly.

It is worthy to note that in late summer BS caterpillars will enter diapause for the winter months and
eclose the following year in May/June some 8-9 months later.

Good luck and enjoy the miracle of metamorphosis.

BACK TO HOME PAGE.......BUTTERFLY SEARCH

TEXT BELOW PHOTO-SCROLL DOWN AND CLICK ON PHOTO

First Instar Stage
Second Instar Stage
Third Instar Stage

Full Grown Caterpillar
Pre-Pupa Stage
Early Pupa Stage

Late Pupa Stage
Recently Emerged Butterfly
Adult Butterfly with Chrysalis Shell

Black Swallowtail-Male
Black Swallowtail-Female

comment | share

Jim G 01-Sep-2011 00:49

We had 8 caterpillars on our potted parsley plant. I set up an enclosure with a folding table turned upside down, with mosquito netting draped over the legs, and placed the pot inside, along with a dozen sticks propped up. My two daughters watched them as they devoured the plant, and eventually they strung themselves up on the sticks. It's been 2 weeks since then, and two of the chrysalis have turned black. Based on the info here, it appears that they will be butterflies very soon. I told my daughters to check every hour over the next few days, and have a camera ready. Needless to say, they are VERY excited!!!

Donna 27-Aug-2011 18:39

SOOO glad this site is here. For the first time ever we have caterpillars in our garden. They infested our carrots and parsley...research proved they were Black Swallowtails. I'm hoping to take some to my son's preschool class so they can watch them develop. We have eggs as well as caterpillars ready to spin. Can't wait to see what happens!!!

Aeris 27-Aug-2011 16:48

Hey! I hope someone sees my comment and answers me, because I can`t find any information for the question I got. It`s about the butterfly Papilio machaon, witch is also from the PAPILIONIDAE family like the Black swallowtail. A few weeks ago I found 2 catepillers of the papilio machaon kind and in Wednesday (24.08) they both changed into a chrysalis. I`m asking you ( I hope you see this), are the processes of the metamorphosis the same to both butterflies? I mean , will they change into imago after 2-3 weeks or it is different. I would be greatful if someone tells me : )))

Miranda M 26-Aug-2011 20:28

Did you know that you have to be VERY carefull!!!!!! Wasps will stick their stinger in the caterpilars head and suck the blood and also they kill the cocoon & the butterfly!

Miranda M 26-Aug-2011 20:22

I have 4 black swallowtails and they are pretty they like parsly. Also I have monarchs & 1 has hatched it is right next to me! It is redy to take off soon thoug since its wings are dried now. i can't wait till the next one is going to hatch it is going to come out soon! :DD

Ron Bodner 26-Aug-2011 14:49

We had about a dozen caterpillars in various stages on our Rue plant which is potted and on our apartment patio. No chrysalis to be seen but some of the large caterpillars have vanished. The birds may have gotten them but rarely do birds fly that close to a covered patio. Do the caterpillars always spin their chrysalis on the same plant they fattened up on? There is a brick wall next to the plant do they migrate to non living things like that? We are in Winnipeg so suspect the butterflies won't emerge until spring once we find a mature chrysalis.

Guest 25-Aug-2011 18:03

I have 4 & they are all full grow catepillers and are so pretty I saw a female black swallow tale butterfly and I was thinking that it was the mother but i saw them in my garden!they are so cool having them, we where thinking of having them and also we have 3 monarch butterflys also that are in there cocooning stage one is turning black & the other 2 are green.

Kimberly 25-Aug-2011 12:56

Black Swallowtails took over my parsley. This is the fist year it has ever happened. MY husband and i carefully dug up the whole plant and potted it; catepillars and all. There were different instar stages; from the first to finished chrysalis. I have brought them in a butterfly house to school and I am going to love sharing this experience with my ESE students and teaching them about the life cycle. Your website gave me some awesome information to share with them! Thank you!

terri 24-Aug-2011 17:29

found a caterpillar while teaching a butterfly camp August 8. Pupated on Aug.12 and hatched on Aug. 24. Very exciting! I usually raise Monarch cats, so this was my first black swallowtail.

Guest 24-Aug-2011 16:54

So glad to know you find they just disappear - I was baffled.
Carol

shannon 24-Aug-2011 03:49

mine just entered pre pupa

Amy 18-Aug-2011 21:24

Why are some of the pupa's brown and some green? When do you start to get the wintering over butterfly's?

Amy 17-Aug-2011 15:48

Aug 17th and an adult laid her eggs on my RUE plant again at 11 a.m. Wilton Ct.(Once again chose Rue over Parsley). Will let you know how long the whole process takes. I am expecting adult butterflies,thinking it is too early for wintering over.Adults Love PHLOX..

hfb 16-Aug-2011 15:58

My cousin in MN photographed one there but says they belong 100 miles north or in Canada. Any ideas? Thanks if you do

Katie 14-Aug-2011 03:53

I raised a black swallowtail caterpillar this summer but i was so sad when the butterfly had damaged wings. It looked like only the top half of its wings had developed, so it will never be able to fly. I am not sure why that happened. I recently adopted two more caterpillars and they just entered the 5th instar stage. I really hope these will turn into healthy butterflies! Does anyone know if they will most likely emerge this summer or next year? Thanks!

Vanessa 12-Aug-2011 03:57

My son found what I now think is a swallowtail and while in his bug catcher over night it went into a chrysalis, August 3rd. Is this going to come out this summer or will it be spring? I have read some websites with different information?

Evan and Laura Long 10-Aug-2011 23:07

We found a full grown BS caterpiller on our dill plant this evening! We have "him" in a screened container with plenty of dill, a branch and water. We are hoping he will spin a chrysalis and we can see the next stages. Thanks for your informative web site!

Amy 10-Aug-2011 14:41

Great year for the Swallowtails !! Given a choice, the adult chose to lay her eggs on a large RUE plant which was next to my parsley.19 caterpillars went into adulthood and onto pupa stage while the plant quickly recovered. Amazing how they do the disappearing act (at night ?)Hate to think how many people destroy them ,not knowing.PLANT RUE ! Decorative and non edible to us.

Gramma B 07-Aug-2011 13:49

Thank you for this beautiful Black Swallowtail site explaining and illustrating the life cylce of a BS! I am almost 80 years old and for the first time in my life I've seen BS instars grow on my dill plants. So far, 9 have crawled away to make their chrysallis and 3 are still munching. I do pray I see at least a few Black Swallowtails flittering in my yard next spring. Again, thank you for sharing your knowledge! Gramma B

Sharon Harvey 06-Aug-2011 04:29

I love the morphing slides. I have been photographing this cycle for a couple of years, and yet the cycle of life never ceases to amaze me.

Jill 02-Aug-2011 17:24

Do we leave our chrysiallis in a sunny window or on the kitchen counter? Does it matter? They just reached early pupae stage today (Aug. 2), does that mean they'll be out in 2 weeks or next spring? Thanks!

Guest 01-Aug-2011 17:35

We had 27 black swallowtails emerge this past week. Everyone of them was perfect. We released them and watched them sail away on the breeze, truly a miracle. I will miss them, but hope we in some small way were able to help increase the population by ensuring their survival to adulthood.
Julie - Hbg PA

Beverly 29-Jul-2011 14:36

We have about a dozen on our parsley plant. The plant is just about devastated, so I may have to buy another for them to feed on. About 6 of the caterpillars are very small babies right now and I don't want them to leave. We live in Burlington County, NJ and we've never seen them in all the stages before and are looking forward to watching them become beautiful Black Swallowtails.
Bev & Joe Ziegler

sandra 28-Jul-2011 16:05

I live in NYC and have an herb box on my terrace. Today I went to water my plants on the terrace and I found that my parsley is completly striped of all leaves and six of these little guys are munching away. But also in the herd box is rosemary, thyme and oregano completly un- touched! What should i do? will they move on or should I move them to a park or something???

