I have successfully attached BST chrysalises to a couple sticks in the aquarium tank where I usually put the cast when they are ready to pupate. If you have strands of silk on the ends of the chrysalis you can tape the silk to a stick or other surface. If there is no silk, I have taken a long thin piece of masking tape (approx 1/4 inch wide x 2 or 3 inches long) and wrapped it around the midsection of the chrysalis, and taped it to the stick. In both cases, I try to mimic the natural positioning of a chrysalis. This has been pretty successful. They usually come out and hang from the stick or chrysalis. If I were on my desktop I could probably post a picture! Oh, and the mesh pop up enclosures are great for butterflies. The mesh is soft and easy for the butterfly to cling to and hang on. I've got 5 Monarch chrysalises in a 12 x 12 pop up right now.

I think the person who wrote the original post was waiting for the caterpillar to pupate. When I read the post, that was the impression I got. It can take several days for a BST to pupate after it has made its silk harness. After pupating, it can take 10 days or longer to eclose or come out of the chrysalis as an adult butterfly. If you find a cat, you can bring it in and feed it parsley or fennel or any other host plant listed in the FAQs for Black Swallowtails. If it's ready to pupate, give it something to climb up on. One really easy thing to do, is to tape a piece of paper towel to the side of the container for the cat to crawl up on to pupate. I use this method when raising a large group of BSTs. You can also use sticks as mentioned in other threads on raising BSTs. If you find a chrysalis, just leave it. If it's green, it will most likely eclose this fall. If it's brown, there's a good chance it will wait until next spring to eclose. Hope this helps. :) Sandy

I raise BST. The brown chrysalis might take as long as a month to open. When there is not enough leaf cover when it pupates the chrysalis becomes brown to match bare wood. Its possible that the chrysalis then "thinks" it has to wait until more favorable circumstances to eclose. Just be patient, it will eventually emerge.

Also, do hatchlings sometimes skip the egg casing meal and jump straight into munching on leaves instead? I have two cats whose egg casings are still untouched, but they appear to be eating leaves and have little bits of frass underneath the leaves they are on, so I was just wondering if they can survive without eating the egg casing as long as they are eating leaves. thanks