The girdle . . .
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Category Archives: Giant Swallowtail
Self-defense
The giant swallowtail caterpillar has quite the defense when bothered. They have an osmeterium, which is a Y-shaped eversible gland, that is used to wipe against small predators, such as ants and spiders. When the caterpillar is in its fourth and fifth instars it contains a highly noxious, pungent mixture of chemicals, which has a very distinctive smell.
This giant is in our butterfly house. When I was moving around plants, it brushed the caterpillar sending him into defense mode. And, yes, there was a pungent smell that filled the space.
The giant
Our giant swallowtail caterpillar looks as if it is in the final larval instar, number five. It is said that the head of the caterpillar looks like a snake head.
Once it is ready to pupate, it will do so on small twigs, or find a place that has a vertical structure, as it creates its chrysalis at a 45 degree angle. It will be interesting to see where it makes its chrysalis in the butterfly house.
I first brought it in to our butterfly house on Aug. 29.
Doubled in size
The giant swallowtail that became a resident in our butterfly house on Aug. 29 has better than doubled in size. The caterpillar resembles that of bird poop, which helps when they are smaller as they sit on the top of surfaces in plain view. The caterpillar goes through five instars, with feeding typically taking place during night hours.
Sixty-six
Since we started our butterfly house I have kept count of how many butterflies we have raised, including what species. The month of May was a huge success, as we raised and released three different species amounting to 66 total butterflies: 51 monarch butterflies (to-date total 150), 14 gulf fritillary butterflies (to-date total 17) and one giant swallowtail (to-date total 2).
It is both easy and gratifying to raise butterflies within an enclosure. I started off with a mesh enclosure, before changing it to a wooden butterfly house that my husband built. All you need is the caterpillar’s host plant, and a lot of it, so it can go through all of its instars. I added some sticks within our enclosure, so the caterpillars can use it for its chrysalis, or sometimes an area to rest, or molt. Just beware that not all caterpillars make it to that final stage, or hatch if they do make a chrysalis. Sometimes nature takes its course.
A few of my favorite photos from May of the butterflies that we raised.