Jen 28-Jul-2011 12:36

We found a couple of BS cats on our carrots this year. Not wanting to lose my carrots we made a habitat out of a mesh hamper. They both seemed to be doing well but now they have disappeared and we can't seem to find the pupa. Is it possible that they have died?

josh 27-Jul-2011 21:55

boy black swallowtail Caterpillars poop a lot
does that mean its healthy?

Guest 27-Jul-2011 13:34

Has anyone ever collected the caterpillars and then had a mass death? We successfully raised 13 BS a few weeks agao and just collected a bunch more in the same habitat. I was putting in organic dill in a pot and they were getting very fat. This morning I found 6 of them lying on the floor looking like they are dying. Some have a little bit of their osmeterium out. I am so sad, I feel like I killed them but have no idea how!

josh 26-Jul-2011 22:20

we found a swallowtail in are garden on the parsley we put it in a 3 gallon fish tank with a little bit of water and some parsley. we also put some sticks for climbing.
if any one could give out some info, that would be helpful.
thanks

Amy 26-Jul-2011 00:20

We have our first three catapillars this year. I planted Parsley just to attract them. Last year we got lucky enough to have one of the Swallowtails winter over and come out of the cocoon in the spring. It was a wonderful Surprise!

Denise 23-Jul-2011 21:49

This was such a great page, it had all the information I needed. I get BS cats on my parsley every summer and always let them take over, I say the more butterflies the better. This year my 3 year has really shown interest in them so we decided we wanted to try and view the cycle. I have also never seen one in chrysalis in the wild even though we have between 50 - 100 cats on our plants. Thank you for the info we are looking forward to being able to release are soon to be beautiful butterflies.

G 22-Jul-2011 02:08

What should we do if after it has cryallis it fell off the branch. Also when can we expect to see the emergence after the cryallis. We have 6 black swallowtail?

connie 17-Jul-2011 16:47

Just created a caterpillar lodge out of a milk crate and some extra screening material. Thanks for the guidance! We are excited to watch the metamorphasis.

EcoConvert 14-Jul-2011 02:46

@Guest, if it's flying around by the window, let it out.

I keep a bunch of parsley plants in a pot inside a net habitat we got online, and I pluck the little buggers off my actual parsley from the garden. We have 7 cats right now in different instars, and we have 2 chrysalides. You can feed them sugar water after they hatch for awhile, but they eventually need to be freed.

Guest 13-Jul-2011 21:04

How long must I wait to release the recently emerged adult swallowtail butterfly? It has flown to the window and I'm not certain what to do next.

jen 13-Jul-2011 17:12

i noticed a caterpillar last week on my parsley and thought it looked like it might be a type of caterpillar that would turn into a butterfly. i'm so glad i found this site - now i know it will be a BS! two days ago it left the plant and parked itself on the side of my house. this morning i checked to see if it was still out there and it was, and just this afternoon i looked again and it is in the early pupa stage! i'm worried now that it will get eaten but afraid that i may hurt it if i moved it at this point. not sure what to do, but i'll keep watching it/him/her.

Guest 12-Jul-2011 18:36

Has anyone had a butterfly emerge with a deformed wing? This has happened to us twice this summer. It is almost as if it did not form properly or for some reason cannot open up. It is very sad, as they cannot fly then and soon die. Any ideas what may cause this?
Julie - Hbg PA

Brianna 09-Jul-2011 13:46

It's an amazing site to see these butterflies hatch. We found eight caterpillers on our parsley and thanks to the information on your site four hatched today and it looks like the others will be leaving us shortly. The 10 gallon fish tank worked beautifully, thank you for the wonderful ideas.

Guest 08-Jul-2011 22:59

Thank you for all this information. I found caterpillars on my parsley a few weeks ago. I brought them in and let nature take its course. This week, they all emerged. It was wonderful to see and a great experience for the kids.

Guest 07-Jul-2011 12:36

We started with 12 black swallowtail caterpillars - all of which went into chrysalis form in our habitat. If they chrysalis on something brown like a stick - they are brown, if they chrysalis on a green stem they are green. Very cool how nature provides. Of the twelve, 6 have emerged, one never unfolded and died soon after. The other 5 were perfect, 4 females and 2 males. They are the most beautiful thing to see. We have 3 left (one chrysalis was eaten by wasps) and some new caterpillars just starting to grow. Good luck everyone!
Julie - Hbg PA

Helga 29-Jun-2011 02:43

I had three caterpillars on my dill plant. One of them disappeared overnight. I looked for it everywhere but couldn't find it. Has it perhaps turned into a pupa? How long does this whole process take anyway?

Ladybub 27-Jun-2011 21:11

I feel like a murderer. I have been picking the caterpillars off of my parsley and disposing of them. I'm going to go out and plant more parsley!! Oh my, I feel so bad. I am so glad I decided to check out these creatures, I will keep watch over them like a protective mother from now on. : )

Meg 23-Jun-2011 01:55

We live in Delaware County PA and have two right now. Our neighbor found them eating his parsley. We put them in an aquarium with parsley and carrot tops from the grocery store on sat 6/18. They each just went in to their chrysalis stage monday and tuesday- both around 7:30PM. I did this often with monarchs when I was a kid and am looking forward to seeing them emerge.

hayley 21-Jun-2011 15:53

i have 3 black swallow tail caterpillars they all seem to be in the adult stage of the cycle they may be in the pupa stage in a few days im very happy but my parents arnt because they are devoering there parsley......

Patricia & Mike 20-Jun-2011 22:44

1 week ago we found 5 caterpillars devouring all of the freshly planted parsley. After looking them up on the internet, we were excited to discover we had black swallowtail caterpillars. We now have them in a butterfly cage and have two in pupa stage and three that should be following shortly. We're so excited to witness this miraculous event. Can't wait to see them emerge as butterflies so we can release them into the garden.

Guest 17-Jun-2011 15:43

We now have 12 swallowtail caterpillars in our habitat with two that have entered the chrysalis stage and probably 3 or 4 more that will be starting over the weekend. I am very excited to see the first ones emerge. Also, somewhat conerned as we have seen few butterflies so far this year. Could it be due to the very wet and cold spring?

Julie- Hbg PA

McClures 17-Jun-2011 00:48

I was outside watering my garden when I noticed some catterpillars on my dill. I decided to go inside and find out what kind they were. The pictures I found online were beautiful. I decided to make a habitat for my children to watch. How exciting, people buy butterfly habitats on line all the time, and we got ours for free. What a gift. Can't wait to see them continue to grow. My kids are extatic!

Starrlena 14-Jun-2011 02:23

me & my daughters planted a small herb garden in our front yard this spring and i kept seeing these small black fuzzy bugs all over our parsley & fennel , so i would pick em off and toss em to the side coz i didnt want them to eat up our plants, then a few days later i seen these really pretty caterpillars! i was so amazed coz i never seen em before so i came in the house and googled them and i found out they were black swallow tail butterfly babies =] i was excited. then today they were tryin to leave the garden so i took 2 of them and set up a lil habitat for them so my daughters can watch them change into butterflies. we have so many of them out front its crazy! summer is goin to be lovely

Julie - Hbg PA 07-Jun-2011 14:29

Last year we created a butterfly habitat in our butterfly garden to protect the caterpillars from being eaten by wasps & birds. It worked great! We supplied fresh dill and fennel plants and were able to watch the complete process from larve to emergence of the butterflies. It was breathtaking to release the butterflies. To date we have 6 tiny caterpillars and look forward to another season of watching them mature and go free.

