Fantastic! I had 5 caterpillars this year on my parsley. Watched them devour the plant and when they got very energetic, they wanted to break lose and find their spot to attach to a branch and transform, I tried to see where they were going and lost 3. But I bought a butterfly cage and put the plant they ended up on( a sage plant) in there with them and watched and waited. The next day after they attached to the branch, they had already transformed into the chrysalis, so I missed all of this! So this was magical! ( Thank you!) And after 12 days of waiting and checking on them, I walked into the house and out an hour later, and there was the first butterfly! And the next day, the next one hatched! Nature is magnificent! So thankful you caught this and shared!
Parsley is one of their favorite meals. About ten of these caterpillars munched through my parsley in about a day and a half. Now I'm seeing a few chrysalis among my garden pots. Trying to take as many pictures of their development as I can. Looking forward to seeing them emerge as butterflies!
I happened to find 8 of these critters at Home Depot atop their parsley. I asked if I could collect them and they let me so, now I’ll be raising my own. Thank you for your video. This is an incredibly interesting phenomenon. Can’t wait for my own.
I never realized they crawled out of the skin until now! I was taught that they wove a cocoon (the chrysalis) but that's not remotely close. Wow! This was pretty mind blowing, thank you. They ate my dill and a few are still munching on my carrots, but some have gone into this stage. Fascinating!
Moths often make a cocoon, the classic example being silk moths that are..well they can no longer fly because of domestication and the wild type is extinct. Then they are murdered en masse to get a mile long, unbroken fiber. That is true for the majority of silk production.
My senior year of high school I took one in at the beginning of the school year and it went into the cocoon when it was ready in a glass vase. Then at the end of January I got a portable heater. I kept my bedroom door closed and blasted the heater every night. Big mistake. I come home from a friend’s house one evening at the beginning of February. I look at the vase. Guess what I saw. The cocoon had hatched and the butterfly was out of it but still in the vase. The minute I opened the vase I regretted it. The butterfly had clearly been out of the cocoon for a while because it attacked me right away, probably thinking I was food.
You did a fantastic job capturing this! Just wow!!! I currently have 5 Black swallow tail cats on my fennel... can't wait to watch the process myself! Funny how quietly one little butterfly goes into its metamorphosis whilst a train, siren and birds busily go about their business! Thank you for sharing ❤
Hi, I found 4-5 munching the new leaves atop my lemon trees (more like 3-4 feet bushes, actually). They aren't green but black or brown w white on it, looks like bird poop. Called orange dog cat I believe. From the same butterfly. They are really big now. Do you know anything about these, why are they different colors? I'm in Louisiana.
Amazing video. We raise monarchs every year, but this morning our 4-year-old brought in wild dill with 3 of these guys on it. So we're going to see this through. Really helpful to see the stick up close here.
My daughter got her 1st home last year and noticed crows all over her garden - upon looking into it the birds were eating these as well as several monarch caterpillars... she saved them all in a dish then set them up in her snakes old 20 gallon glass tank with a screen lid She set up twigs, a dish of water (to keep the humidity up) and a bunch of ragweed & carrot tops She was eventually able to watch & record her lil "flutter bys" (as she called them as a toddler lol) Is was a joyous series of videos from tiny caterpillars to the adults she released Now she keeps a keen eye on the garden for the little gems Thanks for taking this excellent video & sharing it !!🦋
This is the first video I have seen that shows that entire process! Thank you so much for sharing that and having the patience to sit there filming it the entire time with your cell phone… Even with a spider crawling on you!
Wowowowza!!! I just had my little dude transform yesterday and I wanted to see him in the process, but missed it. Thank you so much for posting this!!! It was almost like being there for my own SassyFrassy’s big change! Plus, now I know what the little crumble is in the bottom of his vase! His last molting - just a MIRACLE! I can’t WAIT TO SEE his next change and release him again. Just wow. 🤩
I have monarchs and raised 100’s of them, watches 10”’s in and out of chrysalis and it never gets old, NEVER. This is my first time swing a BST doing this. I raise swallowtails but have never caught them doing this yet. They are little buggers. They roam so far away and hide so well. One day I’ll catch one 😊
Thanks for putting that up! I had a swallowtail caterpillar affix itself to the side of my house. 9 days ago. He popped out today, early afternoon, and took off. Beautiful!!
