Enter the Wonderful World of Swallowtail Butterflies

A number of years ago I planted an anise plant. I enjoy herb gardening and this was just part of it. Then I noticed little "things" which I believed to be caterpillars. I watched and soon discovered that the birds enjoyed eating them. I did some research and sure enough they were black swallowtail caterpillars. More research and the help of an online friend and and I started raising swallowtails.















I will share my knowledge, my methods, my photos and my Zazzle butterfly products with you on this blog. I will also invite other Zazzle friends to share their butterfly products of swallowtails and other butterfly species.







Black Swallow Tail

Black Swallow Tail

Sunday, June 19, 2011

The Frass


One of the reasons you have to check the caterpillars daily is because they produce quite a bit of frass (caterpillar poop). Also the water for the anise needs to be changed daily. I get new anise, clean the water container & add fresh water & place the fresh anise in the water. Then I carefully snip the piece of anise that the caterpillar is on and place it on top of the fresh anise. They seem to realize what is fresh and move onto it. Later when they have moved I'll remove the old anise. I don't think it takes much more than 15 minutes to clean & refreshen their area.
Posted by at
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)