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

Type your message and click Add Comment

It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name

Name Email

help private comment

Marilyn Sala 21-Jul-2024 13:23
I have had great success for years once the eggs are deposited on my dill. This year one pupa formed on parsley instead. It grew just like the rest; pupa looked the same, but when it should have come out, leaving the fully formed chrysalis, he punched a small hole and came out with a fully formed body, but with small, skinny wings, looked like a wasp. What was that??

Tstoto 11-Jan-2024 12:21
Wonderful Article! - tstoto

Guest 08-Jan-2019 20:05
I am in Ct and one of my chrysalis hatched. To cold for the outside what do I feed him. So far honey water and fresh oj.

Gail 01-Oct-2018 19:33
Found my guy first instar September 21st on my parsley, it now looks full grown. Getting cold in Michigan so maybe I will have an over winter swallowtail. Thank you for the pictures, they helped me ID all the phases.

Cindy 11-Sep-2018 15:16
I found four caterpillars on some Parsley. I put all four in a "critter cage" complete with water and parsley sprigs. Three of the four made chrysalis'. Today the first one emerged! It is a male. It took 12 days to emerge. Another one is coming soon. The chrysalis is turning darker. The last one is a different color. The other two chrysalis' were light green. The last one is tan. Does this mean the last one died? This is so cool that next year I will plant more parsley. I will give the little cage to a teacher across the street to take to her classroom. I live in Illinois.

Guest 11-Aug-2018 11:28
I walked past my garden 2 days ago, and noticed that my parsley plant was stripped. We live in an area with a large deer population, and they destroy most everything else, but they have never touched my herbs, so I was shocked to see this, at first. Closer inspection, 2 black swallowtail caterpillars were the culprits. Later in the day I noticed they had moved to the nearby fennel. The next day, 1 was missing, and then yesterday I noticed that the remaining one had stopped munching. Today it is missing. I looked around the garden for a crysalis, but found none. I had no idea until a month ago that the host plants for Swallowtails were members of the carrot family. I hope they survived. Next year that garden will be better prepared for the entire lifecycle of its residents.

Mrs. Augustine 27-Jul-2018 16:45
My daughter and I have been raising the black swallowtails since 2004 in our backyard. My daughter's grade school got us interested when she was in second grade, the school raised Painted Ladies. To this day I have never seen the stage when they transform into a chrysalis, or watched them emerge from the chrysalis. Thank you for your incredible photos to complete my curiosity.
Out of 13 caterpillars this year, only 5 will complete the transformation. So I will use your idea to create a safe haven in a fish tank. Thanks again. I have noticed that once these Butterflies are released in our backyard, the females always seem to find their way back to my gardens every year.

Johnny Berridge 24-Jul-2018 15:33
I'm asking about the length of time the swallowtail will and can stay a chrysalis. A few changed in what seemed a reasonable amount of time, but I have a lot this year that are doing the opposite, some are green and some brown. One type of Black eats the camphor leaves and another a small green stick like plant with plenty of seeds that look like the eggs. I live in Texas.

Debbie 20-Jul-2018 00:32
Many caterpillars are on our dill plants. Will they form a chrysalis there or will they move somewhere else?

Joanie Howe 17-Jun-2018 23:10
This is the first time I planted dill and I already have about 12 black swallowtail caterpillars on it> am going to buy another dill plant and put it in a butterfly cage and put 2 of the caterpillars on it.

Laura Wright 06-Oct-2017 04:55
Sixteen appeared on my parsley plant a few days ago...they are large now and today, I noticed they are not moving...appear to be stuck to the place they are on the stems. I am photographing them each day and will follow each day as I love all nature/insect things. I hunted what we called locust when a kid/late 40's and all of the '50s...took them home and placed them on the window screens at night so they would come out of their shells overnight...took my grandkids to hunt them so they could enjoy nature, share their lives and allow them to fly the next morning...loved you site and video/slide. thank you

Toby 24-Sep-2017 17:48
One of my bulk swallowtails broke his tail silk while wriggling out of his skin. Although still attach. By thorax silks, he has gone still. Anyone know if he will live?

Darlene 14-Sep-2017 20:42
It's mid-September in Maryland and I have 30+ swallowtail caterpillars, in varying stages of development, on my parsley. The temps are in the 70's. Should I allow them to form chrysalis' and emerge or try to overwinter them? Some are ready to form the chrysalis but others are little more than 1/3" long!

Jonnie Alms 10-Sep-2017 20:23
I found 2 caterpillars on my Queen Ann Lace, looks like 3rd stage. Brought them in with food. What should I expect if I continue to be successful? Will they "hatch" later in Fall or wait til spring? Then what???

Janet 02-Sep-2017 15:09
I have a BS in its chrysalis on my back patio. It has been in there all of July and all of August. Its now September and I have a a few concerns / questions that I am hoping someone can answer. For reference, I am in south-western Ontario.
1) will it still emerge? try to over-winter in the chrysalis? Fall is well under way here and we had quite a rainy summer. There's not a large abundance of flowers for it to drink nectar from in the coming days.
2) how would I know if it died in the chrysalis?
3) is there anything I can do to help over-winter it until spring?

Help? what do I do?

Ethan Fogle 13-Jul-2017 23:35
Planted some dill in my vegetable/herb garden this year. It was the first time ever growing dill and I already have Black Swallowtail caterpillars. Time to plant more next year.

Carol 02-Jul-2017 13:24
Since August of 2016 I have had a Spicebush Swallowtail cacoon on a door frame of our garage. I have photographed it and now it has turned a light brown with black strips on it. When should it hatch into a butterfly? It is now July 2, 2017.

Anna 25-Jun-2017 22:51
One of our butterflies just emerged. It is beautiful!! Do I need to provide any kind of food between now and the time it's ready to fly the coop??

David 19-Jun-2017 17:58
TWO QUESTIONS:
1) Is there a way to determine the gender while it's in the full grown caterpillar stage? I've got a few that I'm protecting from the birds.
2) I'm afraid I might run out of fennel flowers and fronds before they cocoon. If that happens, I may buy them some fresh parley. Do you know if they prefer curly or broad leaf?

Kathy 29-May-2017 12:52
Hi,
I was wondering if the chrysalis changed color before the emergence of the butterfly... and found your site when I googled it!
Thanks! I have herbs in a trough and have about 10 chrysalis left from the 20 or so catapillers that made it all of the way to the fullly grown stage... before a spider killed about half of them... I removed the spider...
There are 3 chrysalis darker this morning, so I'll watch them closely!
Thanks again for the information!

Isabel Cutler 04-May-2017 21:02
Thanks for this excellent compilation. I just discovered acouple of first or second instar stages on my parsley and had to upload an image to bugguide.net for an ID. When they suggestion black swallowtail I remembered that several years ago my parsley got invaded by a bunch of caterpillars:http://www.pbase.com/isabel95/image/86002050 I'm not very knowledgeable about caterpillars and had no idea that males and females had different coloration.

Guest 18-Jan-2017 01:30
We found a fully grown BS on ourvwest facing window sill 6 day ago in Chicago
How could it have gotten there and how do wenkeep.it al7ve, it's beautiful

Laurie Neese 17-Nov-2016 22:31
here in the funky industrial part of San Francisco, a week ago one of our guys brought me a caterpillar he found on the concrete floor of our warehouse....it was inches from becoming smush. there is barely any vegetation around here but fennel so i figured that's what it was feeding on. put it in a clear container with some fennel and noted it was frantically moving around, not eating but seeming to search for a good spot to string up. i made a few modifications to the container and it immediately found an appropriate spot. over night it had moved into chrysalis. the guys come in all the time to check on it's progress and have even named it. i am enjoying being able to expose these urban folks to natures' wonders. most of them had never seen metamorphosis in action. i will keep an eye on it to note if it darkens prior to emerging. hope it happens during a weekday when we are in the office; maybe i will begin to take it home on weekends...wouldn't want to miss it!

Jeanne 27-Oct-2016 14:27
I have the same problem as Kris - a very late caterpillar! Have it inside in a glass container and wondering what to do now (upstate NY and it is snowing today). It is WAY LATE. Do they hibernate after emerging from a chrysalis? If it is at all warm can I release a butterfly in mid November - of course, no flowers then!? Any suggestions welcome ! thank you.

Brendan 25-Oct-2016 00:12
Kris, What did you decide to do? I have the same situation now in New England.

Guest 24-Oct-2016 02:52
Kris, I'm no expert, but I think they overwinter in the chrysalis stage. I would put them back outdoors so that they respond appropriately to the chilly fall temps and don't emerge in November.

Guest 22-Oct-2016 16:12
Oct. 21 - My grandchildren just found 4 BS caterpillars on the parsley. We'll net them and hopefully they will form chrysali --- think they will hatch yet this fall??

Kris 11-Oct-2016 01:21
I brought in my parsley plants and while watering, noticed I have a Instage 2 and a Full grown Caterpillar on my plants. I don't want to take them outside where they could freeze (SE Michigan) but I also don't want them to think it's spring and emerge early. Can someone offer suggestions to keep them safe and contained? Thanks.

Harry 08-Oct-2016 19:27
I had no luck using Parsley as a host plant since it is so hot here in San Antonio TX. I tried Rue and finally in September all of the plants (5) have Black Swallowtail caterpillar. BTW I also grow Milkweed and so far over 50 Queens and about 20 Monarch (spring) have made it all the way through the cycles from egg to adults.

leslie 25-Sep-2016 18:42
a giantswallowtail butterfly just came out ,and im worried its hurt how long till it flys

Elaine 16-Sep-2016 03:40
I have 22 caterpillars in a large terrarium that came from my parsley. My 5 year old granddaughter and her class have been enjoying watching them grow each day since we discovered them 6 days ago. Keeping our fingers crossed they will continue our science lessons. We have some that look full grown and tonight I found alone that is in first instar stage.

Jaymac 15-Sep-2016 22:02
Hundreds of black swallowtail caterpillars are feasting on the purslane that came up after late rains here in central NM. They have stripped every purslane leaf off and are still feasting for every last morsel. They appear to have come up from small holes in the ground. Does that sound right to the experts? They either aren't interested in or haven't found my Italian parsley, thankfully.

Sandi 14-Sep-2016 23:38
I found 2 of these caterpillars & my son has sort of adopted them. We would like to continue watching them so any help or advice would be great. They seem to be in the later stages of the pupa. I am giving hem lots of parsley, I found them on a parsley plant. Did you clean the tank out where you kept them? There seems to be a lot of waste they produce.