Anita Soltysiak 30-May-2011 17:51

What great photos... we started attracting swallowtails last summer by planting fennel and enjoyed watching a bunch eat, grow & mature. Now we just watched a female lay some eggs. We also have many milkweed plants growing in our small suburban yard and raise monarchs each year too. (Lauren 9yrs in eastern PA)

ChristineMM 27-May-2011 16:05

Thank you for the fantastic photos and information. Today I was in my garden and watched a Black Swallowtail flittering about oddly. I then realized I was seeing it lay eggs on the fennel. I ran for the camera but only got shots of the newly laid eggs and a back view of the laying. It left before I could get a side view photo. It was great to be in the right place at the right time.

Last year I watched three different caterpillars feed on the fennel over more than a weekk, and got a bunch of photos.

Robin 23-May-2011 03:16

I've been raising Monarch butterflies for almost ten years now, but rarely ever came across Black Swallowtail cats, even though I examined hundreds of Queen Anne's lace plants over the years... until last year, when I suddenly began finding them in my own garden on my parsley and dill plants. (Not sure why I never saw them there before.) I raised and released perhaps 7 ot 8 of them before the weather turned cold last fall, and then had 6 of them "winter over' on twigs in a plastic container inside my house. Wasn't sure if they'd ever come out, or conversely, if they might come out too soon while it was still too cold outside with no flowers in bloom. I'm happy to say that on April 28'th, the first one successfully eclosed, and today, the last one did. Two males and four females in all. Now I feel like I have an empty nest, so I've already started searching my parsley plants.

GINNY 22-May-2011 19:16

Thank you so much for the detailed, excellent clarity of the pictures. Last year I had the honor of watching 2 Monarch butterflies mate and butterflies have a very special meaning to me.

Dave 20-May-2011 09:54

I just saw This catterpillar in the wild in southern Spain and have photographic evedence ever heard of them being wild in Europe before?

Krissy 01-Apr-2011 22:58

Anybody have success keeping a Swallowtail alive once it's hatched inside? Too cold in Wisconsin to let it go now. ??? What do I "feed" it?

nickycat 25-Mar-2011 01:57

wow !!!!!!!!!!!!! i just needed little information but now i know the whole cycle of he butterfly !!!!!!! :) ;) <3

Adele 24-Mar-2011 00:13

A surprise for us today. My son caught a cat in later fall and brought it inside in a jar. We weren't sure what to expect but had the jar all winter. Today we have what seems to be a Black Swallowtail butterfly. Beautiful. But, here in PA it is snowing today and I assume we cannot release it safely. We have placed it in a tank with a lid, some dill, and a geranium which is also blooming in the house. I guess we simply cannot wait for Spring. Thank you for the information it is very helpful as we would like to be good hosts to our guest.

Andrea 17-Mar-2011 19:04

Well it is March 17th here on Long Island. My 9 Black Swallowtail cocoons are safe in their butterfly house. I am asking when they might emerge so I can place them in a safe place. With all the pruning & leaf blowing that will be going on, I am afraid to let them out too soon & certainly don't want preditors to get them. Thank you, as always, your help is more than appreciated!

Tammy Glodoski 24-Feb-2011 00:13

I brought in a chunk of fresh dill from my garden last September and the next day realized there were 2 caterpillars on it. One was big and fat and the other one smaller. They feed on the dill in my house for over a week. I cleaned up much caterpillar poop everyday. The dill had turned brown and no green was left on it. The next morning I woke up and the big guy was gone. Never did find him. Well, last week I found him. He had spun his cocoon in some dried hydrangeas I had. Suddenly I heard this crunching sound and here climbing up the plant was the butterfly. He was crawling with his legs, but his wings had not yet come out of the cocoon. I thought it was bee and placed a plastic bag over the plant. 5 hours later, we removed the bag and out flew this butterfly. We live in Wisconsin and it is very cold and snowy here. I have kept him alive for a week now. I have to keep putting him back on a green plant I have in my living room and have since placed a small glass dish with sugar water at the bottom of the plant. I finally coaxed it to the sugar water and he seems to be more lively. I have also purchased some fresh flowers hoping he can suck nector from them. Any other suggestions on how to keep him alive? Spring will not be for about another 2 months.

Guest 17-Jan-2011 19:22

It is a beautiful, cold winter day here in Maine. So you can guess at my amazement when I discovered a male black swallowtail on my windowsill, begging to go outdoors. Anyone have any ideas what I can do for this little guy? Its a long time till spring!

Andrea 20-Nov-2010 19:58

I'm happy to say, the cats actually numbered to 10, 9 survived! I have 8 cocoons that I placed in a safe place outside to winter over, with one cat still growing (he was SO tiny I didn't think he'd make it!) The one I thought was dead actually just decided to form into it's pupa on the bottom of the tank (odd?) I hope when spring comes I will help re-populate the east end of Long Island with these beauties. Thanks for your advice Bob. Happy Holidays all.

Andrea 06-Nov-2010 23:03

Advice please: I took in about 6 very tiny BS caterpillars a few weeks ago - it got pretty chilly here in L.I. & I read they will not survive winter. I set up a tank with dill & parsley which they devour rapidly and seem to double in size daily! There seem to be 10 now, some eggs must have hatched since coming indoors. One is now in pupae stage, hanging from top, 1 burrowed upside down under the paper towels, 1 appears pre-pupae but I think died :( and the rest are at different stages. I am going to put them outside as they form complete cocoons, unless someone has better advice? Thank you Bob for this wonderful site!

Dee 15-Oct-2010 13:58

This is my 3rd attempt at raising BS. The first, the birds got them all; the 2nd yr the only chrysallis I had never hatched. My friend gave me a terrarium this year and I have more than 8!!! We had some from my parsley and she's been finding them on a friend's carrot plants and adding them to my collection. I'm determined to get at least one BS in the spring. I've learned a lot and finally saw one shed skin from instar to cat, awesome! I have never seen one poop before and the one I have now, has done it a lot and is shrinking in size. I'm assuming this is what they do (clean out their system) before chrysallis??? I've not caught this before and was curious. Each year I try to take a pic of each new stage I catch. Nature is glorious, isn't it!! And yes, I'm in my 40s reliving being a kid with my little experiment.

Dave 14-Oct-2010 18:18

About 2 weeks (1 Oct) ago we found a number of the Third-Second Instar Stage catipillars on our parsley. Our 10yo daughter wanted one to try to observe all the stages. We took one and much parsley and placed in large jar with a stick. Within days it got into the pupa stage on the stick, and just today it emerged - daughter is estatic, and I'm surprised as I thought they were to hybernate over winter; we have another in the jar in a late pupa stage. A bit concerned now, however, that there will be little out there to sustain itself in this season.
I thought it was to hybernate

Marina 05-Oct-2010 01:23

Few years ago was the first time we found a black swallow caterpillar in our parsley before u knew it we had 3 . What we did was buy a small aquarium they ate ,got big and attached to the branches we had in there. Not knowing what to do either we put the whole thing on top of the fridge,everyone said they are dead ... hahaha ... but knowing they can survive even the harshest Ct winter we knew better . once the weather got warmer we put the branches in a net made for butterflys and before ya knew it they flew away . As for what time of year well we have some flowers in the garden already so had to be in May sometime. Doin some research it seems the caterpilars just growing now are bred to not emerge until spring . This year we have 4 ,all in 3rd instar stage , glad its a big patch of parsley .

Sarah 03-Oct-2010 17:47

We found one of these caterpillars and want to be sure we've set up the correct environment for it to develop it's chrysalis. Any suggestions?

