1. Easy to attract. Their larval host plants include parsley, fennel, carrots, and Queen Anne’s lace — members of the Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) family. All you need is a large pot of parsley for the females to lay eggs on, and a good nectar plant, like a pot of lantana, to meet the needs of egg-laying females. Even better… you can almost always find small pots of parsley at a garden store during butterfly season… which makes bringing your caterpillars inside much easier. You don’t have to cut fresh springs of parsley every few days for your caterpillars.
2. Easy to find. Their caterpillar are easily visible on parsley leaves if you take the time to look. Early instars are dark brown with a cream-colored band around the middle. Later instars are green with black stripes and yellow dots. Some caterpillars camouflage a lot more! Try finding a tiger swallowtail caterpillar or a zebra swallowtail caterpillar if you didn’t watch a female laying eggs.
3. Most aren’t fussy. They’ll pupate almost anywhere. In my early caterpillar raising days I’ve had a black swallowtail pupate on an electrical cord, and another pupate on the piping of a couch cushion. They’ll even pupate on their own host plant, or the top of the emerging case. These days, I constrain their “walk-about” to the interior of a mesh emerging case, and include a small branch or sprig of parsley.
As a somewhat compulsive engineer and note-taker, I don’t always my bring caterpillars inside.
It takes time to keep records, monitor caterpillar growth, change out damp paper towels at the bottom of the emerging case (caterpillars need some humidity, and you need to clear away caterpillar dross — poop pellets — daily).
Plus I shoot a lot of pictures and videos. That takes time to process.
But I never tire of releasing my butterflies and watching them take first flight. It’s one of the joys of summer.
To learn more about raising butterflies, check out Project First Flight, Putney Hicks Inventor Adventures—Book 3.
Keep checking back for more posts, or check out my Butterfly Flight page at putneydesigns.com:
https://putneydesigns.com/butterfly-flight/
Do you have any favorite butterfly memories? Please comment and share!
Cheers!
Marsha & Mooney
