Every day since late last week I have had polydamas swallowtail butterflies emerge from their chrysalsis in our butterfly house.
Yesterday I had 9 emerge and today I had 7 for a total of 187 all time raised and released, with 19 in six days. The wonderful part, there are more yet to show their beauty!
My influx of polydamas swallowtail caterpillars have almost all went into their chrysalis.
There are a few left still munching away on some Dutchman pipe, their host plant.
Today, on this glorious 4th of July, the first of probably dozens, has emerged.
This one marks 169 that we have successfully raised and released. Since it did not want to leave my finger, I left it on my purpletop vervain, which is doing incredibe with our daily down pours, so it can fly away when ready
Thank goodness for good friends and their abundance of Dutchman Pipe . . . my explosion of polydamas swallowtail caterpillars have more food!
It’s the little things that make me smile, such as going to my friends house to cut some of her Dutchman pipe to feed my caterpillars and finding some on hers as well. Another perk of butterfly gardening, sharing – both plant cuttings and caterpillars – so more can enjoy watching the lifecycle.
Best part, my little buddy, who was super excited to find a polydamas swallowtail walking down my sidewalk while he was over, is raising a couple dozen for me, so they continue to have plenty of food.
Never in all the years I have had a butterfly garden has the polydamas swallowtail population exploded to this amount. There’s probably close to 100 caterpillars!
These butterflies are having a record year, and now it’s host plant needs new growth, so they lifecycle can start all over again.
I have always wondered how a polydamas swallowtail has made its chrysalsis. I have read about the transformation, have seen the first step and the last step, but never the in-between until last night.
When the caterpillar is ready to enter its next stage it attaches a silk pad with its terminal prolegs, so it can hang from a silk girdle.
After the sun had gone down, the caterpillars started to do their dance as I was walking past the butterfly house. Another perk of having a butterfly garden, my husband’s beautiful creation of a butterfly house that has allowed countless viewings of the lifecycle.
I was so excited to witness the polydamas swallowtail make its chrysalis that I ran and grabbed my phone to record the incredible transformation.
It took more than 5 minutes for the caterpillar to complete the transformation. Check out the link below for the complete video on my Facebook page and be sure to follow for additional photographs and videos from the garden.
The polydamas swallowtail caterpillar that I found yesterday is now in its chrysalis today.
My food source for them is almost gone and there are probably another two dozen if not more caterpillars in the garden. There’s probably a dozen in the butterfly house that I found roaming around the garden, crawling on the house, or walking down our pathway.
