Jenn Doing My Best

When I bought a parsley plant at the farm store, I discovered what appeared to be a swallowtail egg on the plant.

So, we waited a few days for the egg to hatch, and sure enough—a swallowtail caterpillar emerged! 🐛

The kids really wanted to “raise” the caterpillar we found on the parsley. ast summer we took care of one and watched the swallowtail caterpillar’s metamorphosis into a beautiful butterfly. 🦋

Prior to finding our new little friend, I was thinking about buying a butterfly kit for this summer. Since we found a swallowtail caterpillar on our parsley, I didn’t need to buy a kit! 😁

It just so happens the kids have diy butterfly biome kits their big sis Mj (24) gifted to them last summer.

They placed one of their butterfly houses in a clear container box to create a caterpillar habitat for Cali (the name the kids gave the caterpillar lol).

We brought the caterpillar box inside our house and placed it on one of our art shelves near a window.

Based on our experience from last summer, caring for a swallowtail caterpillar is pretty easy. All you do is place it in a medium-sized box (preferably clear so you can see inside the box.

Place an herb plant such as fennel or parsley in the box so the caterpillar can eat. Caterpillars eat and poop A LOT 💩. They’re basically like a newborn human baby. Lol! 😂 Just no crying. Haha

So, be prepared to see little, round balls in the box. 😆 You can just clean it out with a paper towel.

Secure tulle to the top of the box for air flow and to keep the caterpillar inside the box. As long as there’s food in the box (such as fennel or parsley), the caterpillar will stay put.

But once the caterpillar is done eating and ready to form into a chrysalis, it will start to “wander” in the box. This is when it is looking for a safe place to change into a chrysalis.

This is also why we added the butterfly biome to the box for the caterpillar.

The chrysalis stage is very fascinating. Once the caterpillar turns into a chrysalis, you can actually see the outline of its body on the chrysalis.

I’ll share updates on our swallowtail caterpillar as it continues to grow!

💜 XO

---