This is absolutely fantastic.... Thank you so much. I have 11 caterpillars at various stages and really hope to catch this process on film myself. Last time, I saw the caterpillar in the J position, went into the garden for half and hour and when I got back he was a chrysalis!!!
Thank you! We left the room for a few minutes and came back and ours had done this while we were gone! Thanks for showing us what happened while we were in the other room!
Unbelievable footage. I couldn't find anything else like this on the web. I currently have a Cat that is anchored but not sure when its going to start doing its thing. I hope its still alive! Thank you so much. its been a great month "fostering the cats to pupation then emerging as butterflies. This is the stage we missed as we were away..
Coolest video ever!! We have a few of these guys in a big jar with some of our fennel. We missed the first one turning into a chrysalis, and the second one is all suspended and ready to go... i hope we get to see him do this amazing feat! Thanks so much for posting.
That's cool! We found a few (and by that I mean 8 lol) on our dill a few days ago, too. Two of them have just now suspended themselves, and I think they'll be about ready to go soon! I'm really excited :D
We spotted one of these guys on our celery plant out back. We cut it off and brought him in. Currently watching him thrash about on the underside of a stick, probably getting ready to stick himself there. Very excited to see him come out in a few weeks.
Thank you for sharing this! We are hosting several black swallowtails (they love the dill plants in the garden) and couldn't figure out how they did it. Question answered. Amazing video!
Such a neat video. I loved it. I have a similar video of the parsely caterpillar that my daughter decided to keep forming it's chrysalis. It's not as close up as yours and slightly less focused because of my very active three and five year olds so I'm glad I got to see it even better in your video. Mine was 6 minutes 34 seconds long and I was able to get it on facebook so I guess I cut it kind of close :).
Thank you for videoing and posting such a wonderful video of this process. I had some Caterpillars, Chrysalises, & Butterflies, but completely missed all the transformations. :-( Thank you so much for sharing this!!!
We find these caterpillars in the yard every year and keep them in a jar until they break out of the chrysalis. I have NEVER seen this in the past 3 years of catching and releasing with the grandkids. Thanks for sharing!
We caught the last 5 minutes of ours today and it took us 4 years to even catch that. We were hoping to catch it from the beginning vut ny kids loved watching this. Thanks for sharing
Thank you so much for your video. I have 10 black swallowtail caterpillars that are 10 days old so of course I am anticipating the transformation to chrysalis to occur soon. There is a good chance that I may miss the shedding and this gives me an idea of what will occur.
Our parsley plant has a green yellow and black caterpillar on it. I decided to let it be and when my wife found it she decided to let be and she called it her pet - wondering what it will become. A quick internet search has provided the answer, a black swallowtail! Since I am not a fan of parsley I am letting the now two caterpillars have my share. Can't have butterflies without having caterpillars. Thank you for your excellent video documenting the change to a chrysalis. We will be watching our two guests with anticipation.
I found a swallowtail caterpillar (western tiger probably, as I am in Washington State) a couple days ago. It was a brownish dark green at the time. I scooped it off of the sidewalk so it wouldn't get stepped on and brought it in to ID it. During this time, it turned fully brown, was not interested in eating, and is now laying on a paper towel at the bottom of a plastic container, presumably preparing to pupate (it had also developed a mottled pattern in the brown). [as of yesterday] : It is still alive, but not doing much other than pulsing it's back end. Also, oddly, it's false "tongue" (osmeterium) is still out (It wasn't when I first found it, although the caterpillar did rear up and sway from side to side, pretending to be a snake...just...without the "tongue". It put that out sometime that night, and hasn't retracted it.) Today I looked in on it, and the back end almost appears like the pictures I've seen of Tiger Swallowtail chrysalids but the front end still looks like a caterpillar, with head and legs prominent, though seems a little...dry-ish looking?. It's still alive, as it was still pulsing, though not as noticeably. It did move when I nudged it gently with a stick, kinda jerked it's back end around, so it's still reactive to things around it. What I want to know is this: how long does the forming of the chrysalis take? I hope I didn't disrupt the process or injure the caterpillar somehow... I'm new to this. (Last year, I had a sphinx moth lay eggs on some pebbles in a container while I was trying to ID it...they hatched, and I gave them the right food, but they all died [all but one seemed to be unable to find their way to the food and died that day...and that one later gave up and died, only slightly larger than its siblings] So...having had one failure before...I'm worried I did something wrong and failed again.)
