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Our first Eastern Black Swallowtail of 2011 appeared today. It was flying around one section of our garden where the Fennel is in full bloom. I’d like to assume this was a female getting ready to lay some eggs, but honestly, I never noticed this Butterfly laying any eggs in the short time that it was around.
.jpg "First Eastern Black Swallowtail Of 2011")
First Eastern Black Swallowtail Of 2011
by texdr
Sal - Did you look for eggs? Why would a butterfly visit foliage except to lay eggs? Isn’t fennel a normal host plant for this butterfly? I bet you have eggs in that fennel! Post a pic!February 26, 2011 – 8:50 am
texdr - I actually did look for eggs but I couldn’t find anything. Today was a very cloudy day so I didn’t take any pictures. I’ll go and tomorrow and check again.
I’ll let you know what I find!February 26, 2011 – 8:02 pm
melissa - we had a swallowtail over winter and it has hacthed but bad weather is coming in the next day or two…will it be safe to release or should we hold it a few more days..if so what could we feed itMarch 3, 2011 – 7:41 pm
texdr - In my experience, Butterflies need a temperature around 70 degrees or so to really be able to fly, or fly well. When the temperature is lower than that, I bring the Butterflies indoors. What we’ve had good success doing to feed Butterflies is to buy some of that Juicy Juice stuff. Get a small bowl and fill it with cotton balls. Then pour the Juicy Juice stuff over the cotton balls. I then put on a pair of latex gloves. I grab the Butterfly by the tip of its wings (it helps if you have another person assisting you). While holding the Butterfly but the tip of the wings, have the other person use a toothpick and extend the Butterflies proboscis to the cotton balls covered in Juicy Juice. Normally after a couple of times of the Butterflies proboscis to the cotton ball, they will start drinking the liquid on their own. I’ve had some Butterflies stay on the cotton ball for over 5 minutes, others just stay on there for less than a minute.
You didn’t ask, but what I keep the Butterflies in is one of those plastic reptile cages (I think they might be used for Hermit Crabs as well).
Hope that helps!March 3, 2011 – 10:01 pm