Black Swallowtail Caterpillars!
butterflymomok
14 years ago
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MissSherry
14 years agoLisa_H OK
14 years agoRelated Discussions
Black Swallowtail Caterpillars
Comments (27)I'm not having much luck with the BST's this year. Last year was my first year for them and at the end of summer I had 12 at one time, all did great and turned into beautiful butterflies. So far this year I found 4 1st instar ones. Everything seemed to be doing okay until they were 5th instar. One of them was lying on the bottom of the tank and his head was sort of black in color. He didn't seem to be doing too good, so I euthanized him. Then the 1st one to pupate couldn't seem to pick a good spot and ended up stuck on the bottom of the tank with his "webbing." I tried to carefully help him on to a stick, but something didn't go right when turning to a chrysalis and he was "leaking" something, so that was the end of him as well :( The last 2 are now Chrysalis and all appears well with them. Whew! These guys are giving me a run for the money this year. I hope I get another batch and all goes better with them. Sherry, last year I had one that was a lot darker, but he wasn't eating or doing too much. I finally figured out he was so dark because his old skin was stuck! I gave it a bit of a nudge, and that did the trick for him....See MoreBlack Swallowtail Visitor, Caterpillar, and Eggs, probably
Comments (12)I had a large pot of parsley on a picnic bench in the backyard since last year that didn't see a single BST caterpillar until it was well into the flowering stage, wouldn't you know. I was starting to think it wasn't going to happen, so I was a bit surprised to come outside one day and find caterpillars on it. I wound up getting more parsley and bringing two of them inside (I had never raised any inside before and didn't want to overdo it). Currently one of the two is in fourth instar (I think...I'm a little iffy on instars), and the bigger one has already assumed the J-position and will be pupating soon. The five outside seem to have lucked out with the predators so far. Well, down to four now...the biggest one seems to have finally wandered off somewhere. This post was edited by alex928 on Sun, Jul 6, 14 at 11:20...See MoreInundated by Black Swallowtail Caterpillars!
Comments (5)Susan, I have TONS of BST cats :)) DS LOVES to watches the cats grow and pupate and become "beautiful butterflies"! I have noticed one very sad occurence though. I have seen four BSTs after coming out of their cocoon (BTW - what's the term for that?) and all four of them have had a deformed rear right wing, none were able to fly. I placed them on the blooms of tall phlox and hoped for the best. I don't know what's causing it, I haven't used any types of pesticides on either fennel or the plants that they pupated on... it's just confusing the heck out of me! Courtney...See MoreBlack Swallowtail Caterpillar parasite -- what is it?
Comments (3)WHOAH! Creepy, im going to look that up....See Moresusanlynne48
14 years agoMary Leek
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14 years agoLisa_H OK
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14 years agoLisa_H OK
14 years agoLisa_H OK
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