Summer Science

So, a couple of years ago, I learned that black swallowtail caterpillars *really* like dill. I accidenty bought some that had a few eggs on it for my garden that year and they grew and grew and ate my dill completely gone. Then they disappeared. Boo to them.

Fast forward to this spring as we were garden planning, Townshend and I decided to make things more caterpillar friendly. So, I did a little research and then, in addition to some marigolds and bright flowers, I got a bunch of dill and a little parsley and settled in to wait.

It didn't take long for there to be big, fat caterpillars. The boys really were fascinated with them. Happily, caterpillars are pretty chill and the occasional poke from a curious finger doesn't bother them much. Though, they do have these crazy antenna thingies that pop out of their heads when they're trying to look tough:

Happily, this year there were fewer caterpillars and, though they ate all my dill again, there was still enough parsley to go around. So, we watched them get fatter and fatter, and soon some started disappearing. I did some more reading online and it seems that black swallowtails are notorious for leaving their host plants to build their chrysalises. As it happened, my mom was visiting and I was griping to her about the rude caterpillars and how they were gonna leave *again*. And she, brilliant woman that she is, suggested that I grab a couple and put them in a jar to see if they wouldn't stick around and transform. So we did!

I had no jars with lids, so we had to make do

For a couple days, they just crawled around and ate and ate. I somehow was unaware of how much these little critters poop! From the looks of them, we figured it wouldn't be too long before they would be ready to build their chrysalises.. we were right. One afternoon, before naps, they were caterpillars. Then, a couple hours later, while making dinner, I noticed that they had changed!

caterpillars no longer

It was exciting.. Everyone like to peek in at them from time to time. Moon liked to walk over to the jar and say "caterpillars!" pretty regularly. Happily, I told him they were sleeping so he'd leave them alone and it seemed to work.

Though, a couple days after that, things got a little exciting. I noticed that mold was starting to form at the bottom of the jar and spread up the sticks. (turns out you're supposed to clean the jar from time to time.. whoops!)  However, the trusty internets helped out again, and I found a site that talked about ways to reposition the chrysalises if you had to change habitats.

I got out my latex gloves and faced the mold. Those chrysalises were *really* attached to those sticks! I thought maybe they'd just pop off, but I had to cut little strings 'cuz they were strong!

The site recommended putting a dab of hot glue (letting it cool until tacky) to attach them to the new stick.. it also said tin foil is a dangerous thing to use as a lid 'cuz there might be sharp edges that could hurt them.

So I switched out the old gross jar for a new container and added some cheesecloth for a lid... and we restarted the waiting game to see if the experiment would be successful.The good new was, they were easier to see now.

According to the internet, monarch caterpillars hatch pretty much on a schedule (10-14 days).. black swallowtails, however, aren't so considerate. Google says, Swallowtails can take a few weeks or even months. There was a family reunion looming, and if they didn't hatch before we left, we'd have to take them with us so the poor things wouldn't starve if they came out while we were away... so we cross our fingers and now we wait...........