Dmcwhirt 26-Sep-2010 13:41

Could someone post some firm information about overwintering the Black Swallowtail caterpillars? I suspect that since we just found about 30 (yes-30!) of them, and some oare small, that they would be hatching when it is has become very cool in Connecticut. Somehow, leaving the crysalises out all winter (in the garage) seems harsh! Is it OK? When do they tyoically hatch? Thanks

Guest 22-Sep-2010 19:15

Hi - this is my first season keeping two black swallowtail cats found on my parsely plant in the herb garden. They are just beautiful! One is preparing for chrsyalis stage and the other is still munching on parsely and growing. Can anyone tell me - based on the time of year, if the container is put oustide on our porch will the cat emerge in the typical 2-week time frame (which would be early to mid October), or should I place it somwhere cooler so it can emerge next Spring?

Guest 21-Sep-2010 04:27

I started raising Monarch caterpillars, to tag for migration, but became very interested also in the Black Swallowtail, because they are so easy to find, and raise. In spring I buy 2 or 3 small parsley plants at the local nursery. I do really well attracting the black swallowtail with curley or flat parsley, but have also done well with carrots, which I planted in an old recycling bin, and sit near my butterfly bushes. The parsley I plant right in my flower beds, around my butterfly bushes, were the sun can hit it, even after the butterfly bushes grow large for the season. I raise all my caterpillars in doors, inside many recycled, big UTZ cheese ball containers. Cleaned with warm soapy water, and dried completely. When raising the blackswallow tail, I put a shot glass full of water inside the container, then clip the parsley pieces, that a caterpillar is feeding on, along with several other pieces. I put them in the shot glass of water,as I would a bouquet of flowers, making sure there is plenty of parsley, for them to feed on, as they devour each stalk. I also prop, 3 or 4 sticks near by, and as they grow to 5th instar, they climb down the side of the container, from the parsley, and attach to the sticks, sometimes 2 or 3 on one stick. After they reach their crystalis stage, or while in their palpate stage, I move the caterpillars to a seperate container for crystalis only, and mark on the outside of the container with a piece of tape, when they went into a crystalis, so I know approximately when they will be emerging as butterflies, so I can release them safely as they emerge. However, the caterpillers, still growing...I clean their container, every few days, I gently, take them out of the container, and lay the pieces of parsley they are on, near by. I always take count so I know how many I will be returning to the container when cleaned. I replace the shot glass with fresh water. I fill the shot glass with fresh parsley, depending on how many caterpillers will be still feeding. I take a paper towel (S), first and wipe out the poop from the bottom of the container, sometimes need a damp towel, to clean it all completely out, so mold doesn't grow on it, and make the remaining caterpillars sick. Then I clip the very bottom of each piece of parsley a caterpiller(s) is on, so water will flow freely up the stem, to keep the parsley alive, for the caterpiller to keep feeding.

Jane 14-Sep-2010 21:32

I learned a lot from your website and replies last year. Although this year I was only able to locate two full grown BS cats (by surprise!), I was able to pot a healthy dill plant from outside, which the cats continued to feed from. I am happy to report that the cats are now in their early pupa stage and have camoflaged themselves in bark-type colors to match the bare branches I placed inside along the potted dill plant. I have also very carefully snipped away any close dill branches so that when the butterflies emerge from their chrysalis, they will have sufficient room for their wings to dry. Their metamorphosis is truly one of life's great mysteries and miracles!!

virginia 09-Sep-2010 23:24

I thought the caterpillar spun a cocoon but really the shape of the pupa is underneath the last shedding of skin, right? Amazing.

Raegan 09-Sep-2010 17:14

I've been watching several dozen BS caterpillars feeding and growing on my parsley over the past month, but haven't seen any pupae. (We don't have any nearby twigs or bushes for them.) Today I watched a fully mature one crawl *under* a layer of mulch beneath the parsley plant. My question is: Have you or anyone else ever heard of a caterpillar pupating underground?? (That would explain why I haven't seen a single pupa despite watching my several dozen "pets" very closely.) Thanks!

Mary Ann 09-Sep-2010 17:05

This was incredible for my students to watch! We have the caterpillars in the classroom -
my students live in the city, and are refugees, It was a happy,eductional experience!

Virginia 08-Sep-2010 23:05

Thank you so much for the gorgeous photos and information. My caterpillar spun its cocoon today while I was at work...so sorry I missed it. I have the same question previously asked: Since it will be autumn soon, what is the best condition for over-wintering?

Raegan 08-Sep-2010 21:26

I've been watching several dozen BS caterpillars feeding and growing on my parsley over the past month, but haven't seen any pupae. (We don't have any nearby twigs or bushes for them.) Today I watched a fully mature one crawl *under* a layer of mulch beneath the parsley plant. My question is: Have you or anyone else ever heard of a caterpillar pupating underground?? (That would explain why I haven't seen a single pupa despite watching my several dozen "pets" very closely.) Thanks!

Teresa 08-Sep-2010 00:35

This is such a great site. I have raised a few Black Swallowtails this summer. The last one has been in its chrysalis for awhile and I'm thinking it may stay there until spring. I had planted parlsey and rue this summer and tonight when I went to water them found a caterpillar in the last instar stage on the parsley. I was thrilled! I then looked on the Rue and found an egg and another cat in the second instar stage. I'm sure these will be left to emerge in the spring. I will put them in their butterfly cage in our shed or in my parent's garage.

Andrea 06-Sep-2010 02:12

Love your site! Have a question: I had a cat spin a cocoon 4-5 weeks ago in a tank indoors (kept it out of air conditioning)with a potted dill plant. Since the butterfly has not emerged, should I place the tank outside? Thanks for your advice and such a wonderful site.

Judy 04-Sep-2010 01:04

I came home from vacation, checked my garden and found these colorful caterpillars had eaten all my parsley! I am so glad I searched the 'net and found this info. Now I am going to do what I can to provide a habitat so they can overwinter in the garage and emerge as lovely butterflies next spring. I have Cosmos growing like crazy and it has attracted numerous bitterflies, dragonflies, bees, etc.

Sherri 02-Sep-2010 01:25

Nice website!! I just found 2 caterpillers today and did not know what they were. They were on dill weed. So I searched the internet and found your page. I am excited to hatch these guys. I have been hatching Monarch butterfly's for years. This year I had over 200 so far. I will leave them in the garage, so they can do what they want to do as far as the weather and temperature as far as hatching this year or next. This is going to be fun! Any idea how big they get before they turn? They are about 2 inches right now.

simone 01-Sep-2010 14:58

I', doing a field guid page for an organism and I choosen this butterfly,I'm doing a project with it and it is a beautiful metamorphosis.
I'm in the 6th grade.

Karen 24-Aug-2010 18:38

Since I had also lost track of a full grown caterpillar in my garden several times, this time I put one in a terrarium and brought it in the house to observe. Right before it "strung" itself up, it climbed down from the fennel stalk it was on and moved quickly around and around the terrarium along the sides. I never thought a caterpillar could move so fast so this must be how we lose them outside! It finally climbed up the small stick I had placed in there for its next stage. It was in the chrysalis stage for only 11 days before emerging.

Shirley 20-Aug-2010 13:23

I have been raising and releasing Monarch & Black Swallowtail butterfies since I retired 11 years ago and I have kept a journal on the curious things they do. I was surprised to learn that they like things to be clean. There was some poop on a parsley leaf that the caterpillar wanted to eat. Rather than move somewhere else, it took each piece of poop, one at a time, and actually threw it off the leave. I don't mean just drop it. It reared back and threw it quite a ways. That was something to see but I only saw it once. The Monarch caterpillare will do the same thing.