thanks for posting , I have just found my first Crys, after watching my big fatty crawl around my lattice work,panel. I knew something was up, last one att. to underedge of porch ,got to see it emerge
THANKS so much for posting this! I've taken in seven black swallowtail caterpillars this year. Four of them have metamorphosed into butterflies, and I've been disappointed that I've missed this portion of their development. NOW I see why it's so easy to miss: it takes less than 10 minutes, and that's after usually a few hours of just clinging to the twig. Right now the last of the seven is in that clinging state-I believe I saw it creating its cremaster (the silk that attaches it to the twig) within the last hour, but it's late at night and I fear it will do it's chrysalis forming while I'm asleep. So, again, THANKS for your beautiful camerawork and for sharing this video with us.
How long were they in the chrysalis before emerging as butterflies? I currently have 6 at the Chrysalis stage and 15 instars still munching dill dinners in their mason jar homes.
Mine hatched during July, and each took approximately 10 days to emerge. Since I've heard they can take can take from 1 week to several months, I'm thinking that longer time would be when they overwinter. I shepherded 8 black swallowtails from caterpillar (most in the last instar) to full-on butterfly. The one that I raised from a teeny instar didn't make it. That was really sad. It went so far as to form its cremaster, then just kinda pooped out and remained in a withered state, hanging from a twig. Still, I'm so glad I helped out the other 8... plus 2 monarchs. Check out this video link at the end of this paragraph. I used this guy's info to recognize when the caterpillar is ready to form its chrysalis (pupate). I also have used the "gizmo" that he illustrates, and it works fine, though they found other ways/places to pupate as well. Here's the link for that: czcams.com/video/IT7GVkUNud8/video.html Good luck with your hatching. Let me know how it turns out, okay?
I planted some curley parsley only to learn they love it. Mama left almost 30 eggs and I have been watching the miracle unfold. Added netting to keep the birds away. Love and feed birds, but not these caterpillars. As they grew I had to go to the grocery for more parsley. They can eat! This video was amazing ... breathtaking ... to watch. Our beautiful world!
Did you notice that, as you were talking about the skin over the breathing holes. the cremaster? it's that tiny little "Tail" that, as the skin is being shed, reaches out and around the shedding skin and grabs hold to the silk pad. it is actually the vary bottom end of the butterfly reaching from inside the skin, around to the silk pad to re-attach so that the part of him. her that is holding on thought the inside of the old skin can let go. it's a very cool thing. GREAT video!!
karon adams I had not noticed it! I didn't know about cremasters until a couple weeks ago when my first monarch caterpillars transformed and I read about the purpose of the cremaster. I wondered then if the black swallowtails did it too, but never thought to look at my own video! Thank you for pointing it out!
Very very interesting to watch this on your video. Isn't it unbelievable that a caterpillar has to do this (changing clothes every time he/she gets to fat) a couple times (aprox 5 times) before becoming a butterfly.
Earlier today I took my dog out and saw my caterpillar I kept was still getting ready to turn into a cocoon, and after around 5mins I walk back to check on him and he already shed his skin!
I've never seen anything like this ever! I have what looks like a chrysalis on my front door but it looks like wood until the pointy part on the bottom starts to wiggle at night. Not sure if it's infected or what's going on! But something is trying to get out possibly! Great video
This must be so scary for them. I think about it every time one of my mo arch’s go to chrysalis. They so fragile, helpless and now pinned to a branch with ZERO defenses. It must be so so scary for them
Omg, I thought this happened over a period of days!! Not minutes! I have one that just attached itself to a twig, hes ready to go. How long after they attach will they start to do this?
Julia Plous You can take them inside and release them! I have two currently pupating currently inside a jar. It’s really interesting. I’m gonna have my son release them and it a a great educational tool for children!💓
Have never seen one still maintain any stripes after shedding it's skin. Strange. Did this butterfly hatch out perfectly normal. Were you able to observe that?