Stephanie Massie 07-Sep-2016 00:13
We have milk weed planted all around our huge yard in hopes of monarchs laying some eggs. Last year we one little guy consume that whole plant and then he was gone! No eggs this year anywhere. This year I planted 3 pots of herbs one being parsley and we have 6 catapillars on this tiny plant. We built a screened box about 2'x2', 3' tall and have put branches and a lot more store bought parsley in because they went through my tiny potted plant. They are huge it's been a week of eating, one has felt the food and is at the top, very quiet now...we will see!

Coreena 22-Aug-2016 23:44
I was delighted when I found 9 black swallowtail caterpillars on my parsley the other day, I moved my parsley in a pot into my garage away from predictors opening the doors (which are screened in) every morning at sunrise and closing them at sunset...then two days ago one caterpillar disappeared thinking it got off the host plant to find a place to pupate...looked all over couldn't find it...next day same thing happened another one disappeared. Then today I saw one caterpillar hanging like it was getting ready to pupate...left for a few hours came back and it was gone from the spot I saw it hanging...looked all over for it and actually found it digging a hole in the dirt??!????! I'm so bewildered...does anyone know what this means and why it would do this? I'm wondering if that's where the other two went too. So confused!

Missie 14-Aug-2016 22:15
I found 3 caterpillars in my parsley two days ago and put them on a netted enclosure I made with my 4 year old son. The munched on the parsley for one day and now they are starting the pupa stage. My son, and even my hubby, is amazed! What a wonderful science project! I'm hoping they will emerge as butterflies yet this year.

BK 11-Aug-2016 20:13
In late June, I went out to prune my crazy-growing rue plants to discover 6 caterpillars. At first I thought they were monarchs, but after some research, I identified them as black swallowtails. I read they don't survive as well outside, so I took them in and began studying about how to take care of them on the web. I started out with a small butterfly cage, but after they started growing, I bought a wooden sawhorse and wrapped it in netting. It worked well and made it much easier to keep clean and replenish the rue. They wouldn't touch anything else. In my case, ll six were in lockstep in their cycles. I released them all within a couple of days. What an experience. I am hooked. I am glad I could share my story with others.

Dan 11-Aug-2016 17:30
I'm from Indiana and while clearing my parsley of old leaves I found a fully grown Caterpillar. I move it and the leaf that it was on into a jar in the house and watched it eat for a day or two before forming a Pupa. It remained in the Pupa stage for only a week before emerging. It seemed to be having trouble pumping up its wings so we took it out to a bush in our yard. We haven't seen it since. I wondered if moving it from an 80+F garden to air conditioning about 77F prompted this early formation of the Pupa and quick emergence.

Suzanne Acker 09-Aug-2016 23:32
Aug.9,2016.Dingmans Ferry,Pa.6 days ago I noticed my large pot of parsley in my gazebo was being eaten leaf by leaf.I looked close and found 6 larvae munching away. At first I thought they were Monarchs by the coloring but as they grew I identified them through this site as Black Swallowtail. They are almost 2 3/4 in. and eating voraciously.I put twigs into pots hoping that 1 or more may decide to stick around. I just noticed that my pot of dill looked odd and sure enough there are 2 1/2 inchers & 1 1in.There are also tiny oblong dots along some stems I'm thinking might be eggs.I have never had anything like this before and am hoping I can see at least 1 emerge and fly away.

Laura 24-Jul-2016 17:25
For the first time we had had the delight of hatching butterflies in our garden! I have several large pots of parsley, dill and carrots (for Queen Anne's lace), and we saw a Black Swallowtail flitting all around the parsley which was already flowering to seed out - one day we noticed small worms which we realized were from that Black Swallowtail and that she had laid eggs on the plants (we had five worms on one parsley pot plant and five on another one!) We were just thrilled to watch them munch on the plants and grow (we have learned a lot about them due to this site and others! - I didn't know they had 4 stages to shed and grow - in the caterpillar stage - I just thought they were growing - then I found what I thought was the carcass of a dead one - and got very sad - now I realize it was the shed skin! Well...one day we noticed the absence of 3 Cats and could not find any Chrysalis in that particular pot so we figured the naughty Blue Jays had gotten them. We brainstormed on how to save the rest from being a snack for the birds, so we 'built' an enclosure with sturdy metal posts that we stuck into the ground and we bought net/tulle to cover it all with - putting the pots inside - lo and behold, we still had Cats missing over several days with NOT a single Chrysalis in sight - we were devastated. One day, in the patio garden next to where the pot of parsley was originally, I happened to spy a beautiful BST female hanging from my huge daisy plant and it was slowly moving its' wings back and forth. I knew she had hatched from nearby and was drying her wings! Then about 20 minutes later, off she flitted. Then...I don't know from where, I went outside to let the dogs out and just looked over at the 'enclosure' we had made and I was shocked to see a BST flitting around in it!! I swear, I had looked those plants over thoroughly and even under the lips of the pots and didn't see a worm or Chrysalis --- but there it was (they have got to be part stealth ninjas!) -- so the grandgirls and I went out and released her (another female)...and guess what!!?? I found another worm on another dill plant on the other side of the garden and I put it right away inside the enclosure! And...today...ANOTHER BST was found inside the enclosure! My husband ran inside to wake me up to see that beauty - we released her also. That makes 3 BST's that have emerged from...somewhere!! What joy we have found now that we have had this happen in our backyard garden!! We have a very good eco system out there with a lot of varying species of plants and we do not poison our plants! Now...just to go and buy for next year some Milkweed plants, because we have seen a couple of Monarchs passing thru...we will plant MORE parsley and dill next year...we always have carrots growing for the blooming flowers that we let emerge! Thank you for this informative site!!! I didn't know there were those stages the cats went thru!

Bev Lethbridge 15-Jul-2016 16:41
I am so excited as this is a first for me. I plan to bring the plants and the caterpillers in to the Greenhouse when they are
a little larger. I don't want the birds to get them. Hopefully, I will get to see them grow. Of course, I will bring them outside to continue their journey .

Bev Lethbridge
Ontario Canada

Shane Reed 06-Jul-2016 16:37
Brought in a caterpillar for the kids to watch the other day. Was on some queen Ann's lace. Put in a mason jar with a stick and more QA lace. Caterpillar devoured all I had in the jar including the stem. Sometime between last night and today it looks like it has shrunk in size. Lots of poop! It is hanging from the twig in jar, and in position that appears to be getting ready for cocoon. Very neat

Guest 22-Jun-2016 19:25
My sister and I found about 20 larvae on my fennel plant, next day there was only one AND she saw a wasp working its way through the fennel. A couple weeks later I saw as many young larvae. I brought them into a screened butterfly habitat and have been feeding them furiously! We expect pupa stage soon for many of them, hopefully for 4th of July release! - I am in St. Petersburg FL

Carla 20-Jun-2016 21:45
I enjoy "growing" my Black Swallowtail Butterflies each year!! We discovered their love for dill by accident a few years ago. Now, I specifically buy a LOT of dill to encourage them into my yard! Right now, I have about 24 caterpillars is various stages on my dill and parsley plants! I just love watching them grow and look forward to seeing them fly through my yard as butterflies!!

Mary 02-Jun-2016 01:39
Just found three first installs on my "snow-on-the-mountain" glad to have something to keep that in check! We brought them in to keep in a butterfly house my son got as a birthday present. Thanks everyone for posting your experiences to help us care for them.

Laura Susan 28-May-2016 13:50
When I was a kid I found a caterpillar on some parsley in our back yard. My mother was a fabulous cook and always had quite a bit a parsley growing in the back. I was an insect freak always & learned that black swallowtails laid their eggs in parsley. I got a large glass jar and a small twig that would sit in the jar diagonally along with LOTS of fresh parsley. The little guy thrived to say the least. I have never seen a small caterpillar eat like that. It shed its skin a few times, kept eating the parsley like a little horse and one day when I came home from school I found a chrysalis attached to the twig. This was in the fall I believe so I kept it in my room out of direst sunlight and far away from heat a heat source. Next spring after all the cold was over for good I took the jar & set it in an east window with the window open about 4 inches. (with a screen of course) I came home from school the same day & low & behold my butterfly must've just emerged cause his wings were still very close to his body and hadn't started fanning his wings. I had a male because he had very bright yellow dots against that beautiful jet black background, and the love-shard wing tips. He was breathtaking and I had never seen one in our neck of the woods, ever. I knew once his wings were completely stiffened like a full grown adult it was time to say good bye. Such a joy (and very bittersweet) to let my baby feel the freedom of the outside air and leave his little twig and fly away. I was so very happy & proud! It was one of the most wonderful experience of my life. Thanks for allowing me to share this with you. The strongest memory of all this was how that caterpillar NEVER stopping eating. Also I was so wanting to see it emerge from its chrysalis but I had to f to to school.

Laurie 24-May-2016 02:48
Found an adult on a dill plant in SW Washington near the Columbia River. It is May 23. Most info on the web do not suggest this is common territory. It is plenty warm around here now and we'll release it when he/she emerges.

Carolyn 30-Apr-2016 13:26
I am in Connecticut and found a VS yesterday in my grass and unable to fly due to a partial missing part of its wing. We took it out of the grass and put it in a tree. Don't know much about these beautiful butterflies. Is there anything more I can do to ensure this beautiful creature lives and thrives?

Ginny 23-Apr-2016 16:50
Oh and I decide to add I'm in Connecticut I can't release him it's still too cold.

Ginny 23-Apr-2016 16:49
I brought in three caterpillars last October. They immediately made cocoons and I kept them in an unheated attic all winter. One hatched two days ago it is a beautiful black swallowtail butterfly. I'm feeding it honey and water through a sponge as recommended on another website or maybe even This website. How long will it remain a butterfly? I think it's a male. I still plan on providing parsley plants and hoping that he is a she and it will lay eggs. What a wonderful experience this is been. It's so neat to know there are other interested and compassionate people throughout this world.

James 14-Apr-2016 04:19
I brought a cocoon in the house around 10-30-15. He emerged this week 4-11-16. I want to let him go but the weather here in MI is unseasonable cold. Teens at night, 40's for the high. This weekend the weather is suppose to break. 70's high, 40's low. How long can I keep him without causing any harm to him?

