Eastern Black Swallowtail

Eastern Black Swallowtail Female

Photo Nicky Davis.

Female Butterfly Cage

When butterfly caterpillars are difficult to locate, sometimes it is easier to collect live females and to get them to lay eggs in cages similar to what you see here.

Female Black Swallowtail Nectars on Honey Water

If you do have a live female butterfly, it is important to feed her by placing her on a paper towel saturated with honey water; 1 part honey to 10 parts water. If you uncoil her proboscis, she will only drink if she is thirsty. Click here for more photos and instructions on how to care for live female butterflies in your home or in the lab.

Swallowtail Egg

Eastern Black Swallowtail Third Instar Caterpillar

Swallowtail Caterpillar

Short-tailed black Swallowtail caterpillar feeding on parsley. The plant is in water.

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Once you have setup your water bottles with caterpillars on plant, place them in a 5 gallon bucket. Make sure the lid has plenty of ventilation either by poking holes in it or cutting out a circular section and fastening netting over the lid.

You need to replace your parsley cuttings and remove all waste every four days or so to ensure that your caterpillars are getting fresh plant in a healthy environment. (This type of procedure becomes extremely critical when raising indra swallowtails; which will be reviewed in the Techniques by Taxa section.)

Alternative Open Terrarium Setup

Here is a photo of another setup for Eastern Black Swallowtails. Place potted fennel, dill, or parsley in a 10 or 20 gallon terrarium and place near a window. Using this technique means that you don't have to replace host plant cuttings as the caterpillars are feeding on live plants.

Eastern Black Swallowtail Third Instar Caterpillar

This third instar caterpillar is feeding on rue (Ruta graveolens.) Some nurseries carry this plant if you can't locate fennel, dill, or parsley.

Eastern Black Swallowtail Fourth Instar Caterpillar

If you raise an Eastern Black Swallowtail on parsley cuttings, be sure to replace these cuttings every three days or so and remove frass (poop.)

Eastern Black Swallowtail Fifth Instar Caterpillar

When a fourth instar caterpillar molts to fifth instar, it loses its dark coloratino and is a green and black striped caterpillar with orange dots against the black stripes.

Eastern Black Swallowtail Fifth Instar Caterpillar

When a swallowtail caterpillar purges...

As yucky as that looks, once a swallowtail caterpillar purges in this fashion, it has finished feeding and will be looking to wander to find a suitable place to form a chrysalis.

Gizmo

This is just a homemade contraption--called a gizmo for lack of a better term--designed to be a great place for swallwtails to pupate. It is one of many possible designs that will work. Another option is to place a wandering, seeking to pupate, larva in an empty lunch sack fastened with paper clips also will work. Click here to see a video demonstration on how to construct a gizmo.

Western Black Swallowtail Pupa

Very similar to the eastern black swallowtail chrysalis.

Emerging a Swallowtail Butterfly

After your swallowtail caterpillar has formed a chrysalis in a lunch sack, "gizmo", or other suitable area, attach your pupa to a container laced with paper towel; so that it has sufficient room to emerge and pump out its wings. When a butterfly first emerges, its wings are as soft as butter. (No pun intended). It usually takes a few hours for its wings to harden up before its ready to fly. If you do turn your butterfly loose, be sure to release it in the same habitat as where you found it.