I have one that went into a chrysalis but I'm not sure if it finished or survived. I did it in the night and missed it. But the head is sticking out and it is missing the the very tip where the horns are. Is this ok or is it possible it didn't make it?
I raise butterfly specifically the monarch but I raise by coincidence the swallowtail was much easier they are so calm sweet just put them on parsley when they star growing as catapillars gave them something to hang on about 10 days are ready to fly.i just love them.
Ruth Kelly I have to answer "it depends". Sometimes they come out in 2-3 weeks, but some of them remain in the chrysalis over the winter and won't come out until next spring. This ensures a generation for the next season. It's random, so you can't tell in advance which ones will over-winter.
The warmer, the faster it will evolve. If it has a brown color, it will turn into a butterfly only in next summer. Some people don't want to wait this long, so they put these into a fridge, then back into room temperature.
How long did this whole process take? Are you able to see their eggs with the naked eye? Towards the end when he tried to shake off the last piece of skin off of him, I wondered would it be ok if humans help by brushing it off for him.
Bella Bell The video is in real time, so maybe ten minutes total? The eggs are very visible, they're pale yellow, and the size of a seed bead. As for the skin, you should not touch them at all while they're transforming, so leave the skin alone. They wiggle it loose on their own.
Quitr surprising. Came expecting to see how they wove a cacoon around themselves or to see their bodies become the cacoon itself but I didnt expect to see it crawl from within the skin. It seemed quite horrifying to be honest, and painful process for the caterpillar. I mean.. Just imagine how it would be like if it was us going through it.
Fantastic! I had 5 caterpillars this year on my parsley. Watched them devour the plant and when they got very energetic, they wanted to break lose and find their spot to attach to a branch and transform, I tried to see where they were going and lost 3. But I bought a butterfly cage and put the plant they ended up on( a sage plant) in there with them and watched and waited. The next day after they attached to the branch, they had already transformed into the chrysalis, so I missed all of this! So this was magical! ( Thank you!) And after 12 days of waiting and checking on them, I walked into the house and out an hour later, and there was the first butterfly! And the next day, the next one hatched! Nature is magnificent! So thankful you caught this and shared!
Parsley is one of their favorite meals. About ten of these caterpillars munched through my parsley in about a day and a half. Now I'm seeing a few chrysalis among my garden pots. Trying to take as many pictures of their development as I can. Looking forward to seeing them emerge as butterflies!
I happened to find 8 of these critters at Home Depot atop their parsley. I asked if I could collect them and they let me so, now I’ll be raising my own. Thank you for your video. This is an incredibly interesting phenomenon. Can’t wait for my own.
I finally found out what kind of caterpillar I have! Thanks ☺️
I never realized they crawled out of the skin until now! I was taught that they wove a cocoon (the chrysalis) but that's not remotely close. Wow! This was pretty mind blowing, thank you. They ate my dill and a few are still munching on my carrots, but some have gone into this stage. Fascinating!
He could be 70 years older than you, so probaly not.
I thought mine was dead then she made a chrysalis
Moths often make a cocoon, the classic example being silk moths that are..well they can no longer fly because of domestication and the wild type is extinct. Then they are murdered en masse to get a mile long, unbroken fiber. That is true for the majority of silk production.
The one that weaves a cocoon is the moth
Void Priestess Me too! Lol
I'm currently watching my own swallowtail caterpillar turn into a chrysalis! How exciting! I feel like a little kid again, lol!
Me too! I have about 10 of these particular caterpillars right now and one is getting ready to go into its cocoon.
And there are still some caterpillar eggs in my mom’s garden.
My senior year of high school I took one in at the beginning of the school year and it went into the cocoon when it was ready in a glass vase. Then at the end of January I got a portable heater. I kept my bedroom door closed and blasted the heater every night. Big mistake.
I come home from a friend’s house one evening at the beginning of February. I look at the vase. Guess what I saw. The cocoon had hatched and the butterfly was out of it but still in the vase. The minute I opened the vase I regretted it. The butterfly had clearly been out of the cocoon for a while because it attacked me right away, probably thinking I was food.
I’m watching one of mine right now! The other one is sleeping on the parsley not quite ready to leave.
Caeli Donaldson I took two more caterpillars in the other day.