Janine 18-Nov-2015 02:06
I too have a parsley plant which I noticed was being eaten...then a pupa showed up on a stem, a black swallowtail happened to fly by and land on the parsley which then led me to believe that was what was going to emerge!! Well it did and I missed it...but then a few days later about 50 of the first instar stage caterpillars showed up devouring the parsley! So I was so excited thinking I was going to have loads of butterflies, but as the days went by, fewer and fewer of the second and third instar stage were there, now there is only one full grown caterpillar there getting ready to do his pupa thing...where did the others go??? Great website with info and photos!! thank you!!

kelly 09-Oct-2015 14:34
I live in south florida in may this year i had 100s of BS caterpillars all over my dill parsley fennel. I kept 2 that turned to chrysalis on June 3rd. after a month my husband said they were probably dead to give it up but i could not. TODAY October 9th 5 MONTHS Later a male emerged!!!!!!The other is changing a color so hopefully its a female and emerges !!!

ROBERTA 07-Oct-2015 17:21
WILL BS CRYSILIS WINTER OVER IN THE HOUSE OR SHOULD I PUT THEM OUTSSIDE. WE LIVE IN NORTHEASTERN NJ. YOUR SITE HAS BEEN VERY HELPFUL THANKS

TJ Wayne 05-Oct-2015 00:31
I live in an apartment complex in Fishers, IN. Today (October 4th) I found one of these in the parking lot, not near any vegetation. I relocated him to a spider plant on my small patio (I also have a rosemary plant and 2 plants of different lavender variety. We purchased some dill and parsley from the store and stuck them in the plant. I hope to go tomorrow and get a kids butterfly garden. Not sure what I should do from here. By the looks of the pictures, it is a full-grown caterpillar. Don't know what to do from here. Will it go through the stages and turn into a butterfly or if it will start hibernation. If nobody responds, I will relocate him to the butterfly garden and feed him his preferred food along with some sticks and fruit/water and see what happens. There are lots of birds around (we feed them, too!) so I'm afraid he won't make it long on my back porch!

Anita Deme 01-Oct-2015 18:14
Hi everyone, I on the fence about bringing in my three B.S. Butterfly caterpillars. according to the pictures they are in the Full grown phase not pre pupa. We will be having a hurricane in the next two days and it suddenly dropped 20 degrees. They are loving my parsley plants. What should i do? DO I bring them in? I have a large sparrow colony here at my apt. building. If I bring them in do I release them when they emerge even if its winter outside? Do I keep them as butterflies until warmer weather? What do they eat after they emerge? Help!

Melissa 29-Sep-2015 21:15
This morning I went to my box garden to pick the last ripe tomatoes, and found five BS caterpillars happily munching away on the curly parsley! It's almost October, and we live in northwestern Warren County, NJ, so I'm concerned that they are not going to be able to fend much longer as the freezing temps are not far behind. Does anyone know if they can survive winter in NJ? Should I try to shelter the garden crate (it's a 3x3x3 shipping crate repurposed into a small garden as our soil is too rocky for direct plantings)? I can't imagine them going into the pupa stage at this time of the year, and not sure how long the pupa stage lasts.

Leann Ayer 23-Sep-2015 19:02
I have 6 BS larvae between third instar state and full grown caterpillar. It is late Sept. and I have read they will go into diapause, but I would like info on how to shelter them and not disturb them in the spring when I clean up my garden.

Amy 16-Sep-2015 16:34
Thank you so much for the slide show. I was intrigued at finding a large, fat reddish brown mature caterpillar about 2" long and about 1/2" in circumference,no visible hair, yellow "eyes" on the head area, yellow and black band around the "neck", tiny blue spots dotted horizontally on both sides of the body with sucker-like feet and a round sucker-like mouth. At the time I didn't know what it was.I live in northern Nevada. We have numerous yellow and black Swallowtails during the warmer months. After studying it and identifying it online I released it and it vanished on it's fragile but determined journey. I would have loved to see it in it's pupating stage. Now that I know what to look for I hope I find more.

Anthony 07-Sep-2015 15:06
I planted dill earlier this summer and yesterday, we had 6 black swallowtail caterpillars. Checked on them this morning and 2 were missing. I found 1 later about 30 feet away on the gate to my deck. I think it was about to start forming its chrysalis. I read on another site that while birds do eat these caterpillars, they also travel far from their host plant to form their chrysalis. Anyway, I gathered up the remaining 5 by taking the dill plants they were on or taking the one from the gate, put some dirt into a vase along and placed the dill roots in the vase. Set the vase in a tray, added dirt to the tray. Placed a bunch of sticks in it vertically. Watered it. Planted some dill seed and will bring in fresh dill as needed. Put a mesh clothes hamper over it and now the family is enjoying them. Hopefully, we'll have 5 black swallowtail butterflies soon. Unlike monarchs, their chrysalis stage is unpredictable.

Marsha 05-Sep-2015 21:47
I found a caterpillar about a week ago and put it in a jar with dill. Today there was a beautiful male swallowtail which instantly flew off as soon as I let him go. I did get a fairly good picture of him in the container.

Richard 03-Sep-2015 00:32
Found 3 of these caterpillars munching on my common rue plant. I put 2 of them in a quart glass jar with some branches so our grandchildren can watch this metamorphosis unfold.

Lorry 24-Aug-2015 20:35
I have found the caterpillars in my garden on dill or carrot tops for years. This time, today, actually I found 8 of them on the dill. I have put them in jars with screen on the lids and placed them in the garage for the winter, feeding them carrot tops or dill until they have the completed the chrysalis stage. It is fascinating to see them emerge in the spring. Nature is fantastic !!!!!

Glenn 22-Aug-2015 00:51
My wife came in excited this morning. She had found a large group of Black Swallowtail caterpillars on the fennel plants in her garden, munching away. I counted 26 of them, and by this late afternoon, there were still 20 around, of various sizes. Some of the fennel plants had been eaten nearly to the ground.

Erica Delp 05-Aug-2015 02:39
Hello,

I have been using your website as a wonderful resource this summer as I am raising Eastern Black Swallowtails for the first time. I came out to my herb garden one day to find my Dill gone and thus began my adventure. I am now on my second batch of collected caterpillars from my herb garden. When I've spotted them, I have brought them inside into my caterpillar habitat along with a few host plants. If I keep on getting caterpillars from the plants outside throughout the fall, should I move my habitat to a protected outdoor location like my screen porch? It's fun to watch them grow inside, but I am afraid if they are warm in here that they won't know when they should stay in their chrysalis to overwinter. I don't want to have butterflies emerge in November that I can't release. Thanks so much for any help you can provide.

~Erica

Reed 27-Jul-2015 22:58
My caterpillar died in its Chryselis

Debby Calabretta 22-Jul-2015 21:24
I have BS caterpillars I am trying to raise. I had 4. Over a few day's, 2 disappeared, then another. I recently found the chrysalis, had been eaten. They are under a tent. Last one is still a caterpillar. Should have morphed by now. Any insight on the last 1 would be appreciated. Thank you.

Jessica 06-Jul-2015 01:01
Yesterday I found 5 of these caterpillars in my dill as I was harvesting some. I had been aware of two, but looked like 3 more arrived over the past 2 weeks. At least 2 were full grown and the others third instar based on the pics. Today, I can only find one caterpillar. Do they move to other plants? I am concerned. I also have pepper, tomato and basil plants nearby.

Lyndsy 03-Jul-2015 22:53
Today as I was harvesting spinach in our garden I spotted a BS on a stem I had just cut. It looks to be in pre-pupa stage. So I got a fish tank we no longer use and put sticks and some spinach in there and laid it so that it is hanging properly. I used a netting we had to cover the top. But I'm concerned that the stem of the spinach is going to go limp since it was cut, and than the BS will lose its hold on it. Do you think it will be ok? What should I do? I feel so bad that I didn't see it until after I cut that piece. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Leigh 03-Jul-2015 14:50
I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned it already but I found two of the caterpillars in the 3 or 4 instar on my celery plants! We managed to bring one in before the birds got it. Within a few days it turned into a chrysalis and now we are just waiting patiently! I was wondering how long it would take and I found your site!

Thank you.
Sharon

Scott 01-Jul-2015 16:00
How much dill can a single caterpillar eat in a day? A coworker had his dill plants devoured overnight. He's thinking it's a four legged varmit, however I'm betting on black swallow tails. Thanks.

Andrea 26-Jun-2015 18:48
I've been raising butterflies for about 10 years. I started with Monarchs, and am now focused on BS. Sadly, I haven't seen a Monarch in years...I gather that they're not doing well in the wild right now. Here's a few pointers on BS (but I used the same method for monarchs, just with milkweed):
1. Only about 1% of hatched eggs will survive in the wild. That's why the caterpillars are so hard to find. It's best to find the eggs, snip off the branch they're attached to, and bring them in.
2. Go to your local nursery and check the dill, fennel, rue, and parsley. The staff are usually pretty happy to let you take the eggs or caterpillars home. Side note...around here, they only seem to like fennel and rue. I have both planted in my garden, and they grow like weeds (very easy)and come back every year. I haven't had luck with grocery store parsley. If I need more food, I'll got to the nursery and spend 3.00 for a fennel plant.
3. I take foot-long cuttings of fennel and put them in a vase of water. They immediately wilt, but then start to absorb water and perk back up after a couple of hours. THEN I put the caterpillar on it. The cuttings last a very long time in water. Once they've eaten all the fennel, I will make a new vase of fennel, put it next to the first one (so the branches from both vases are touching), and they move to new food on their own. You can also take your cuttings of eggs and lay them on top of the fennel in the vase. When the eggs hatch, the babies will move off of their (now dried-up) cutting to the healthy plant.
4. Caterpillars poop a lot, and you need to clean it up. Put an old white towel in the bottom of your enclosure so that you can see and "save" any fallen caterpillars. Remove it and give it a shake for a quick enclosure cleaning.
5. Wait until the butterfly is really moving around before releasing it. It's takes a few hours to get used to having wings.
6. All of this happens in the large zipper enclosure I got on Amazon for about 50.00.

I've also noticed that the more butterflies I release every year, the more I get back the next year.

That's all I can think of for now. Good luck!

Alexis 26-Jun-2015 18:06
I have an important question so I have 4 caterpillars that have been in a chrysalis since June 12th. The first on was on June 8th. The chrysalises are all dark brown they all seemed very healthy and ate as much food as possible lol. I kept them Outside under a huge umbrella with no direct sunlight. I live in Florida and the weather here is very hot in June. I wasn't sure when they are supposed to emerge. Because I am getting worried. Also when I touch them the chrysalises don't move. I've moved them inside where it is about 78 degrees. Do you have any advise on what to do.