Guest 18-Aug-2010 21:28

I am raising several: I have noticed that some of the pupas are green, others brown. @ different kinds of caterpillar? I also noted that the brown pupas are in the sun: the green ones are in shaded areas.

Gen 12-Aug-2010 21:21

me again... we can't find our BS caterpillar, he was ready to go to chrysalis, I'm sure.... where should I look for him? up high? down low? on rocks? on sticks? on other bushes? on other parts of the water celery? how far could he have traveled? ..... could he have been a bird's dinner?.... the up side is, 2 more eggs have hatched, I will try to monitor them better, it's tough!

Gen 10-Aug-2010 22:31

do you suggest bringing the caterpillars in? these are the ones on my "water celery" around my pond? thanks

Gen 10-Aug-2010 22:27

Thought you would be interested in knowing we are here in Lancaster, Pa... I have a caterpillar on my "water celery" plants that grow around our pond. We also see several more eggs! oh how we LOVE nature... oh and we have monarch eggs on our milkweed! yea!

Andr�a 08-Aug-2010 15:10

Awesome photos of the life cycle. I happened to spy a full grown caterpillar on my parsley plant a few weeks ago and brought it inside as an experiment for my 8 year old son, Reid. It was amazing to watch "Slinky" eat, grow and poop! We brought Slinky on vacation with us because she was in her chrysalis stage. Somewhere between 11:30 and 2:30 yesterday, when we were at the boardwalk, she came out of her chrysalis...what an awesome sight when we got home. Reid released her and we said good bye. I just finished watering my plants outside and to my surprise spotted 4 black swallowtail caterpillars in the First Instar Stage! Reid and I are so excited we can observe the metamorphosis again...now the dilemma is what to name them! Thanks again!

Guest 28-Jul-2010 19:08

I think the BS really prefers a stick to attach.

Guest 28-Jul-2010 19:07

You can move the pupa as long as you are gentle. Don't try to dislodge it from the stick/stem, but you could trim the stem if it looks rotten or prop it up a little bit. The pupae are pretty tough so it should pull through!

Orion 28-Jul-2010 19:05

Based on my current experience with BS caterpillars, they seem to get 'wanderlust' just before the pupa stage. I had a large batch on my parsley outside, and moved 2 indoors on a separate living plant and 5 to a cage fed with picked parsley. The "free" ones remaining disappeared mysteriously just as the 2 indoors on their own plant left the parsley for the first time and I had to retrieve them from around my house. Of the 5 in the cage on picked parsley, 1 is in pupa right now and the other 4 are some of the biggest caterpillars I've ever seen!

Roday 28-Jul-2010 00:57

Does the BS caterpillar need a stick to affix its chrysalis? Will felt over the mouth of a jar be ok? It is in the jar with dill and parsley and eating like crazy - fullgrown caterpillar. Thanks.

Guest 28-Jul-2010 00:55

We just brought a full grown BS caterpillar in tonight and placed it in a gallon jar with some dill and parsley plants. We covered the lid with a piece of felt, rubber-banded around the mouth of the jar. Can anyone tell me if the felt will be sufficient for the caterpillar to affix a chrysalis? We raised Painted Lady larvae earlier in the year and they came with a fiber-like paper lid for them to affix theirs to. Do we need sticks in the jar too?

Becky Whaley 21-Jul-2010 03:08

My daughter found a black swallowtail caterpillar in our garden on the carrot tops. She brought it inside and after a few days it went to the prepupa stage on a fresh carrot top. As the day went on the carrot top started to wilt. We tried to add a stick for the caterpillar but it has just layed int eh jar. is there anything else we can do or try? Any advice would be helpful....my daughter is pretty sad, she thinks it is going to die.

Karin 18-Jul-2010 03:03

Just checking in to include my area to the list of black swallowtail homes.... We have several generations enjoying the plants we grew just for them. Last year they ate so much I had to supplement their food with carrot tops purchased at a grocery store! These carrots come with the tops still on them. I always wash the carrots and tops off very well before using them as cat food because I just don't know what all they have been sprayed with. I stick the carrot into a container of water and place it close to the growing plants so that the tops touch them. The cats crawl over very easily. We enjoy seeing these great little Transformers. Fairhope, Alabama (close to Mobile)

Guest 15-Jul-2010 21:35

I live in Terrace British Columbia and apparently these types of caterpillars are not found here. I have found two on our lovage plants. My daughter and I cut the leaves and placed both in an aquarium so we can watch what happens. One is beginning to transform, it has the string around it and it's back end is attached to the stick. This happened yesterday but nothing else yet. The other one is larger and is still eating the lovage.

Terry 15-Jul-2010 18:24

We just brought two black swallowtail cater pillars in and in a few days went into there chrysalises.it was quite amazing seeing them wiggle and shed there skin while going through the crysalis stage. Usually we do thos over the winter but it's a long time to wait. So hopefully both of these emerge in a few weeks

Guest 14-Jul-2010 20:46

We have two that just formed into their chrysalis in the past two days. They have been on our fennel plant for the past few weeks. I could have sworn one of them ate the other overnight because it actually doubled in size. So now the kids and I are making daily sketches to document the birth. We didn't take them into a protective area as we thought it best to let nature unfold on its own. We do have some new robin hatchlings in a cherry tree just a few yards away. So it's possible we had more caterpillars and only these two survived.

Grace 09-Jul-2010 23:21

Thank you so much for all this amazing info. We just found a full grown caterpillar last night on my dill plant. I immediately took it into our butterfly hatching net cage and gave it all the dill he/she wanted. I think it is looking for a place to rest right now so it can string up. My kids and I are having such a great time watching it. I appreciate all the time you have put into this site so that we can enjoy and learn about nature. Can't wait to watch it emerge and set it free.

Douglas Taylor 08-Jul-2010 16:41

We found these very odd looking caterpillars on the fennel plants in our garden-(my wife's actually.) We have a black cat that patrol's the garden and saw him over near the fennel plant very involved in an investigation of something. He suddenly jumped back and ran terrified like something was after him. After subduing our laughter of his crazy antics we recognized the full grown Black Swallowtail caterpillar. It had apparently startled him with its obsteterium and when he jumped back he kicked some pebbles which he thought was this thing chasing after him. Quite hilarious. Finally after watching 8-9 caterpillars disappear into the bushes one went into its pupae stage in full view. It took several months for the new butterfly to emerge. San Clemente, CA none this year yet.

Teresa 05-Jul-2010 21:05

I am hosting my first Black Swallowtail cats and am having the best time. My husband says I'm using my extra maternal instinct I have since our daughter has moved out on her own! I now have one chrysalis which formed six days ago and has gone from a light green to a little bit darker green. The other two are in stage three. One reached stage three on Saturday, one just this morning. I did find that they did much better in front of a sunny window. Suddenly their growth took off and would double in a day! Mine were found on a parsley plant, but weren't eating it very well once brought inside. I picked up a rue plant at the garden center and they love it. Now I find myself checking plants at the garden centers for caterpillars!! I'm hooked on raising and protecting these butterflies from their predators. Can't wait to see my first butterfly emerge. I'm having a blast taking pictures (and fine-tuning my macro skills)and hope to witness the emergence this week while off work.

Ember 05-Jul-2010 16:37

I am excited to report that I am the caretaker of three black swallowtail caterpillars. In my back yard we have a garden. I was out there picking cucumbers one day when to my surprise I found the first little caterpillar in its 4th stage. It was on our parsley plant. I snapped off the piece of parsley and went inside to show my mom. As a teenager, I am very excited to finally see this process up close. Thr neighbor kids came over the next day and we found 2 more 4th stage caterpillars on that parsley plant. I gave one to them and kept the other. (I thought they were eastern tiger swallowtails at the time.) More research has shown that they are black swallowtails. I went out this morning to collect more parsley for my new pets to eat, only to discover a caterpillar right in between its 2nd and 3rd stage. Thanks to this site I can finally tell whether they will be male or female when they emerge from their pupae. Thank you very much!