It almost looks like a horror flick yet at the same time it's beautiful!
You did a fantastic job capturing this! Just wow!!!
I currently have 5 Black swallow tail cats on my fennel... can't wait to watch the process myself!
Funny how quietly one little butterfly goes into its metamorphosis whilst a train, siren and birds busily go about their business! Thank you for sharing ❤
Hi, I found 4-5 munching the new leaves atop my lemon trees (more like 3-4 feet bushes, actually). They aren't green but black or brown w white on it, looks like bird poop. Called orange dog cat I believe. From the same butterfly. They are really big now. Do you know anything about these, why are they different colors? I'm in Louisiana.
Amazing video. We raise monarchs every year, but this morning our 4-year-old brought in wild dill with 3 of these guys on it. So we're going to see this through. Really helpful to see the stick up close here.
Amazing camera work; clear & steady. Thanks so much for sharing.
My daughter got her 1st home last year and noticed crows all over her garden - upon looking into it the birds were eating these as well as several monarch caterpillars... she saved them all in a dish then set them up in her snakes old 20 gallon glass tank with a screen lid
She set up twigs, a dish of water (to keep the humidity up) and a bunch of ragweed & carrot tops
She was eventually able to watch & record her lil "flutter bys" (as she called them as a toddler lol)
Is was a joyous series of videos from tiny caterpillars to the adults she released
Now she keeps a keen eye on the garden for the little gems
Thanks for taking this excellent video & sharing it !!🦋
Nature is amazing. How wonderful that you managed to capture this transformation! Thank you.
This is the first video I have seen that shows that entire process! Thank you so much for sharing that and having the patience to sit there filming it the entire time with your cell phone… Even with a spider crawling on you!
Wowowowza!!!
I just had my little dude transform yesterday and I wanted to see him in the process, but missed it.
Thank you so much for posting this!!!
It was almost like being there for my own SassyFrassy’s big change!
Plus, now I know what the little crumble is in the bottom of his vase! His last molting - just a MIRACLE!
I can’t WAIT TO SEE his next change and release him again.
Just wow. 🤩
That is probably the most amazing thing I've ever watched! You did a great job filming! I had no idea that's how it happens.
I have monarchs and raised 100’s of them, watches 10”’s in and out of chrysalis and it never gets old, NEVER. This is my first time swing a BST doing this. I raise swallowtails but have never caught them doing this yet. They are little buggers. They roam so far away and hide so well. One day I’ll catch one 😊
Thanks for putting that up! I had a swallowtail caterpillar affix itself to the side of my house. 9 days ago. He popped out today, early afternoon, and took off. Beautiful!!
Amazing. First time I have seen the transformation. Thank you.
I've got 2 of my own right now. Today they got ready to cocoon! I'm very excited.
This is absolutely fantastic.... Thank you so much. I have 11 caterpillars at various stages and really hope to catch this process on film myself. Last time, I saw the caterpillar in the J position, went into the garden for half and hour and when I got back he was a chrysalis!!!
Thank you! We left the room for a few minutes and came back and ours had done this while we were gone! Thanks for showing us what happened while we were in the other room!
God's nature amazes me! Thanks so much for this fantastic video.
That was incredible! Thank you for sharing, I just caught three of these and they are just going into chrysalis. That's a really great video!
Unbelievable footage. I couldn't find anything else like this on the web. I currently have a Cat that is anchored but not sure when its going to start doing its thing. I hope its still alive! Thank you so much. its been a great month "fostering the cats to pupation then emerging as butterflies. This is the stage we missed as we were away..
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I took in a swallowtail and its just about to begin this transformation... can't wait! thanks for sharing
Wow!! We just discovered these caterpillars on our dill plants, great video!
Coolest video ever!! We have a few of these guys in a big jar with some of our fennel. We missed the first one turning into a chrysalis, and the second one is all suspended and ready to go... i hope we get to see him do this amazing feat! Thanks so much for posting.
How long did it take from when they first started to hang before they formed the chrysalis?
Just guessing, but it could take a full day or two.
That's cool! We found a few (and by that I mean 8 lol) on our dill a few days ago, too. Two of them have just now suspended themselves, and I think they'll be about ready to go soon! I'm really excited :D
So glad you captured this!!!!