Marie Downey 26-Jun-2015 14:22
I just found 4 Black Swallowtail caterpillars on my Dill plant. I am thrilled to have all of your information. I will leave them to eat as much of the Dill as they want. That plant will not be going into my pickles. Marie (Guelph, Ontario)

Charles Eric Jambor 26-Jun-2015 01:41
I have two full grown caterpillars on my parsley exactly as you show. I thought the adult butterflies were attracted to my datura plants. So, how did they get here? All my plats grew up from seeds. I am Charles and live in Simcoe ON. Canada and I am an author. My autobiography is "Kid Without Fear" (See Amazon)I live 10 km from Lake Erie on the north shore in beautiful Norfolk County. If you look at the map, I am at the 'tongue' of the lake. I guess the pupa stage is going to be dull. - But don't forget, summer is just starting. I'll keep you informed how many more Eastern Black Swallow caterpillars I'll have. Cheers Charles

Lisa 23-Jun-2015 23:40
About 2 weeks ago, I discovered quite a few BST eggs on my fennel, so I covered the fennel loosely with tulle to keep them protected from the birds. I've been keeping an eye on their progress daily, and this morning counted 19 caterpillars all in various stages of growth, including one pupa. Two looked like they were in pre-pupa stage. When I got home from work I went out to check them and there were only 6 caterpillars left! Where could 13 of them gone? They are under the tulle and it seems strange that 13, all in various stages of growth, would all disappear at once. I'm stumped!

Valerie 23-Jun-2015 02:12
Diana, I'm sorry to tell you that the caterpillars that eat citrus can only eat citrus. On the other hand, it's extremely unlikely that they'll eat enough to do any damage; better still, they're probably giant swallowtail butterfly caterpillars, and they're quite spectacular as adults. You may want to raise them in jars, feeding them leaves from twigs that you'll be pruning anyway, and then you'll get to see the whole wonderful life cycle.

Jaycee, black swallowtails overwinter as chrysalises, so the August generation needs to spend several months in a cool place--your unheated sunroom is perfect. In my area (Chicago) they'll emerge in early to mid May. And you needn't wait for fat caterpillars--I've been raising them from eggs for more years than I care to acknowledge.

Guest 09-Jun-2015 03:44
Love your information. I raise Black swallowtail in Texas. Have been able to overwinter a couple in the fridge door in a mason jar. Have released some this year, my second batch of eggs was 15. All hatched and were about a 9 days old when my pest control company sprayed my parsley containing my cats. Very devastating! I love the photos here, everyone should try raising them at least once. Maybe as a whole people will learn the importance of even the small things.

Jackie R of Guelph, ON Canada 30-May-2015 12:51
Thank you so much for your post. I too, was looking for these exact details a couple years ago. I was able to first tart my amazing quest at the Third Instar Stage up to the Late Pupa Stage. While I regretfully wen to the office, the Butterfly emerge. However, I did find a Female Black Swallowtail in my garden and hung around for a couple days. I managed to get photos of each stage and the departing photos. It was truly wonderful to watch. I have taken photos of many visitors to my gardens.

Lorie 09-May-2015 22:41
What a great sharing of info! We collected 5 Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars in late September. I have had 5 chrysalis in a butterfly netting cylinder enclosure since early October and one of the 5 just hatched last Sunday!😊... Almost 6 months after forming the chrysalis! We released her ( a beautifully marked female) and watched as she flew straight up into the sky and we lost sight of her in a very tall, very old tree. Any recommendation on how to get the other 4 to break free and spread their wings as well??

Stephanie 09-May-2015 13:36
We took in five caterpillars in late October. Our daughter put them I a butterfly habitat and fed them parsley. They went into chrysalis in November. We didn't know that they could overwinter and thought they had died. Two weeks ago my daughter was about to discard the habitat she noticed the first butterfly. Three more have emerged since. We put sugar water in a soy sauce style dish for them. As soon as there are nectar providing plants we'll set them free in the garden .

Jaycee 25-Apr-2015 16:02
Thank you for this wonderful site with lots of information and pictures! Last August when I collected four fat caterpillars and some dill from my garden, I had thought there would soon be some B.S. butterflies to show my grandchildren. But the pupae have been in my unheated sunroom ever since then and I am still waiting. Apparently this is quite normal so we'll see if it happens next month!

Diana 27-Mar-2015 02:15
We have lovely yellow swallowtails that want to lay eggs on our citus tree every year. I don't want to kill the caterpillars, but I'm wondering if I can move them to a different plant? Last year I moved some to an oleander tree, but have no idea if I was helping or hindering them! Will they eat anything else but citrus?

Bobbi Dering 16-Feb-2015 15:25
I went to my basement laundry room on feb 4 and there on the floor was a live swallowtail butterfly. I was stunned and couldn't stop thinking about how this could have happened. My basement is very tight. I don't have creepy crawly things. Even spiders and cow bugs are very rare. What I came up with is that I stored my fake Christmas tree on my garage. I brought it into the house in early December. It's a small tree and I keep the lights and garland on it so I don't have to re-decorate every year. It basically doesn't get messed with beyond the transport from garage to living room. Do you think a caterpillar could have formed a chrysalis, and emerged in February, or is it more likely that it was fully emerged in the fall, and just hiding in the boughs? I don't know what it could have eaten to remain alive without plants in my basement. This is a mystery to me. Any theories? When I saw it it was moving its legs, but couldn't fly. The next day it was dead.

Barbara 08-Nov-2014 18:49
Thank you so much for this information. I had no idea Black Swallowtail caterpillars could survive over the winter by entering diapause. I wanted to save this Johnny-Come-Lately on my parsley plant, but didn't know what to do and if I would be doing more harm than good. Now I'll let Mother Nature take over with a little help by keeping it partially sheltered from the elements and birds. It will be able to easily leave when the time is right.

Susan Z 08-Oct-2014 15:37
I planted parsley in the hopes of getting black swallowtail butterfly larvae again this year, but now it's October and finally the larvae have appeared and have gotten large. But I live in New York. Is it too late for them? I'm afraid they'll die of the cold before entering the next phase to winter over.

Desjoy 14-Sep-2014 20:06
My granddaughter and I had a wonderful experience with a Black Eastern
Swallowtail caterpillar etc. When the butterfly emerged, I put it on the flowers, while I was admiring it and taking pics, a yellow jacket swooped down and stung it several times on the abdomen, it was like a horror movie. The butterfly shook violently and fell into the flowers. I picked it up as it was still alive and moved it to another location, where it hung onto the leaves for quite a long time. It must have flown away because some time later it was no longer there, and not lying on the ground. I am writing this comment after reading Miranda M's post dated 26 Aug 2011. I want to believe it lived.

t burns 07-Sep-2014 22:14
we just found this sight while trying to id the caterpillars in our carrot patch. 6 in all. thanks for the info.

Jessie W. 02-Sep-2014 23:29
I found a caterpillar today, on the side of my back steps, and got to witness it shedding it's skin and entering the early pupa stage. I'm concerned that a stray cat or a bird will disturb it since it is so exposed. Any suggestions? Thank you!

Hannah Evereste 28-Aug-2014 20:34
Love this site, it's so helpful!

Elizabeth 20-Aug-2014 18:42
Five days ago I found two mature BST caterpillars in a very large pot of parsley plants. I have been checking on them at least twice daily and find that they moved around but very slowly from one plant to another usually in close proximity of each other. Last night I checked on them and they were both there. This morning, I could find only one. And I watched him for 30 minutes circling the pot around on the rim, trailing down a bit along the sides, trailing through the large jungle of parsley....he made at least four laps around and through and at remarkable speed. I have no doubt that he was searching for his buddy. I have not seen either of them move more than a hair before this. I was so sad for him I thought to take him to the local arboretum that has a butterfly house. But I just looked again about an hour later, and he is now gone. I haven't seen any birds swooping and it seems so unlikely that they would see the caterpillar through all that parsley. I'm so sad about it. Anyway, have any of you ever seen such a display of empathy as searching for another caterpillar with whom he had shared the first part of his life? Thanks for reading.

Rebecca 11-Aug-2014 15:01
I just had a massive exodus from my dill plant in my garden this morning. Thanks for all the info - I was able to catch 3 and bring them into our abandon fish tank! I could not believe they just left. Just like that with no warning! Not even a thank you!!! But my girls and I are very excited to see what happens In the next few weeks. Should I keep water nearby? A fresh supply of dill?

WRoy 04-Aug-2014 19:54
Thank you for this beautiful and informative site. I am in my second season raising Black Swallowtail. I was thrilled this morning to release two beautiful butterflies. I am learning as I go. These are the first ones born in "captivity". Previously my big boys left home to morph. I now have two habitats that house the saddlebacks to butterfly. What an amazing and useful hobby. I hope to raise the Red Admiral next.

Susan 01-Aug-2014 11:55
PLEASE help immediately - have been caring for these babies since egg stage, in a caterpillar habitat - keep buying Italian parsley (seems to be all they'll eat, and lady at nursery said that's what hers ate) Put two new plants in yesterday morning, from another store, and this mornning, half are dead, and they all left one plant to go to the other, so I fear pesticide.....the ones remaining on the other plant are lethargic.....i can't go to the store for more plants till this afternoon - they are huge, and yesterday were moving alot - please, I am crying........have tried so hard to take good care......

Linda 29-Jul-2014 15:02
I came back from vacation to find one of my two parsley plants nearly dead from lack of water. There were two Black Swallowtail caterpillars amid the dried up plant. I moved them to the healthy parsley plant, but they reappeared on the first plant the next morning. They seem to know which plant is "their plant". All is well now, the plant is putting out new growth and they seem to be thriving. My question is why did they return to the weaker plant?

Easterbelle 25-Jul-2014 14:38
I have a pupa attached to a ruda plant in my kitchen. It's my first swallow tail. I usually concentrate on milkweeds & monarchs. Hopefully I'll see it actually morph into a butterfly.