Rachel 03-Jul-2010 18:29

My neighbor just recently cut down a hedge and we have a red canoe right beside it. A day later I found a caterpillar on the canoe with the webbing on his bum. As a former monarch caterpillar collector to wath pupate and emerge as beautiful butterflies, I knew right away that this caterpillar what pupating. So I spent all night trying to see what type of butterfly or moth it was(I was hoping it wasnt a moth). Low and behold I foung this website and found out it was a black swallowtail and became very excited! The next day The caterpillar was a pupa and now I wait!!!!!!!

Laura 24-Jun-2010 04:11

I found 4 of them in stage 4 on my dill & also put them in a 5 gal tank, my 6yr old son is absoutly enthralled!! we have only had them 3 days & 3 are already in the 1st stage of crysilis (my spelling is not great!) I thought I had Monarchs, much to my surprise & delight I have the black swallowtails!! The countdown starts! Thank You for such great photos!

Liz 25-May-2010 00:18

RE Rue, oops sorry. email truncated.

Liz Bliss 25-May-2010 00:15

I found several caterpillars on a Rue plant. I checked and found Rue is not in the Parsley family (Umbelliferae), but rather Rutaceae. The caterpillar was definitely the larva of the Black Swallowtail and your site helped me indentify it. I was excited to find another plant they like. I wouldn't let anyone remove the caterpillars and the plant did just fine.

Mary 03-Feb-2010 20:41

Last summer I took many photographs of a caterpillar (chose one to sell) It sells frequently and is a star on my website (www.marycollopyfineaart.com --look under "Creatures) As this luminous creature marched along its mighty journey, felling stalks of parsley, I wanted to know desperately what it WAS! It was the man who does my archival paper work who suggested the black swallowtail butterfly, but not until today did I find confirmation in the montage of the life cycle. Thank you so much!To photograph so beautifully and to add important information: how gifted you must be. I am thrilled and plan to start my watercolor class with drawing the male. Thanks again.

Steph 04-Jan-2010 01:13

I live in Central PA and this morning found swallowtail sitting between the mini blind and window. Too cold here to release him now. Just wondering if anyone can tell me if they can survive inside until spring and what to feed it with?

MGee 14-Sep-2009 14:25

Thanks for your photos, Bob, and fantastic information in your gallery.
The BS cats that were chomping on my outdoor parsley were getting fat and disappearing, so I brought the last one inside on its own parsley plants. My husband decided to build a screen house for them - to keep our four-legged cat away. Within a day of bringing the cat inside it disappeared, only to be found the next day as a chrysalis, green and hanging from a parsley stalk. There had been tiny cats on the new parsley plants I bought at the local farm stand...they ate, grew and eventually all made cocoons around the top of the screen house. That was near the end of August. We've now had 4 lovely butterflies emerge, though the first one is deformed and hasn't opened his wings fully. The others (2 males and a female) have been eager to go out into the world. They seem to emerge in the middle of the night and are a welcome greeting in the morning. To help the invalid, we got a halogen desk lamp to try to add some warmth, as it was a dreary, rainy day. I also mist the plants and have put a small amount of sugar-water in the enclosure. My photos aren't as good as Bob's but I'm having fun with them, nonetheless.

bernie 13-Sep-2009 20:34

Great information and pictures,
I would like to know when the adult butterfly is formed will it survive when i set it free?
Should i have dill,carrot tops etc. in the tank for feeding or some moisture
(right know i guess you would call it mid-pupa stage)two weeks.

elba 27-Aug-2009 18:21

Help!
I have 2 'pillars which I housed about 2 weeks ago. 1 went into puppa stage within 2 days and the other one was very lethargic and slow for a few weeks. I feed it fresh parsley every day and make sure it has enough water spritzed on the plant for drinking drops. Just recently though my friend turned black starting from the back! It is now not moving and completely black. Is this diapause or the unspeakable... eternal rest. Please tell methis is diapause. Please help.

Corinne 26-Aug-2009 16:18

Our butterfly emerged from the cocoon yesterday and as i look at him today, his/her wings are still looking crumpled. How long does it take for the wings to straighten out? Also do i need to worry about having food for the butterfly before the wings are fully open and i'm able to let it out?

Robby 23-Aug-2009 13:30

I have one parsley on which 7 caterpillars hatched. We (my granddaughter and I) missed the chrysalis stage on 3 of them but I have 3 in a little "keeper" and 1 chrysalis which I can't get because of the location. Does anyone know?! Can I move just the chrysalis and how I could do that without hurting the developing butterfly? I need answers really quick since the 'pillar made his chrysalis last night. It is very warm here in coastal NC so the butterfly will come out fairly quickly.

Jackie, KS. 21-Aug-2009 16:15

I have 4 cats and 1 chrysalis in my parsley now. Several cats have gotten a way from me, but have now put small branches in between the plants with netting over all. Duck taped all around it so they can not get out. These are in my porch flower boxes. My first cat went into a chrysalis Sunday, Aug.16. Believe I should take that one out of the netting so the butterfly will have space to spread it's wings. Thank you for your site. It is very interesting. I have raised Monarch's many times, but never Black Swallowtails until I planted parsley and cilantro.

Stephanie (Marietta GA) 09-Aug-2009 02:05

We found two of the catterpillars on the carrots yesterday and quickly pulled out the terrarium we just used last month to house a tomato hornworm. almost as soon as we had them set up in their temporary home they "emptied" themselves. I put some fresh carrot greens in this morning but they remained untouched so I figured the next stage was near. My kids (2 & 4 years old) were suprised this afternoon to find that one of the two has turned into the "green" pupa stage and the second is in the pre- pupa stage. Looking forward to watching our little "pets" morph into butterflies.

Julie W. (North Carolina) 07-Aug-2009 21:55

We found your site exactly a week ago tomorrow. I saw a couple "green worms" on my parsley plant last Friday after work, and initially thought they were tomato worms, and it didn't click, because I had also noticed a black butterfly hovering my back deck all afternoon. When I went out the next morning, I saw all the black worms, and Googled my tail off. That is how I found out that these were black swallowtail larvae and eggs. So we went out and bought a ten gallon aquarium/terrarium and screen lid and made a home for our dozen or so friends. Our dozen or so friends are now two dozen or so instars in various phases, the older two that we saw first, one week ago, are now stringing themselves up. Thanks for a most amazing site, and great pictures. I am snapping my way through this process using a macro lens to document this. My teenagers think this is a cool thing to do, especially now tht our friends have all but inhaled the parsley plant (it's been reduced to green twigs), and they now feed them fresh parsley. :) We knew something was about to happen when both of the big greenies were doing the whole "cleaning out the system"-thing last night. I got a call at work from my son who was SO excited to see the beginnings of the threads. Needless to say, my camera and I are on stand-by, and my mom and friends are waiting for more pictures of the process. :)

Cristina 02-Aug-2009 12:56

My mother-in-law picked three cats off her abundant parsley and put them in a little "bug" box, (the clear plastic kind with grated roof and handle). My 3 year old daughter has loved having them as "pets" and we've fed them fresh parsley every day, cleaned out the enormous amount of poop, and watched two of them morph into the chrysalis stage. There's one more left who was the smallest when we got him but he's getting nice and fat. Can't wait to witness the final change!