We spotted one of these guys on our celery plant out back.
We cut it off and brought him in. Currently watching him thrash about on the underside of a stick, probably getting ready to stick himself there.
Very excited to see him come out in a few weeks.
Incredible video! Thank you for filming this and posting!!
i actually witnessed this the other day. Fascinating. So glad you had the patience to film it!!!
Thank's for posting! I missed mine changing last night, had no idea it was so quick!! That was really neat
The eastern black swallowtail I'm raising just started hooking itself up to a stick to pupate! So cool and so cute.
Same!
Wow. This is fascinating to watch. Thank you.
This is so amazing!! Thanks for capturing such an incredible moment. I’ll be saving this one to show my students when we do our unit on butterflies.
Thank you for taking the time to video and share with us. I had no idea!!!
Me either
wow that was amazing. great footage
This is awesome! Thanks for sharing.
That's a great video. Thank you for sharing this
Great job videoing this! Thankyou!
Cute little rascals.
Thank you for sharing this! We are hosting several black swallowtails (they love the dill plants in the garden) and couldn't figure out how they did it. Question answered. Amazing video!
Wow amazing footage! 👏
I was so surprised when I saw my caterpillar turned into a cocoon, I thought he was dying at first
Amazing video, thank you!
Excellent videoing!! Congratulations on a successful pupate 🤗
Such a neat video. I loved it. I have a similar video of the parsely caterpillar that my daughter decided to keep forming it's chrysalis. It's not as close up as yours and slightly less focused because of my very active three and five year olds so I'm glad I got to see it even better in your video. Mine was 6 minutes 34 seconds long and I was able to get it on facebook so I guess I cut it kind of close :).
Thank you for videoing and posting such a wonderful video of this process. I had some Caterpillars, Chrysalises, & Butterflies, but completely missed all the transformations. :-( Thank you so much for sharing this!!!
this is so different from the Monarchs I raise. That sling is to die for. Thanks.
We find these caterpillars in the yard every year and keep them in a jar until they break out of the chrysalis. I have NEVER seen this in the past 3 years of catching and releasing with the grandkids. Thanks for sharing!
I watched a monarch caterpillar do this up close. I was just in awe as you were. It was an amazing thing to watch. Hard to believe that it’s nature.
We caught the last 5 minutes of ours today and it took us 4 years to even catch that. We were hoping to catch it from the beginning vut ny kids loved watching this. Thanks for sharing
That's awesome great video 👍
Thank you so much for your video. I have 10 black swallowtail caterpillars that are 10 days old so of course I am anticipating the transformation to chrysalis to occur soon. There is a good chance that I may miss the shedding and this gives me an idea of what will occur.
Our parsley plant has a green yellow and black caterpillar on it. I decided to let it be and when my wife found it she decided to let be and she called it her pet - wondering what it will become. A quick internet search has provided the answer, a black swallowtail! Since I am not a fan of parsley I am letting the now two caterpillars have my share. Can't have butterflies without having caterpillars.
Thank you for your excellent video documenting the change to a chrysalis. We will be watching our two guests with anticipation.
I found a swallowtail caterpillar (western tiger probably, as I am in Washington State) a couple days ago. It was a brownish dark green at the time. I scooped it off of the sidewalk so it wouldn't get stepped on and brought it in to ID it. During this time, it turned fully brown, was not interested in eating, and is now laying on a paper towel at the bottom of a plastic container, presumably preparing to pupate (it had also developed a mottled pattern in the brown).
[as of yesterday] : It is still alive, but not doing much other than pulsing it's back end. Also, oddly, it's false "tongue" (osmeterium) is still out (It wasn't when I first found it, although the caterpillar did rear up and sway from side to side, pretending to be a snake...just...without the "tongue". It put that out sometime that night, and hasn't retracted it.)
Today I looked in on it, and the back end almost appears like the pictures I've seen of Tiger Swallowtail chrysalids but the front end still looks like a caterpillar, with head and legs prominent, though seems a little...dry-ish looking?. It's still alive, as it was still pulsing, though not as noticeably. It did move when I nudged it gently with a stick, kinda jerked it's back end around, so it's still reactive to things around it.
