As I was looking back through this blog I noticed I had only posted 1 picture of the Giant Swallowtail Caterpillar so I figured it was time to post a couple more. Before I get to the pictures, let me share some history. In both my backyard and front yard I have seen the Giant Swallowtail drifting around. In the front yard it likes to lay eggs on our Mock Orange shrubs. In the backyard it will lay eggs on our fruit trees (Moro Blood Orange, Ruby Red Grapefruit, Meyer Lemon, Republic of Texas Orange). While we have seen the Giant Swallowtail Caterpillars eating on the plants, only once have we seen the Chrysalis. Additionally, every single time that we have brought the Caterpillars inside (to protect them from wasps), they have died before reaching the Chrysalis stage.
Recently we noticed that we had 2 caterpillars on our Ruby Red Grapefruit tree. Rather than bring them inside (since I have 100% failure with that) we covered the tree with a protective cover. So today we go out to check and see how the Caterpillars are doing, and one of them was absolutely huge!
Now on to the pictures. The first one is the Giant Swallowtail Caterpillar next to Leecy’s finger. You’d never guess that bird poop looking thing would turn into such a beautiful Butterfly.
Giant Swallowtail Caterpillar
This next shot is what the Caterpillar will do when it feels threatened. It pops up those big horn looking things and emits a spray (Leecy describes it as a bad fruit smell).
Giant Swallowtail Giving Warning
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by texdr
2 comments
Elizabeth - Yes, he needs to give you a Stampin’ Up! Gift Card! Seriously though, the finger shot with the caterpillar in relaxed mode compared to horny mode is a very cool comparison.August 2, 2009 – 7:52 pm
Leecy - I apparently need to get a manicure in previous photos, so this time I tried to NOT show my nails… this is my Pinky finger for the comparison. I think since I’m the hand model in a lot of these photos, I need SOME sort of compensation… right?August 1, 2009 – 12:03 am