A giant swallowtail emerged today in our butterfly house. I had a few caterpillars that rode out Hurricane Milton in an enclosure in the garage for the day before I transported them back into the big butterfly house once the storm passed. A few days after putting them in the butterfly house, they created their chrysalis.
There are no other words to describe them than magnificent. The pure size of them is incredible.
I had three giant swallowtail caterpillars that I moved from my large butterfly house, which is located on my porch, to a smaller enclosure, to ride out Hurricane Milton safe in the garage.
Today, they were moved back to the larger butterfly house. They are on the move, ready to find that spot to make their chrysalis.
A special bond sure unfolds when you have a dog. Lily, our now 5 month old golden retriever, finds a way to snag a little more of my heart every day. This gentle big bear, a nickname we have given her, has become my butterfly sidekick.
I am a huge dog person, and well a butterfly enthusiast, as well.
The last few days we have released butterflies from our butterfly house, the first, an orange barred sulphur, and the second a male monarch butterfly. As soon as I say, we have butterflies, Lily jumps up on the ledge of our butterfly house to see and then walks outside and sits down so she can further inspect.
I fell in love with the “pure” sweetness of these captured moments.
The sulphur, both cloudless and orange barred, butterflies, lately, are my most visited butterfly species. They are fast bursts of sunshine fluttering about the garden! They love laying eggs on both of my bahama cassia and candlestick cassia trees.
The giant swallowtail caterpillars have returned to my wild lime tree with three now in my butterfly house.
The caterpillar goes through five instars, with feeding typically taking place during night hours. Each instar looks different in appearance. They resemble bird droppings when younger and rest on the top of the leaves. The larger caterpillar will rest on stems or leaf petioles.
We have had a record number of sulphur butterflies emerge in our butterfly house, 25 in 10 days. We’ve had both orange barred and cloudless sulphur butterflies emerge.
The best part . . . the number of sulphurs fluttering about the garden every day continuing the life cycle. The photo below shows many white eggs that have been deposited on the edge of the candlestick cassia plant.