What I want to know is this: how long does the forming of the chrysalis take? I hope I didn't disrupt the process or injure the caterpillar somehow... I'm new to this. (Last year, I had a sphinx moth lay eggs on some pebbles in a container while I was trying to ID it...they hatched, and I gave them the right food, but they all died [all but one seemed to be unable to find their way to the food and died that day...and that one later gave up and died, only slightly larger than its siblings] So...having had one failure before...I'm worried I did something wrong and failed again.)
thanks for posting , I have just found my first Crys, after watching my big fatty crawl around my lattice work,panel. I knew something was up, last one att. to underedge of porch ,got to see it emerge
I am…SO GLAD I looked this up before mine started to pupate because I think I would have NOT been ok seeing that without knowing what was happening.
THANKS so much for posting this! I've taken in seven black swallowtail caterpillars this year. Four of them have metamorphosed into butterflies, and I've been disappointed that I've missed this portion of their development. NOW I see why it's so easy to miss: it takes less than 10 minutes, and that's after usually a few hours of just clinging to the twig. Right now the last of the seven is in that clinging state-I believe I saw it creating its cremaster (the silk that attaches it to the twig) within the last hour, but it's late at night and I fear it will do it's chrysalis forming while I'm asleep. So, again, THANKS for your beautiful camerawork and for sharing this video with us.
How long were they in the chrysalis before emerging as butterflies? I currently have 6 at the Chrysalis stage and 15 instars still munching dill dinners in their mason jar homes.
Mine hatched during July, and each took approximately 10 days to emerge. Since I've heard they can take can take from 1 week to several months, I'm thinking that longer time would be when they overwinter. I shepherded 8 black swallowtails from caterpillar (most in the last instar) to full-on butterfly. The one that I raised from a teeny instar didn't make it. That was really sad. It went so far as to form its cremaster, then just kinda pooped out and remained in a withered state, hanging from a twig. Still, I'm so glad I helped out the other 8... plus 2 monarchs.
Check out this video link at the end of this paragraph. I used this guy's info to recognize when the caterpillar is ready to form its chrysalis (pupate). I also have used the "gizmo" that he illustrates, and it works fine, though they found other ways/places to pupate as well. Here's the link for that: czcams.com/video/IT7GVkUNud8/video.html
Good luck with your hatching. Let me know how it turns out, okay?
I planted some curley parsley only to learn they love it. Mama left almost 30 eggs and I have been watching the miracle unfold. Added netting to keep the birds away. Love and feed birds, but not these caterpillars. As they grew I had to go to the grocery for more parsley. They can eat! This video was amazing ... breathtaking ... to watch. Our beautiful world!
Did you notice that, as you were talking about the skin over the breathing holes. the cremaster? it's that tiny little "Tail" that, as the skin is being shed, reaches out and around the shedding skin and grabs hold to the silk pad. it is actually the vary bottom end of the butterfly reaching from inside the skin, around to the silk pad to re-attach so that the part of him. her that is holding on thought the inside of the old skin can let go. it's a very cool thing.
GREAT video!!
karon adams I had not noticed it! I didn't know about cremasters until a couple weeks ago when my first monarch caterpillars transformed and I read about the purpose of the cremaster. I wondered then if the black swallowtails did it too, but never thought to look at my own video! Thank you for pointing it out!
Amazing
Very very interesting to watch this on your video. Isn't it unbelievable that a caterpillar has to do this (changing clothes every time he/she gets to fat) a couple times (aprox 5 times) before becoming a butterfly.
Wow I didn't know they crawled out of the skin with the crysalis amazing
This little guy and 14 others ate my parsley.
Woah cool!
OMGosh...thank you and don't shorten it.
Have fun with them!
Awesome video!!! :)
Earlier today I took my dog out and saw my caterpillar I kept was still getting ready to turn into a cocoon, and after around 5mins I walk back to check on him and he already shed his skin!
I've never seen anything like this ever! I have what looks like a chrysalis on my front door but it looks like wood until the pointy part on the bottom starts to wiggle at night. Not sure if it's infected or what's going on! But something is trying to get out possibly! Great video
Janine Jackson The chrysalis can't see,so it doesn't know if it's skin is off yet
awesome
How long had it been in this state before it started to change my guy just posted up last night and i keep checking it so i dont miss this part lol
Cool !
amazing. what do you feed your larave with? mine are lunning low on food supplies.