Victor 09-Jun-2014 23:19
I just got into caring for 4 black swallowtails about a week ago. It's my first time showing an interest in caterpillars. I volunteer at a school and some kids found a different kind of caterpillar, which they really enjoyed looking at, so that's what got me interested. At home, I noticed there were 4 black swallowtails on my dill bush. So, of course, first, I had to show them off to all of the kids at school. They were super excited to see them. Then, I took them all and made a cage for them out of one of those Costco grape containers. There are big enough holes for them to escape, but they stay inside, as long as they have enough fresh dill to eat. But, then, a couple of them got close to pre-pupa stage and so, when I got home one night, I found one hanging off my computer speaker and another one hanging off the top of a curtain. I took them off of there, but, looking back, I realize they were looking for a place to make a chrysalis. So, once I realized that, I put one inside a metal, wire-frame container. He attached himself to a place on the wire-frame and is now in the pre-pupa stage. I put the other one inside of a 16oz water bottle with a twig going through the opening, suspended in the middle of it. The second guy is now in his pre-pupa stage on the twig in the water bottle. Now, I'm waiting for them to spin their chrysalis. (They just started their pre-pupa stage late last night.) This was a great experience for me. I really enjoyed caring for them. They're super cute and I got some cool pictures of them too. The funny thing is, I went around to at least 20 other dill bushes and didn't find even one black swallowtail caterpillar on them. Not sure why they're so hard to find.

Carol Pitlock 06-Jun-2014 17:41
Thank you for all the information! I am retired and I love my back yard. I try hard to keep all the animals and insects safe. I cut some stalks of parsley and brought them inside to use. I put the excess in water in a glass (keeps a long time this way) and set it in the kitchen window. One day I noticed a beautiful catepillar. I took it outside and put it on the parsley in the herb garden. I watched it shrivel up and eat this black stuff, which I found out was its shed skin (very nutritious). It grew fat again and I enjoyed watching it. We were expecting horrible rains, so I made sure it was a little protected. It disappeared after the second rainstorm and I was so sad. I was sorry I did not take it inside to raise it. One morning I saw a beautiful butterfly on the parley. It was just staying there, so I assume it had just emerged and was dryng its wings. I did take some pictures. The next time I went outside, it was gone.
Last night, I found my caterpillar on the cover of a 2006 Houston Arboretum magazine! I just found your excellent article and checked my pictures and my butterfly is a female swallowtail! I am so proud she was on my parsley!!!

Shannon 03-Jun-2014 15:02
What a wonderful resource--Thanks so much!

Jeff 03-Jun-2014 00:37
O.K. It is June 2nd 2014 and today was quite a surprise! So many years of growing dill and having butterflies lay eggs, then turn to caterpillars, only to have the finches or sparrows come eat most of them, is quite a disappointment. (The harsh cycle of life, bummer)So last year I made a screen cage and put 7 caterpillars into it with fresh dill added daily. The info I obtained said they would become butterflies within I guess 3 to 5 weeks. I though they were maybe Yellow Tiger type Swallowtails. As they went through their pupa stage twittering and pulsing only to dry up and go dormant, I thought they had died and moved them into the corner of the deck for the harsh Michigan winter. Today 3 perfect Black Swallowtails emerged out of our amazement, and thought last week the pupas had grown a bit, with everyone telling me I was crazy! The rest are almost ready to emerge.

Kathy P from PA. 01-Jun-2014 13:11
I am hooked on raising butterflies. I started last year when a friend gave me a parsley plant with eggs. On my front porch, I keep a fairly large fish tank (holds up to three hanging plant pots of parsley) that I grow them in. Then on my back deck in the open, I have a total of 10 pots planted with parsley - 8 are used for feeding and two a hanging pots planted with flowers and parsley - these pots just are for collecting eggs. I am always amazed by the whole process - the butterflies are beautiful. In the winter I just put the tank with remaining chrysalises in the shed til May. One by one, butterflies have been popping out since the end of April. My son swears that they stay around and come back to our house to lay their eggs - it might be possible. Great rewarding hobby

Linda 27-May-2014 22:00
Every year the Black swallowtail caterpillars dine on our parsley plants and disappear. This year, for the first time, one formed a chrysalis on a nearby stick. So cool.

Butterfly Gal 28-Apr-2014 14:33
Oh... actually, there are 5 instars. The first of course is the 'hatching' until the first molt. The fifth is the big fat green and black stage just before pupating.

Butterfly Gal 28-Apr-2014 14:31
The metamorphosis period of the Black Swallowtail can vary immensely! While two weeks in the pupa is pretty common, especially in the spring and summer. However, they can overwinter in the pupa in a protected area or in a mild climate. I have had several that 'rested' for up to a YEAR and then emerged (eclosed) as perfect adults! The longest that I heard, which still produced a good adult, was SEVEN YEARS. So do not fret if your chrysalis seems to be taking its sweet time. You can check for life in a slow chrysalis by gently tickling it with a feather or blade of grass. The chrysalis will usually jerk and twitch like a jumping bean! The Black Swallowtail chrysalis can be leaf green, slightly yellowish, or bark brown, depending on diet, surroundings, or even genetics. I've raised many BST caterpillars, as well as Giant Swallowtails (Papilio cresphontes), Monarchs, Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae) and others from eggs and small caterpillars. It's really fascinating!

To the ones who worry about 'disappearing caterpillars'... often the 'cats' go off wandering in search of a place to pupate. They don't always do the deed on their host plant. They can wander a very long distance (relatively speaking) in search of the perfect place. I've found escapees on my porch roof! I once had a Giant 'break out' of his habitat in my kitchen and go marching across the kitchen floor. Unfortunately, my cat got to him before I could and the caterpillar became a snack. My cat had HORRIBLE osmeterium breath for quite a while after that, but it didn't seem to faze him a bit; in fact, I think he rather enjoyed it, same as we humans enjoy stinky garlic... LOL! I've gotten much better at securing the habitats and not underestimating the cleverness of these little creatures. :)

Laura 16-Apr-2014 02:27
I found a swallowtail caterpillar late last summer in the herb garden at work. It made a chrysalis n stayed in this stage for a long time, so long I thought it had died, but I still kept the chrysalis. This morning I was walking by the aquarium n saw movement! After 6 months a male black swallowtail emerged! I was amazed! Have you ever heard of one staying in the chrysalis that long?

Robert 23-Mar-2014 14:19
My Black Swallowtails are hatching! 3-22-14 1:00PM

Christa M 10-Feb-2014 23:08
This is February 10, 2014 in Chelmsford, Mass. On my living room window sill I discovered a swallow tail butterfly, alive if not very lively. According to your pictures it is a male. Now what do I do? Can't let it ouside, it is 25F with snow on the ground.

Joe 14-Oct-2013 20:50
Oddest thing. It's October 14th and one of these showed up in my living room. Beautiful to see this time of year. Our oldest discovered it as she was playing. We have no idea where it came from.

@Harig48fan 11-Oct-2013 03:14
A few weeks ago my kids put one of these cats in a jar and fed it alot of dill. When it came out of the chrysalis it looks nothing like a butterfly more like a wasp. Has anyone else experienced this?

Karli 27-Sep-2013 17:49
I just had one on my orange tree, i regularly have Giant Swallowtails. as i was getting more leaves for the GST i seen the green chrysalis and brought it in. i guess i got it just in time as 3 days later a beautiful black swallowtail emerged. i cant find anything on them using an orange tree as a host does anyone know if its common?

Anne 17-Sep-2013 15:30
We brought in small swallowtail cat with the parsley plant. This is middle of September in Manitoba will they form a chrysalis before winter.

Guest 16-Sep-2013 00:43
I have fennel in the front and back yard of my home specifically for swallowtails. The lone plant in the front yard has already supported 5 caterpillars at least a month ago. Since then there were 2 more that took the plant down to stubs. Today I find 6 more on this same plant. The fennel in my back yard is 4' tall and very dense and there is nothing on it! Please explain. The only difference in the surroundings is that the larger one is very near a horseradish plant.

Barbara Nemec 11-Sep-2013 12:02
I have two black swallowtails that have been in chrysalis for 3 weeks now.I'm wondering why they haven't hatched yet.Is it too late in the summer? will I have to wait until spring.If so where can I put them threw the cold ct. winter?Today is Sept. 11 here in Connecticut.I still see lots of butterflies.It is still warm here.Can they still hatch after 3 weeks? I am very concerned. Thank you for any help

MC 02-Sep-2013 12:53
We have 5 caterpillar stages on a Lovage (herb) plant which is in the carrot/celery family . It is fast being consumed and will be gone in a day or so . What will happen to the caterpillars as they are most likely not fully developed. What can I do to have them continue feeding such that they can complete their metamorphosis? tks Need help fast!!!

Elizabeth 23-Aug-2013 17:04
It's mid August here in Ohio and I have 3 caterpillars...one has just gone to chrysalis (even though much smaller than the others!) and two are slowing down on eating as if they will follow suit soon. I've read that they may need to winter over...how will I know if I need to set them up for the winter?

Susan K. 22-Aug-2013 20:34
Hi Bob - Don't know if you still monitor this as the last comments were in 2011. I live in SE Michigan. I have a BS caterpillar and three or four that are in various instars. Regarding your comment about them entering diapause in late summer for the winter - if they are in the pupa stage over the winter, will they be able to survive? Or should I bring them in the basement or something? I set up a habitat similar to what you described - hope these guys make it. They are devouring the rue plant they are living on. Can I put carrot tops in or does it have to be a live plant? Any recommendations? Thank you

Nancy 19-Aug-2013 01:25
This site was great. My 10 year old broke her foot and this has been a life saver. We did this 2 years ago with only 2, this year we have a 10 gallon tank with 7 caterpillars. We have 3 in 1st stage, 2 adults, and 2 that just went to pupa. This has been a blast to watch them crawl around and grow since we can't do much anything else.

Wildwhippetwoman 18-Aug-2013 18:33
I have a tiny parsley plant in my herb garden. Yesterday I found 3 black swallowtail caterpillars on this one tiny plant! We first thought they were monarchs but after researching a bit, it clearly states Monarch's only eat milkweed species and while I've been wanting to get butterfly weed in my garden, I haven't had time to add anything new. We moved and I couldn't bear to leave my irises, day lilies, a rose, some lilies of the valley, etc so I've had plenty to plant w/out adding more plants in need of planting. I'm also planning a bird garden for next year where get grow the components of commercial seed. Busy! Jen

Jerilynn 18-Aug-2013 18:09
Forgive me if someone already wrote this, and I missed it. Some butterflies and moths appear with "little" or "damaged" wings. They crawl up a branch or just upward and hang while their wings fill with blood and within minutes, the wings are large. If you keep a cocoon, be sure to place a stick in the container.