Rosey 01-Aug-2009 22:45

Have planted fennel, dill and parsley close together in the same bed for several years and watched the cats grow from the eggs only to see different stages of them all disappear at the same time while evolving. I had over a dozen disappear a week ago between the morning and evening check-up. I found some plastic mesh wastebaskets to put over the parsley plants to protect the cats from what I assume to be the birds and raised the 'protective cages' by setting them on pot supports so the cats can crawl underneath and away when they feel the need to. Sure hope this works.

Julie 31-Jul-2009 13:13

I have been getting BS caterpillars on my dill for years. They bring such joy to me. I enjoy watching them through the stages but have always noted that once they reach full grown caterpillar stage - they disappear. I don't know where they go and unlike the Monarchs we get, i have never seen a pupa stage or the chrysalis. I would love to watch one hatch. How long are they in the pupa stage? And do they leave the dill plant when full grown?

Jill 24-Jul-2009 12:48

I've found a full grown "cat" on my parsley and created a home for her. How long does he take to change into the prepupa stage? I'm afraid of not providing what's needed and killing her. Although I provided enough dangling twigs within his home, she is not choosing to move there. He is more lifeless today and hanging somewhat on the parsley stem. Has she chosen the parsley stem instead of a sturdy stick? His colors have not changed to reflect the prepupa stage, so I am hoping that my curiosity didn't kill the "cat"- so to speak. How long will it be till she becomes a butterfly ready for flight? Or God forbid, how will I know that I may have killed it?

Deena 12-Jul-2009 03:45

I've been using your site as a guide for the past 6 days after I found 6 BS Caterpillars in a fairly small pot of parsley. I had just snipped parsley the day before and didn't notice them! They were in the 3rd Instar Stage when I found them. I converted an old aquarium into a Caterpillar nursery. I mounted strong twigs at a slanted angle into a floral foam brick. I then put cat litter into a juice glass, filled it with just enough water to saturate the litter and pushed bunches of parsley into it. This keeps the parsley fresh for days. I set this in the branches I'd provided for the Cats and the LOVED it. I ended up having to buy parsley at the store after they consumed everything I had in my potted plant. I am overwhelmed by the amount of POOP that I've been cleaning every day!! They have all entered the Pre-Pupa stage now and I've just seen the first one shed to the Early Pupa stage. It's so amazing and weird all at the same time! He shed his skin and now his little crumpled face is on the floor of the aquarium! Thanks for your wonderful site and the information about what happens in each phase. The guidance has been great.

Guest 12-Jul-2009 00:10

Thank you for posting the life cycle. What excellent photos!

Dave 05-Jul-2009 15:11

Planted dill this year and now have 4 black swallowtail caterpllars

Maria C 04-Jul-2009 19:21

Thanks for the site. I purchased a bunch of parsley from my local co-op, and it came with a full grown adult black swallowtail caterpillar. I don't have the correct herbs for him in my garden, but I'll just keep him in the house and watch him transform into a butterfly. I never would have believed that a caterpillar could poop so much!

Yen 01-Jul-2009 23:33

I planted some plants hoping to attract the lady monarch, but we ended up with a swallowtail. I have one female black swallowtail which just hatched. I wanted to have a second generation, but will need a male swallowtail. How can I get an adult male swallowtail?

Beth M. 27-Jun-2009 21:22

Thank you for posting this. I was busily trying to identify what I thought were three different types of butterflies on my dill. Thanks to your lovely photos now I know that I have instars one, three, and four on my dill plants.

Rose 08-Jun-2009 13:48

I really need to move some black swallowtail chrysalis because I've found out they are going to be prepping for and painting the house. Can I safely do this?

Melody Van Praet 02-Sep-2008 21:31

Hi. This is all new to me and I am so excited! I have one Swallowtail chrysalis and another ready to make its chrysalis. How long will it take? Will they emerge soon or over winter? We have a teacher at our school who tags and releases Monarchs so she is babysitting my new friends.

Doug McAbee 30-Aug-2008 01:00

Bob, Beautiful Site and photos. You are a true professional! I just watched the metamorphosis of a black swallowtail near my back steps. It was my first ever and amazing.
Great work here.

cassie 15-Aug-2008 12:54

I had 7 cats looking to be at stage 4 till yesterday - they started from a parsely pot.. Now have only two and have been looking all over for the others. Did catch one off the dish as if "looking for something" I just did not know what to do at this point. Caught your website and poked some heavier twigs amongst the parsley......now just waiting.
It really has been a science project enjoyment for my daughter and myself to watch the process from seeing the eggs to now. Crossing our fingers to have the final stage set.

Guest 12-Aug-2008 16:01

Hi all,
I lost a whole batch of caterpillars (within hours) and thought it was a bird coming to pick them off...they weren't ready to pupate yet, but probably close to the 3 stage. Starting to get pudgy. I then saw a wasp checking each fennel stem very carefully and got a thought...I checked online and found that wasps indeed prey on caterpillars....very gross stuff, but basically they use them as food for their own larvae. I had a second batch hatch and within a week, only 3 remained. I took those inside to a bug cage and have feed them myself. All are getting ready to pupate now. I've also read that only 3% of wild caterpillars survive...due to wasps? My friend had the same problem with her outdoor fennel plant. I think next round I'll put a mesh shield over the plant, once I see eggs.

Guest 06-Aug-2008 18:30

I hsce 2 Fennell Plants in a Raised Flowerbed attached to my Patio. There hasve been over 25 Caterpillars feeding on the Fennell & then disappeared. I presume to go into the Pupa Stage. The problem is I cannot located them. Where would be a good plasce to look. (The Butterflies are feeding on 2 large Lantana Plants in the same Bed.

Johnny 05-Aug-2008 00:05

I put a couple of full grown swallowtail caterpillars in a cutout jug with some parsley and twigs. The caterpillars ate up the parsley and then moved over to the twigs to transform into the pupa. So I would say that they may want something a little more stable to nest in, but still stay off of the ground. I also
noticed that all of the pics of the pupa are on thicker branches.

Ginny Haskell 01-Aug-2008 14:21

Great photos. I've been watching third stage swallowtail caterpillers on my parsley. I just found the tiny blank caterpillers this morning and was thrilled to learn from your photos that they are the same thing. I never seem to find the pupas. Should they be hanging on the parsley or would they drop to the ground? Do the caterpillers move to something else to make their pupa? I don't want to hoe around the parsley and ruin them.

LC Goh 30-May-2008 11:19

Very interesting and well recorded. Cheers !

click on thumbnails for full image

First Instar Stage	Second Instar Stage	Third Instar Stage
Full Grown Caterpillar	Pre-Pupa Stage	Early Pupa Stage
Late Pupa Stage	Recently Emerged Butterfly	Adult Butterfly with Chrysalis Shell
Black Swallowtail-Male	Black Swallowtail-Female

Jim G		01-Sep-2011 00:49
We had 8 caterpillars on our potted parsley plant. I set up an enclosure with a folding table turned upside down, with mosquito netting draped over the legs, and placed the pot inside, along with a dozen sticks propped up. My two daughters watched them as they devoured the plant, and eventually they strung themselves up on the sticks. It's been 2 weeks since then, and two of the chrysalis have turned black. Based on the info here, it appears that they will be butterflies very soon. I told my daughters to check every hour over the next few days, and have a camera ready. Needless to say, they are VERY excited!!!

Donna		27-Aug-2011 18:39
SOOO glad this site is here. For the first time ever we have caterpillars in our garden. They infested our carrots and parsley...research proved they were Black Swallowtails. I'm hoping to take some to my son's preschool class so they can watch them develop. We have eggs as well as caterpillars ready to spin. Can't wait to see what happens!!!