Do you ever wonder WHO gives it a thumbs down??? I say if you can do better then PLEASE do it and share.
Nice information
Watching from tramo pasay city Philippines god bless
AMAZING! How did you know the time this would happen?!
Rachel B I happened to sit down at the table just as it started to change. It was pure luck.
This must be so scary for them. I think about it every time one of my mo arch’s go to chrysalis.
They so fragile, helpless and now pinned to a branch with ZERO defenses. It must be so so scary for them
How long from the time that they choose the location to the time that they chrysailze?
here watching friend
caterpie evovled into metapod
*Metapod uses harden and only harden*
Omg, I thought this happened over a period of days!! Not minutes! I have one that just attached itself to a twig, hes ready to go. How long after they attach will they start to do this?
Once they spin the sling and are hanging, how long until this process begins? We have a couple that have been hanging for almost 2 days.
They should transform at any time. Sometimes it seems that they rest up first.
I have 2 of these caterpillars in my backyard, living on dill. I hope they live long enough to pupate and don’t get eaten by birds.
Julia Plous You can take them inside and release them! I have two currently pupating currently inside a jar. It’s really interesting. I’m gonna have my son release them and it a a great educational tool for children!💓
Marissa Anne I wish I had built them an indoor habitat. Now they’ve disappeared!! 😭
Julia Plous maybe they’ve emerged from their chrysalis!
Life is amazing
New subscriber here💚
Have never seen one still maintain any stripes after shedding it's skin. Strange. Did this butterfly hatch out perfectly normal. Were you able to observe that?
So alien-looking! I have one in its sling about to chrysalize (is that a word?) - I can't wait!
That’s not a word. I believe you meant to say metamorphose? 🙂
I have one that went into a chrysalis but I'm not sure if it finished or survived. I did it in the night and missed it. But the head is sticking out and it is missing the the very tip where the horns are. Is this ok or is it possible it didn't make it?
I raise butterfly specifically the monarch but I raise by coincidence the swallowtail was much easier they are so calm sweet just put them on parsley when they star growing as catapillars gave them something to hang on about 10 days are ready to fly.i just love them.
How long does it take from that point until butterfly? I just found one in pre-pupal stage today.
Ruth Kelly I have to answer "it depends". Sometimes they come out in 2-3 weeks, but some of them remain in the chrysalis over the winter and won't come out until next spring. This ensures a generation for the next season. It's random, so you can't tell in advance which ones will over-winter.
The warmer, the faster it will evolve. If it has a brown color, it will turn into a butterfly only in next summer. Some people don't want to wait this long, so they put these into a fridge, then back into room temperature.
What structures come out of the "horns" on top of the chrysalis? Antennae? Mouth parts?
Sharon Sivertsen I'm honestly not sure!
They lose the osmeterium in tbe process.
6:49
It’s a special scent organ called the osmeterium. It’s harmless.
How long did this whole process take? Are you able to see their eggs with the naked eye? Towards the end when he tried to shake off the last piece of skin off of him, I wondered would it be ok if humans help by brushing it off for him.
Bella Bell The video is in real time, so maybe ten minutes total? The eggs are very visible, they're pale yellow, and the size of a seed bead. As for the skin, you should not touch them at all while they're transforming, so leave the skin alone. They wiggle it loose on their own.
Do they ever slip off from that makeshift holder?
My swallow tail caterpillar just got in the position as if he’s going to turn to a cocoon , how long will it take till it starts happening ?
先看再定阅 #523 一起加油!😉💖
How long did it take after it stopped moving.?
Similar to a monarch. But the monarch hangs straight down
Interesting to know. Thank you!
How long did it take to start forming Chrysalis after it hung? Mine is hung, but doing nothing.
It's been a while since I raised them so I'm not sure anymore, but I think it took maybe a day at most.
Quitr surprising. Came expecting to see how they wove a cacoon around themselves or to see their bodies become the cacoon itself but I didnt expect to see it crawl from within the skin. It seemed quite horrifying to be honest, and painful process for the caterpillar. I mean.. Just imagine how it would be like if it was us going through it.
Cute