Jae 04-Aug-2013 17:23
I really appreciate your thoroughness on the pictures

Rhonda 22-Jul-2013 13:57
One year I had two chryalids but one emerged too early to surive and the cat knocked the other one down. Last year I had three chrysalids but all had been parasitized. I'll try again this year.

Jennifer C 16-Jul-2013 21:00
Can someone please help. I'm new at gardening and found these black swallow caterpillars on my parsley plant. I'm okay with that, now I'm trying to raise them I planted 3 parsley plants in a 20 gallon fish tank with screen on top. Caterpillars and all. There's like 20 of them...they're so beautiful!! My questions are as follows. First off the leaves are almost all gone. Will they eat the stems too? and secondly is what I'm doing right? I also put sticks inside at angles for them to make their chrysalises

Guest 12-Jul-2013 03:19
Barbara R - I went outside to get some parsley for our scrambled eggs and found 14 Third Instar Stages. They become full grown caterpillars that 1st day as they ravenously ate all the parsley in the pots. I took a triangular tomato cage and sewed window screening on the top and sides. On the 2nd day, I bought some more parsley from the store to feed them, but noticed that some were starting to shrivel. I left the cage open so that the full grown caterpillars could leave if they wanted to. Came back a few hours later and they stayed in the cage. Later the 2nd day into the evening they started showing something like a cotton 'fuzz' on their bodies. I'm so glad that I saw this site because now I know that they are doing what is normal and entering the early pupa stage. I am very excited to see this progression to a butterfly!

Cody L 06-Jul-2013 13:17
Thank you for this wonderful visual. We are able to enjoy them exponentially more now that we know what to look for! To answer your question of where they go- I found them retreating to a nearby basil plant where they tethered onto the sturdy branches. Cheers and thanks again from Tarpon Springs, FL!

Gillian 04-Jul-2013 01:51
So glad to find this site! I just found about 6 caterpillars or pre-pupa stage cats on my parsley in my back yard in Florida, and I'm very excited. I'd like to protect them from birds, but I think it's too hot here for me to put the parsley plant in a fishtank or any kind of glass container, even with an open lid. Other suggestions, please?

Guest 30-Jun-2013 00:58
There are some black swallowtails eating my dill. I'm not going to move them and I really want to watch them and see what they do.

Will C 29-Jun-2013 03:57
I had two on my parsley plant. When I found them hey were very large and about to enter the pre-pupa stage. I put a small enclosure together with parley,sticks,leaves,etc. Very soon they "hooked up" on a stuck. Right now one is in its chrysalis and on is still in its pre-pupa stage. Can't wait to see them hatch.

Jeff & Michelle 28-Jun-2013 18:17
I hope mine does alright!!! He isssss fully grown according to up top and i took him away from outside because of the birds and wasps and put him on my front portch! I also made him a little tube with paper towel for him to pupate on. Me and my wife just got married and want to release him free. Gertrude seems to have been good luck to us!

Karolina 19-Jun-2013 21:57
Thank you for sharing this, my caterpilars disapeareded yesterday, good to know i have two weeks to find them. Greetings from Crete, Karolina

janet leblanc 06-Jun-2013 21:03
it's only the end of may , and i have found BS eggs on my fennel plant they have already hatched into small cat's (first stage), what i want to know is where did they come from , do these eggs overwinter, i know the adult hasn't even been around yet. I live in massachusetts , and the adult doesn't show up till july or later......can't figure this out.

Peggy 07-May-2013 13:09
Thank you for the great photos and information! I'm waiting for my butterflies to emerge.

Peggy in TX 14-Apr-2013 17:49
Found a pre-pupa in my sage plant, 20 feet from the dill. I'm glad to send but your website won't allow me to add here....

Maggie Nebel 07-Feb-2013 11:42
I have 9 chrysalis in a tall mesh laundry basket and am eagerly awaiting Spring! Do I need to do anything like mist them?? I have not done anything since they formed in September - one emerged at the end of the season and it was soo beautiful. Thank you for your great, informative web site- Maggie

JoEllen D. 31-Jan-2013 00:12
I brought two black swallowtail caterpillars along with a potted fennel plant inside in October. They both turned into chrysalis three days apart just before November. Now in late January one has emerged and I suspect the second is not far behind. In our northern Indiana climate I cannot turn them loose. Any suggestions on my next step? I've placed both water and sugar water in the container with them along with some fennel fronds. I was really hoping they would have waited for warmer weather but Mother Nature had a different plan. Our local zoo's butterfly exhibit is closed for the season. I suppose I should have taken them back outside once strung up but hindsight.......

Mrs. Eads 31-Oct-2012 01:04
Our family found 9 newly hatched BST caterpillars in our herb garden happily devouring our parsley. We put them in our little butterfly net-house to watch them grow. 2 caterpillars secured themselves to the top of the netting before any of the others got the urge to do the same. The next day, three others began roaming around searching for the right spot. In the process they knocked the first 2 off of their little "silk buttons" so they were only hanging from their "slings". The next morning they were both on the floor, but they had fully pupated. I assumed they died and put them outside when I was refreshing the parsley supply. One went in the garden, the other one wiggled so I placed it resting upright in the top of a pineapple I had planted. The one in the pineapple is still quite intact and looking like the other ones that are in the house. Could it still be alive? If so, what should I do to give it the best chance? I previously had read that if a chrysalis becomes loose and is not hanging precisely in the way that it is supposed to, it would not develop. But tonight I read that you can let them lie on the floor and they will be fine as long as they have something to climb onto. Does anyone have any advice for us?

Cindy Mark 30-Oct-2012 20:27
I have a BS cat in the chrysalis stage attached to my fence. He has been there for about seven weeks now. Will it remain in this stage for the entire winter? Should I try to protect it from the winter snow?

DG 25-Oct-2012 19:09
great site, I have about 40 catapillars on my fennel plant. This is the third time this summer, I was very fortunate to watch the entire 4 stages from eggs to the black swallowtail butterfly. Looking forward to the experience again!!!!Your site has been very helpful. Thank you.

James 08-Oct-2012 23:47
Hi,
It is October 8th in Chicago, and the weather has hovered just around freezing the last few nights. I spied 3 last stage caterpillars on my parsley plants in a planter, and moved them in to the garage during the last cold days. I am wondering how to help these poor critters survive the upcoming winter. Should I leave them to cocoon on this plant outside? Indian Summer hasnt come yet.....or bring the planter in the house, and keep in basement where the temperature is around 68 through the winter.....I just wanted to help save them since they were born so late in the season, probably mid to late september....please feel free to comment and advise. Thanks!

Shy 28-Sep-2012 15:50
We found 10 BS catterpillars on our carrot tops and we gathered them all up in some jars to watch them we now have 2 chrysalises and 1 starting we have about 2 weeks before we start having butterflies and we are all excited my 2 daughters are 2 and 3 and love watching them grow by the day and cant wait for the next stage. We are on stand by with a camera and will be setting up a 30 gallon fish tank to watch the miracle. What was even better was that my 3 yr. old started preschool and this week was bug and insect week and she got to show her class what we found and at that time she had 2 stages of the metamorphasis.

D C Townsend 26-Sep-2012 16:22
I was at Yardmaster's yesterday and identified small larvae on three potted parsley plants. Sadly they were in trouble because there was just not enough food to bring them to maturity so they are going to starve--if somebody does not kill them first.
It brought back memory of a larva I found on Mother's carrot plants. I kept and cared for that one until it went to pupa stage. Then I waited for butterfly but got a parastic wasp which I think is called a braconid or something like that.

D C Townsend 26-Sep-2012 16:20
I was at Yardmaster's yesterday and identified small larvae on three potted parsley plants. Sadly they were in trouble because there was just not enough food to bring them to maturity so they are going to starve--if somebody does not kill them first.
It brought back memory of a larva I found on Mother's carrot plants. I kept and cared for that one until it went to pupa stage. Then I waited for butterfly but got a parastic wasp which I think is called a braconid or something like that.

Brenda Sturgis 09-Sep-2012 17:24
Ok, dso I am as new to raising butterflies as I can be! I have found 7 cats and 5 eggs. Two cats have become chrsalises, and 3 eggs have hatched! I literally watched one of the cats on my way home driving in my car become the chrsalis! Awesome! I am sitting here with my camera ready to capture the third one on video! Wish me luck!!

Wini F. 31-Aug-2012 00:47
We have 8 full grown caterpillars on our parsley plant! They have doubled in size in just a few days. We've put a chicken wire cage over the plant to keep birds and critters off but are wondering if we need to remove it before they caterpillars form their cocoons. Will they be able to survive on the plant or do they need to get to a more protected area? Any suggestions?

Cece 30-Aug-2012 19:15
After watching my sweet little wild birds gobbling up one swallowtail caterpillar after another...I was determined to help the victims. I bought a marvelous double door opening in the front tarrarium from Pet Smart...and started my first and totally successful butterfly farm. Butterflies are emerging left and right...the remaining caterpillars are not just fat but obese...getting ready to cacoon themselves...and by the time this whole thing is over I will have helped almost 30 swallowtails back into the wild. They are all large, very colorful...healthy...and ready for flight about an hour after emerging from their chrystalis. This project has been so easy and totally enjoyable. My 9 year old granddaughter is raising some, too...and is an excellent care taker of these most delicate creatures. I am passing on to her the joys and responsibility of loving something wild...and knowing that its place is in the wild...not being kept in a jar or away from its natural habitat. I've also got box turtle eggs I'm keeping an eye on at one corner of my yard. But I ask...is there anything more wonderful than seeing a butterfly gliding about one's property. Not in the least! Go butterflies go!

Ilana 22-Aug-2012 19:29
We found four in our garden on our dill a few weeks ago, and put them in a habitat. Today the first one changed from a caterpillar. I CANNOT wait until my daughter gets home from school.

It was crazy fast. It got up on the branch yesterday in a hook shape. When I saw it at 7:15 this morning, it was still like this. By 11:15, it was in the pod which was light green. It's darker now just a few hours later. So crazy cool!!

jackie 21-Aug-2012 15:12
I had a black swallowtail catapillar crawl up on my deck and hang itself on the bottom side of my deck railing. We watched it change into a chryllis and we are waiting to see which swallowtail appears. I raise monarchs every summer and have never been able to find swallowtail larvae so it will be great to see a different butterfly!

Allison 31-Jul-2012 23:25
We found four caterpillars, and kept two. One is in the pupa stage for about a week. It's still pretty green. The second just entered pre-pupa last night. My 7 year old and I are loving witnessing this most amazing natural event. Fascinating. Thank you for this site.

