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Our Adventure Raising Caterpillars



Our Adventure Raising Caterpillars 
My girls and I spent an afternoon exploring the trails that run along one of our local creeks a couple weeks ago. We saw all sorts of wildlife that day including several pairs of mallard ducks, a crayfish, and loads of pipevine swallowtail caterpillars. After spending the majority of our afternoon completely enthralled watching the caterpillars devouring leaves, we decided to bring one home to continue observing. 



Normally I don't allow my kids to keep live insects for more than a few hours to observe because they belong in the wild and typically don't last long in captivity, but a friend of mine had success recently raising this exact species from eggs she ordered online, so I figured we could pull it off.

We ended up choosing two, one that was older and looked close to adulthood, and a smaller younger looking one. Pipevine swallowtail caterpillars eat pipevine leaves so we collected a large ziploc bag full of fresh young pipevine leaves to bring home. 

Before I get any further, I should mention that pipevine swallowtail caterpillars and butterflies are toxic, as is the pipevine plant it's self. They are fine to handle, but be sure to wash your hands afterward, and never eat them.

At home we measured and recorded our caterpillar's lengths so we could see how much they grow over time. Then we put them in my daughter's bug hut and gave them a few fresh leaves. I put the rest of the leaves in a clearly labeled bag in the fridge so that hopefully they would stay fresh for a few days and I wouldn't have to take too many more trips back to the creek for more.

Within a day our larger caterpillar started getting ready to pupate. It found a place near the top of the bug hut and made a silk sling to hang from. By the next morning it had shed its skin to reveal the chrysalis which had been forming underneath. 




Our smaller caterpillar continued to eat for another five days before it found a spot to pupate. Luckily keeping the pipevine leaves in a Ziploc bag in the fridge worked pretty well, so I only had to go back to the river for fresh leaves once midweek. 

It took 14 days for the first butterfly to emerge. We unfortunately missed seeing most of the emerging process, but did catch it in time to watch the butterfly unfold its wings. After the girls got a chance to observe it for a couple hours, we took another trip down to the creek to release it where we found it.


Our second butterfly still hasn't emerged from it's chrysalis. Pipevine swallowtail butterflies typically take 10-20 days to complete the process  of metamorphosis, but sometimes pupate over winter until the next season. If ours does not emerge before our move next month, we will be leaving it with a friend to take care of.

If your interested in raising your own caterpillars, there are many sites that you can order kits from. If you decide to try to raise one you find in the wild, be sure to do a little research before you bring it home. Many caterpillar species eat very specific diets. Pipevine swallowtail caterpillars only eat pipevine and cannot survive without it. Make sure you will have the ability to feed your caterpillar. Additionally many butterfly species will only lay their eggs on a specific plants. For example, monarch butterflies only lay their eggs on milkweed, and pipevine swallowtail butterflies only lay their eggs on pipevine. So you also need to make sure that your butterflies will have access to their host plant after they are released. This is why we released ours by the creek where we originally found it.


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  1. Jen DodrillMay 27, 2020 at 10:17 AM

    This is fun! My daughter did something similar with her kiddos recently. I love the craft you included!

    ReplyDelete

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