How to Raise Black Swallowtail Butterflies
- 1). Identify the round, cream-colored black swallowtail butterfly eggs on leaves of a host plant, such as bronze fennel, rue, parsley or dill.
- 2). Cut off the branch on which the eggs have been laid and place it in a narrow-necked vase, containing water. Place the vase in a warm and airy room.
- 3). Keep domestic pets such as dogs, cats or free-roaming birds, like parrots or parakeets out of the room. Monitor the movements of very small children in the room.
- 4). Observe the eggs for signs that they are turning black. This will take between four and eight days.
- 5). Monitor the black eggs very closely to observe hatching. The newly hatched black swallowtail butterfly caterpillar is under 1/2 inch in length. At this stage the caterpillar is almost completely black with a single white mark.
- 6). Place a host plant in its pot into an empty aquarium in the room in which the vase has been standing. Remove the leaf on which the newly hatched caterpillars are crawling and place it among the living leaves of the host plant.
- 7). Allow the caterpillars to leave the cut leaf and climb onto the living leaves. Remove the cut leaf and discard.
- 8). Allow the caterpillars to feed. Do not disturb the caterpillars as they feed on the living leaves and begin their molt cycle. You will notice considerable color changes as the caterpillar passes through its five molt cycles, which will take between 10 and 14 days. Yellow and white colors become prominent at each consecutive molt. These color changes are normal.
- 9). Place a number of dry sticks vertically into the pot, in preparation for the caterpillars soon to commence spinning. Do not interfere with the caterpillars once they prepare to spin. Observe the caterpillars as they attach their rears to either a part of the plant's stem or to one of the dry sticks. The caterpillars will proceed to spin threads of silk, which they wrap around their bodies.
- 10
Leave the caterpillar to spin. Between 20 and 24 hours after it began to spin, the caterpillar's skin begins to tear away to reveal a chrysalis which may be either green or brown, depending on where the caterpillar attached itself. - 11
Leave the chrysalis to hatch. Examine the chrysalis every few days for signs of hatching which will normally take between 10 and 14 days. Do not handle the newly hatched black swallowtail butterfly. It is very delicate and its wings are still crumpled because it has not yet pumped body fluid into them. - 12
Remove the potted plant on which the butterfly is sitting to an outdoor area where host plants are growing.
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