A few weeks ago (June 21), I noticed a caterpillar munching away on my fennel. I got very curious as to what it was, and grabbed the critter keeper (wishing I had a butterfly box like my neighbor!); I proceeded to cut the branch of fennel, put in water, and try to figure out what in the world I had! Just a note: apparently caterpillars are not the best documented, so it's pretty hard to ID from pictures just of caterpillars! Well, we were pretty sure it was a black swallowtail, judging from the pictures in our butterfly book. It was time to feed it and wait! And, boy did that thing eat and grow - FAST!! Oh, and did I mention we saw some eggs on the fennel, too? They hatched!! But only one survived... out of two we saw... The next day: June 22 Two days later (June 24), this thing was REALLY getting big! The next day (June 25th), the larger one seemed a lot less interested in food... well, I'll let you see what happened! Now came the wait and wondering (and watching the other one grow). Did we figure it out correctly, or would we be surprised with another caterpillar?? Meanwhile, on the same day, here's what the other one now looked like: And a size comparison of the second one with the chrysalis, also June 25th: I got a little lazy in the picture taking department, but watched daily as the other caterpillar became what the first one was. Days went by, and then on July 3rd, I find this (just before 9 am)!! The next thirty minutes were quite fun, with lots of studying this beauty up close, and reveling in the fact that we were right - we had a black swallowtail BUTTERFLY!!! Oh, and the second caterpillar decided that day was a good day to become a chrysalis, too! This time, we knew what we were getting out of the deal. Fast forward to today, just 7 days later!! And I was going to go out to move the car for my hubby, happened to glance outside, and lo and behold -- another butterfly waiting!!! More excitement, this time the baby was involved! :) I had noticed a few days ago that there were new eggs on the fennel in the garden (is our other butterfly already reproducing???), and while waiting for our butterfly today to dry its wings, I find these! Well, folks, that's all it took. More baby caterpillars - I need a butterfly box! Time for some gourd baking!!! I made a preliminary plan, found the wood I wanted out of the discard stash in the garage, and hubby dropped off power tools... what was he thinking?!?!? ;) I started the day finding 4 caterpillars (while holding the butterfly), found out the hard way that red wasps eat them (strengthening my disdain for them), found 2 more caterpillars while rescuing the remaining two of the first four, and then found two more caterpillars just before dark! We have SIX caterpillars now!!!
I also found what I think is an egg just about to hatch, producing one more! Thank goodness we have a nice, roomy box now for them - they can really eat a lot once they get bigger, and I"ll have to pack it out with fennel to keep them all fed!
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Carmen's Space to WriteI love to garden and craft, which becomes quite interesting with 3 little ones underfoot, and homeschooling the oldest! Archives
April 2018
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