Juli 24-Jul-2012 02:32
Thank you so much for the great timeline. I have 2 on my parsley plants and I know exactly what to expect and watch for. One is in the early pupa stage, ( it stayed right on the plant) the other shed its skin in the third instar stage yesterday and I was even able to get pictures of it holding the face plate! I am now looking forward to whether I have a boy or a girl!!!

Juli 24-Jul-2012 02:32
Thank you so much for the great timeline. I have 2 on my parsley plants and I know exactly what to expect and watch for. One is in the early pupa stage, ( it stayed right on the plant) the other shed its skin in the third instar stage yesterday and I was even able to get pictures of it holding the face plate! I am now looking forward to whether I have a boy or a girl!!!

Maivette 17-Jul-2012 01:14
Hello! Did u ever think this site was going to have such impact on people???? I am glad it did and also I am glad I could read some about the BS

Guest 13-Jul-2012 15:15
I found a black swallowtail in the third instar stage living on my parsley. I knew it was a swallowtail but I didn't know anything else until I found this page. Very informative! after a week it climbed onto a twig I place with the parsley it was eating and entered the Pre-pupa stage. I put it in a butterfly pop-up holder we had to keep it safe. A week and a half later it emerged. I never really saw it turn into the late pupa stage unless it happened so quickly before it emerged. It was Female and as soon as her wings were dry she took off.

Guest 10-Jul-2012 16:16
mine has been in chrysalis since june 13th. i had two. one hatched 8 days into it and didn't form correctly. his wings never flattened out so i put him out for bird food :( but this guy is still sitting there. think he's a goner?

Guest 07-Jul-2012 00:12
I had 3 caterpillars on my dill plants earlier this week. Noticed tonight that one has cocooned on the base of the dill stalk! Very excited to watch it develop!

JimG 06-Jul-2012 16:21
We have had 11 butterflies hatch in the last 2 weeks. We first found the caterpillars on our dill weed, which produced 2 chrysalis' and 2 butterflies; then we found numerous caterpillars on the parsley. We covered the plant with net, and watched them grow. To date 9 butterflies have hatched from the parsley plant. It has been a great experience.

Liz 25-Jun-2012 19:07
Four caterpillars on parsley. All went into chrysalis. Two females have come out and two still in chrysalis. I live in NE kansas,

Megan 25-Jun-2012 01:58
I need help!!! I have a black swallowtail in his chrysalis. He's been in there for a couple days. Today he got bumped and his rear end fell off the branch. He is hanging by his sling. Will he be ok this way??????? or do I need to help him. I can't find anything about this on the internet.

Denise Z 22-Jun-2012 22:08
I am fortunate enough to have had one of the caterpillars "mount" on my hurricane shutter right in front of my back porch! I plant dill and parsley for them and I swear this is their thank you. The caterpillar became a chrysalis last Sunday (Fathers Day)

Suzanne 17-Jun-2012 07:07
I had a Facebook friend post a photo of all these caterpillars eating her parsley plant yesterday. Today they were scheduled for extermination. I got on the internet and found that they were Swallowtails. I rescued all 61 of them! I rushed out and bought 5 little parsley plants; hardly enough to keep all of them fed. I experimented and found that they will also eat the leaves off carrots and celery stalks. It's going to be tough raising all these little guys!

Kathy D. 15-Jun-2012 12:42
Hi, Just noticed six caterpillars of the Black Swallowtail butterfly on my dill plant. Hoping they all hatch into butterflies. Enjoyed your post here.

Terri 13-Jun-2012 18:42
I started my parsley from seed in late February here in Kansas City. I love parsley. I live in an apartment, and I transplanted several starter plants in several containers along with basil on my balcony. Last Friday morning when watering, I noticed "striped catepillars eating away at my plants!! I was immediately angry!! I clipped the stem plants they were on and put them in a jar and put them out in the lawn (I can't kill anything)! I went inside and looked up on line as to WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN EATING MY PARSELY 2 STORIES UP! It said, "Black Swallowtail Butterfly Catepillars." Oh no--I felt so guilty! So, I went down, gathered them all back up, and made a habitat for them inside--I had 8, but now I'm down to 6--after a week, they are HUGE! I'm running out of my own parsley, which is organic, and I may have to buy store bought--rinsed well! I hope that it doesn't kill them. I've placed sticks all over since I read that they typically will not pupate on the Host Plant. One of them, the largest, is crawling everywhere. I read that when they do this, they are looking for the place they want to go into their chrysalis stage. I'm watching and waiting... :))

Trish 07-Jun-2012 22:38
I found a swallowtail cat in my garden and brought it in, along with the plants it was eating.
2 days in, it hung itself upside down, "feet" away from the stick it's parked on.
Can anyone tell me how long after it is in this position it should start shedding the skin?
I know its still alive, it wriggled when my son blew a light air on it, but
it's been this way since about 8pm last night, almost 24 hours.
Thanks for your help!

Trish 07-Jun-2012 22:35
I found a swallowtail cat in my garden and brought it in, along with the plants it was eating.
2 days in, it hung itself upside down, "feet" away from the stick it's parked on.
Can anyone tell me how long after it is in this position it should start shedding the skin?
I know its still alive, it wriggled when my son blew a light air on it, but
it's been this way since about 8pm last night, almost 24 hours.
Thanks for your help!

Barbara Walton 01-Jun-2012 20:10
I almost fed these caterpillas to the hens, but then had a feeling they might be swallowtail butterflies. So pleased I didn't despatch them.

Guest 23-May-2012 23:49
i had a dill plant with three of theses eggs and i took them in a butterfly cage fed them dill and after a while they turned into the pupa but one died in the pupa but in the end one female and one male

RattleHeadBaits 09-May-2012 11:10
We had a swallow tail butter fly caterpillar make a cocoon in the first of Oct 2011. We were expecting it to hatch and fly south before the first frost around the last of the month. It did not and we kept it in the house all winter. On May the 9th 2012 it came out of its cocoon and we set it free. My son would ask when it was going to hatch and I had given up on it. We live in East Tennessee and the average first and last frost is Oct. 20 and April the 20th. Over 7 months in the cocoon.

Mary 04-May-2012 22:19
Thank you for this wonderful site. I live in Atlanta, planted lots of parsley last fall and thought that I would have seen parsleyworms by now. Can anyone weigh in? Many thanks, Mary

megan 03-May-2012 22:15
I found a female who didn't fly for 24 hours and a miracle happened when I went home for lunch.She flew away!

Mike 29-Apr-2012 18:20
do swallowtails cacoons start on tomato plants by chances ?

george 03-Mar-2012 13:59
my black swollowtial was born and i didnt realize it it got really weak so what do you think i should feed it

justin 03-Dec-2011 11:05
i got about seven of BS caterpillars and they all hatched out in three weeks

Lilian Fung 20-Nov-2011 17:06
One of my black swallowtail chrysalis hatched into a butterfly this morning and it is already Nov 20th. What should I do? We don't want it to die out in the cold weather but don't want to kill it by keeping it indoors either. Please advise.

Monica 19-Oct-2011 02:00
I hope someone can give me some info as soon as possible. It is Oct. 18, 2011, and getting preety cold here in Wisconsin. I had 3 Black Swallowtail caterpillars on my potted parsley plant. I found them just a couple of weeks ago when they were very small. I've been trying to protect them from birds and strong wind gusts and cold rain by moving the pot to protected spots. This weekend I decided to bring them into the house because the winds were gusting up to 35 mph and there was a cold rain. I had to leave my apartment for a day, and when I got back, all 3 were missing from the plant. I finally found 2 near the sliding glass patio door -one was attached to the edge of the frame and the other was lying in the track, only in inch or so from the first caterpillar. I knew they were transitioning into the chrysalis stage, but I had to move them. I am wondering what I can do now to help them survive. Do they over-winter in Wisconsin? Should I put the pupa back outside? Will they continue to develop in the chrysalis if they are not hanging from their "string?" I would really appreciate accurate info about what to do!

Suzanne 18-Oct-2011 18:46
I am so happy to have found this site. I have 12 BS caterpillars that were on 2 parsley plants in my garden. I covered the plants to keep the pillars safe. Due to cats, other wildlife I have placed the plants and pillars in their own little safe place. A large plastic container, holes drilled on all sides. Screen on top. I know they will be wintering over because here on the northeast coast of the USA it is getting cold now. Any info to guide me will be appreciated. I had 2 BS pillars 2 years ago tha tI watched morph and it was amazing.

becky 09-Oct-2011 01:29
We have a swallow tail that we found in the wild that is probably going to make a chrysis tonight. When do you think it will emerge?

Momma Goose 04-Oct-2011 04:22
I would like some insight - we have had a 5th instar BS caterpillar for 12 days inside eating on a parsley plant. He was already a 5th instar when we found him and we thought he would be pupating very soon. We know he's eating because the leaves are disappearing, he switches branches, and poops alot. But he is not very active. Does anyone know what the timeline is for them to pupate, or form their chrysalis after they reach the 5th instar? Is it taking this long because he is going to overwinter? I'm just hoping he's not sick.

Karen 28-Sep-2011 18:31
I had six caterpillars in my classroom. One turned into a chrysalis which was pale green and the others were dark grey. We were wondering why the difference in color. Only the green chrysalis has come out. The others have been in the chrysalis state for a least 3 weeks. Are they dead?

Susie 26-Sep-2011 00:35
I've been raising swallowtails and monarchs for 5 years now. I found a chrysalis lying on the bottom of the tent with no "threads" attached to it. Do I leave it lying on the bottom of the tent next to the netting that it can climb onto or do I do something else with it? I've hot glued monarch chrysalises by the little stem and was successful with that and I've used thread but the swallowtails don't have anything to attach it with. What does anyone suggest I do? The chysalis is active because when touched it wiggles around.