Aeris		27-Aug-2011 16:48
Hey! I hope someone sees my comment and answers me, because I can`t find any information for the question I got. It`s about the butterfly Papilio machaon, witch is also from the PAPILIONIDAE family like the Black swallowtail. A few weeks ago I found 2 catepillers of the papilio machaon kind and in Wednesday (24.08) they both changed into a chrysalis. I`m asking you ( I hope you see this), are the processes of the metamorphosis the same to both butterflies? I mean , will they change into imago after 2-3 weeks or it is different. I would be greatful if someone tells me : )))

Miranda M		26-Aug-2011 20:28
Did you know that you have to be VERY carefull!!!!!! Wasps will stick their stinger in the caterpilars head and suck the blood and also they kill the cocoon & the butterfly!

Miranda M		26-Aug-2011 20:22
I have 4 black swallowtails and they are pretty they like parsly. Also I have monarchs & 1 has hatched it is right next to me! It is redy to take off soon thoug since its wings are dried now. i can't wait till the next one is going to hatch it is going to come out soon! :DD

Ron Bodner		26-Aug-2011 14:49
We had about a dozen caterpillars in various stages on our Rue plant which is potted and on our apartment patio. No chrysalis to be seen but some of the large caterpillars have vanished. The birds may have gotten them but rarely do birds fly that close to a covered patio. Do the caterpillars always spin their chrysalis on the same plant they fattened up on? There is a brick wall next to the plant do they migrate to non living things like that? We are in Winnipeg so suspect the butterflies won't emerge until spring once we find a mature chrysalis.

Guest		25-Aug-2011 18:03
I have 4 & they are all full grow catepillers and are so pretty I saw a female black swallow tale butterfly and I was thinking that it was the mother but i saw them in my garden!they are so cool having them, we where thinking of having them and also we have 3 monarch butterflys also that are in there cocooning stage one is turning black & the other 2 are green.

Kimberly		25-Aug-2011 12:56
Black Swallowtails took over my parsley. This is the fist year it has ever happened. MY husband and i carefully dug up the whole plant and potted it; catepillars and all. There were different instar stages; from the first to finished chrysalis. I have brought them in a butterfly house to school and I am going to love sharing this experience with my ESE students and teaching them about the life cycle. Your website gave me some awesome information to share with them! Thank you!

terri		24-Aug-2011 17:29
found a caterpillar while teaching a butterfly camp August 8. Pupated on Aug.12 and hatched on Aug. 24. Very exciting! I usually raise Monarch cats, so this was my first black swallowtail.

Guest		24-Aug-2011 16:54
So glad to know you find they just disappear - I was baffled. Carol

Amy		18-Aug-2011 21:24
Why are some of the pupa's brown and some green? When do you start to get the wintering over butterfly's?

Amy		17-Aug-2011 15:48
Aug 17th and an adult laid her eggs on my RUE plant again at 11 a.m. Wilton Ct.(Once again chose Rue over Parsley). Will let you know how long the whole process takes. I am expecting adult butterflies,thinking it is too early for wintering over.Adults Love PHLOX..

hfb		16-Aug-2011 15:58
My cousin in MN photographed one there but says they belong 100 miles north or in Canada. Any ideas? Thanks if you do

Katie		14-Aug-2011 03:53
I raised a black swallowtail caterpillar this summer but i was so sad when the butterfly had damaged wings. It looked like only the top half of its wings had developed, so it will never be able to fly. I am not sure why that happened. I recently adopted two more caterpillars and they just entered the 5th instar stage. I really hope these will turn into healthy butterflies! Does anyone know if they will most likely emerge this summer or next year? Thanks!

Vanessa		12-Aug-2011 03:57
My son found what I now think is a swallowtail and while in his bug catcher over night it went into a chrysalis, August 3rd. Is this going to come out this summer or will it be spring? I have read some websites with different information?

Evan and Laura Long		10-Aug-2011 23:07
We found a full grown BS caterpiller on our dill plant this evening! We have "him" in a screened container with plenty of dill, a branch and water. We are hoping he will spin a chrysalis and we can see the next stages. Thanks for your informative web site!

Amy		10-Aug-2011 14:41
Great year for the Swallowtails !! Given a choice, the adult chose to lay her eggs on a large RUE plant which was next to my parsley.19 caterpillars went into adulthood and onto pupa stage while the plant quickly recovered. Amazing how they do the disappearing act (at night ?)Hate to think how many people destroy them ,not knowing.PLANT RUE ! Decorative and non edible to us.

Gramma B		07-Aug-2011 13:49
Thank you for this beautiful Black Swallowtail site explaining and illustrating the life cylce of a BS! I am almost 80 years old and for the first time in my life I've seen BS instars grow on my dill plants. So far, 9 have crawled away to make their chrysallis and 3 are still munching. I do pray I see at least a few Black Swallowtails flittering in my yard next spring. Again, thank you for sharing your knowledge! Gramma B

Sharon Harvey		06-Aug-2011 04:29
I love the morphing slides. I have been photographing this cycle for a couple of years, and yet the cycle of life never ceases to amaze me.

Jill		02-Aug-2011 17:24
Do we leave our chrysiallis in a sunny window or on the kitchen counter? Does it matter? They just reached early pupae stage today (Aug. 2), does that mean they'll be out in 2 weeks or next spring? Thanks!

Guest		01-Aug-2011 17:35
We had 27 black swallowtails emerge this past week. Everyone of them was perfect. We released them and watched them sail away on the breeze, truly a miracle. I will miss them, but hope we in some small way were able to help increase the population by ensuring their survival to adulthood. Julie - Hbg PA

Beverly		29-Jul-2011 14:36
We have about a dozen on our parsley plant. The plant is just about devastated, so I may have to buy another for them to feed on. About 6 of the caterpillars are very small babies right now and I don't want them to leave. We live in Burlington County, NJ and we've never seen them in all the stages before and are looking forward to watching them become beautiful Black Swallowtails. Bev & Joe Ziegler

sandra		28-Jul-2011 16:05
I live in NYC and have an herb box on my terrace. Today I went to water my plants on the terrace and I found that my parsley is completly striped of all leaves and six of these little guys are munching away. But also in the herd box is rosemary, thyme and oregano completly un- touched! What should i do? will they move on or should I move them to a park or something???

Jen		28-Jul-2011 12:36
We found a couple of BS cats on our carrots this year. Not wanting to lose my carrots we made a habitat out of a mesh hamper. They both seemed to be doing well but now they have disappeared and we can't seem to find the pupa. Is it possible that they have died?

josh		27-Jul-2011 21:55
boy black swallowtail Caterpillars poop a lot does that mean its healthy?

Guest		27-Jul-2011 13:34
Has anyone ever collected the caterpillars and then had a mass death? We successfully raised 13 BS a few weeks agao and just collected a bunch more in the same habitat. I was putting in organic dill in a pot and they were getting very fat. This morning I found 6 of them lying on the floor looking like they are dying. Some have a little bit of their osmeterium out. I am so sad, I feel like I killed them but have no idea how!

josh		26-Jul-2011 22:20
we found a swallowtail in are garden on the parsley we put it in a 3 gallon fish tank with a little bit of water and some parsley. we also put some sticks for climbing. if any one could give out some info, that would be helpful. thanks

Amy		26-Jul-2011 00:20
We have our first three catapillars this year. I planted Parsley just to attract them. Last year we got lucky enough to have one of the Swallowtails winter over and come out of the cocoon in the spring. It was a wonderful Surprise!

Denise		23-Jul-2011 21:49
This was such a great page, it had all the information I needed. I get BS cats on my parsley every summer and always let them take over, I say the more butterflies the better. This year my 3 year has really shown interest in them so we decided we wanted to try and view the cycle. I have also never seen one in chrysalis in the wild even though we have between 50 - 100 cats on our plants. Thank you for the info we are looking forward to being able to release are soon to be beautiful butterflies.