Guest 22-Sep-2011 00:08
I had bs caterpillars munching my bronze fennel ealier in the summer, now I have a few on my rue plant and one on my carrots ~ so FUN to watch! have a crysalis on a piece of wood on my carport I am watching daily ~ on the RUE plant I also have giant swallowtail caterpillars ~ they look like little monsters crawling all over the leaves ~ at first glance, I thought they were bird poop!! C from Camp Hill, Pa

Beth 19-Sep-2011 19:48
I have had the priviledge of raising Monarchs in my Florida room (because of our unusual 24 degree winter weather last 2 yrs), but now find most of my garden vistors to be Swallowstails. Watched several females lay eggs on my Persian lime tree and now have several cats that look somewhat like what I'm seeing here, but no spikey stuff. They look more like slugs with colored bands and they are eating the lime tree leaves. I havent' seen anywhere that lime trees are hosts. I put jars of parsley at the base of the tree and we'll see what happens. Don't want to kill any butterfly cats, but don't want some renegade worm eating my lime tree, either. It's real hard gardening in Florida, between the bugs and weeds and unpredictable weather. I love my butterflies and want to provide the right element for the cats - but my lemon/lime trees? Can anyone provide information? thanks.

Amy T. 15-Sep-2011 01:32
I found my caterpillar on Friday night he had eaten all my parsley. Tonight he is in the Early Pupa stage. I haven't done this since I was 10, I'm 42. My 5 year old is so excited. I think this is going to be so fun for her to watch.

Ashley 09-Sep-2011 01:10
Hi, I have a question, I've collected 7 caterpillars and 5 already in their chrysalis 2 are just starting their final stages, one problem though, 1 of the caterpillars has decided to start forming its chrysalis onto of another, is there a way to remove them or, will they be ok the way they are?

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

Type your message and click Add Comment

It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest. Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help	private comment

Marilyn Sala		21-Jul-2024 13:23
I have had great success for years once the eggs are deposited on my dill. This year one pupa formed on parsley instead. It grew just like the rest; pupa looked the same, but when it should have come out, leaving the fully formed chrysalis, he punched a small hole and came out with a fully formed body, but with small, skinny wings, looked like a wasp. What was that??

Guest		08-Jan-2019 20:05
I am in Ct and one of my chrysalis hatched. To cold for the outside what do I feed him. So far honey water and fresh oj.

Gail		01-Oct-2018 19:33
Found my guy first instar September 21st on my parsley, it now looks full grown. Getting cold in Michigan so maybe I will have an over winter swallowtail. Thank you for the pictures, they helped me ID all the phases.

Cindy		11-Sep-2018 15:16
I found four caterpillars on some Parsley. I put all four in a "critter cage" complete with water and parsley sprigs. Three of the four made chrysalis'. Today the first one emerged! It is a male. It took 12 days to emerge. Another one is coming soon. The chrysalis is turning darker. The last one is a different color. The other two chrysalis' were light green. The last one is tan. Does this mean the last one died? This is so cool that next year I will plant more parsley. I will give the little cage to a teacher across the street to take to her classroom. I live in Illinois.

Guest		11-Aug-2018 11:28
I walked past my garden 2 days ago, and noticed that my parsley plant was stripped. We live in an area with a large deer population, and they destroy most everything else, but they have never touched my herbs, so I was shocked to see this, at first. Closer inspection, 2 black swallowtail caterpillars were the culprits. Later in the day I noticed they had moved to the nearby fennel. The next day, 1 was missing, and then yesterday I noticed that the remaining one had stopped munching. Today it is missing. I looked around the garden for a crysalis, but found none. I had no idea until a month ago that the host plants for Swallowtails were members of the carrot family. I hope they survived. Next year that garden will be better prepared for the entire lifecycle of its residents.

Mrs. Augustine		27-Jul-2018 16:45
My daughter and I have been raising the black swallowtails since 2004 in our backyard. My daughter's grade school got us interested when she was in second grade, the school raised Painted Ladies. To this day I have never seen the stage when they transform into a chrysalis, or watched them emerge from the chrysalis. Thank you for your incredible photos to complete my curiosity. Out of 13 caterpillars this year, only 5 will complete the transformation. So I will use your idea to create a safe haven in a fish tank. Thanks again. I have noticed that once these Butterflies are released in our backyard, the females always seem to find their way back to my gardens every year.

Johnny Berridge		24-Jul-2018 15:33
I'm asking about the length of time the swallowtail will and can stay a chrysalis. A few changed in what seemed a reasonable amount of time, but I have a lot this year that are doing the opposite, some are green and some brown. One type of Black eats the camphor leaves and another a small green stick like plant with plenty of seeds that look like the eggs. I live in Texas.

Debbie		20-Jul-2018 00:32
Many caterpillars are on our dill plants. Will they form a chrysalis there or will they move somewhere else?

Joanie Howe		17-Jun-2018 23:10
This is the first time I planted dill and I already have about 12 black swallowtail caterpillars on it> am going to buy another dill plant and put it in a butterfly cage and put 2 of the caterpillars on it.

Laura Wright		06-Oct-2017 04:55
Sixteen appeared on my parsley plant a few days ago...they are large now and today, I noticed they are not moving...appear to be stuck to the place they are on the stems. I am photographing them each day and will follow each day as I love all nature/insect things. I hunted what we called locust when a kid/late 40's and all of the '50s...took them home and placed them on the window screens at night so they would come out of their shells overnight...took my grandkids to hunt them so they could enjoy nature, share their lives and allow them to fly the next morning...loved you site and video/slide. thank you

Toby		24-Sep-2017 17:48
One of my bulk swallowtails broke his tail silk while wriggling out of his skin. Although still attach. By thorax silks, he has gone still. Anyone know if he will live?

Darlene		14-Sep-2017 20:42
It's mid-September in Maryland and I have 30+ swallowtail caterpillars, in varying stages of development, on my parsley. The temps are in the 70's. Should I allow them to form chrysalis' and emerge or try to overwinter them? Some are ready to form the chrysalis but others are little more than 1/3" long!

Jonnie Alms		10-Sep-2017 20:23
I found 2 caterpillars on my Queen Ann Lace, looks like 3rd stage. Brought them in with food. What should I expect if I continue to be successful? Will they "hatch" later in Fall or wait til spring? Then what???

Janet		02-Sep-2017 15:09
I have a BS in its chrysalis on my back patio. It has been in there all of July and all of August. Its now September and I have a a few concerns / questions that I am hoping someone can answer. For reference, I am in south-western Ontario. 1) will it still emerge? try to over-winter in the chrysalis? Fall is well under way here and we had quite a rainy summer. There's not a large abundance of flowers for it to drink nectar from in the coming days. 2) how would I know if it died in the chrysalis? 3) is there anything I can do to help over-winter it until spring? Help? what do I do?

Ethan Fogle		13-Jul-2017 23:35
Planted some dill in my vegetable/herb garden this year. It was the first time ever growing dill and I already have Black Swallowtail caterpillars. Time to plant more next year.

Carol		02-Jul-2017 13:24
Since August of 2016 I have had a Spicebush Swallowtail cacoon on a door frame of our garage. I have photographed it and now it has turned a light brown with black strips on it. When should it hatch into a butterfly? It is now July 2, 2017.

Anna		25-Jun-2017 22:51
One of our butterflies just emerged. It is beautiful!! Do I need to provide any kind of food between now and the time it's ready to fly the coop??

David		19-Jun-2017 17:58
TWO QUESTIONS: 1) Is there a way to determine the gender while it's in the full grown caterpillar stage? I've got a few that I'm protecting from the birds. 2) I'm afraid I might run out of fennel flowers and fronds before they cocoon. If that happens, I may buy them some fresh parley. Do you know if they prefer curly or broad leaf?

Kathy		29-May-2017 12:52
Hi, I was wondering if the chrysalis changed color before the emergence of the butterfly... and found your site when I googled it! Thanks! I have herbs in a trough and have about 10 chrysalis left from the 20 or so catapillers that made it all of the way to the fullly grown stage... before a spider killed about half of them... I removed the spider... There are 3 chrysalis darker this morning, so I'll watch them closely! Thanks again for the information!

Isabel Cutler		04-May-2017 21:02
Thanks for this excellent compilation. I just discovered acouple of first or second instar stages on my parsley and had to upload an image to bugguide.net for an ID. When they suggestion black swallowtail I remembered that several years ago my parsley got invaded by a bunch of caterpillars:http://www.pbase.com/isabel95/image/86002050 I'm not very knowledgeable about caterpillars and had no idea that males and females had different coloration.

Guest		18-Jan-2017 01:30
We found a fully grown BS on ourvwest facing window sill 6 day ago in Chicago How could it have gotten there and how do wenkeep.it al7ve, it's beautiful

Laurie Neese		17-Nov-2016 22:31
here in the funky industrial part of San Francisco, a week ago one of our guys brought me a caterpillar he found on the concrete floor of our warehouse....it was inches from becoming smush. there is barely any vegetation around here but fennel so i figured that's what it was feeding on. put it in a clear container with some fennel and noted it was frantically moving around, not eating but seeming to search for a good spot to string up. i made a few modifications to the container and it immediately found an appropriate spot. over night it had moved into chrysalis. the guys come in all the time to check on it's progress and have even named it. i am enjoying being able to expose these urban folks to natures' wonders. most of them had never seen metamorphosis in action. i will keep an eye on it to note if it darkens prior to emerging. hope it happens during a weekday when we are in the office; maybe i will begin to take it home on weekends...wouldn't want to miss it!

Jeanne		27-Oct-2016 14:27
I have the same problem as Kris - a very late caterpillar! Have it inside in a glass container and wondering what to do now (upstate NY and it is snowing today). It is WAY LATE. Do they hibernate after emerging from a chrysalis? If it is at all warm can I release a butterfly in mid November - of course, no flowers then!? Any suggestions welcome ! thank you.

Brendan		25-Oct-2016 00:12
Kris, What did you decide to do? I have the same situation now in New England.

Guest		24-Oct-2016 02:52
Kris, I'm no expert, but I think they overwinter in the chrysalis stage. I would put them back outdoors so that they respond appropriately to the chilly fall temps and don't emerge in November.

Guest		22-Oct-2016 16:12
Oct. 21 - My grandchildren just found 4 BS caterpillars on the parsley. We'll net them and hopefully they will form chrysali --- think they will hatch yet this fall??

Kris		11-Oct-2016 01:21
I brought in my parsley plants and while watering, noticed I have a Instage 2 and a Full grown Caterpillar on my plants. I don't want to take them outside where they could freeze (SE Michigan) but I also don't want them to think it's spring and emerge early. Can someone offer suggestions to keep them safe and contained? Thanks.

Harry		08-Oct-2016 19:27
I had no luck using Parsley as a host plant since it is so hot here in San Antonio TX. I tried Rue and finally in September all of the plants (5) have Black Swallowtail caterpillar. BTW I also grow Milkweed and so far over 50 Queens and about 20 Monarch (spring) have made it all the way through the cycles from egg to adults.