Swallowtails!

Looks like I wont need to wait till next year to try raising swallowtails! I found several eggs on our little parsley plant while I was harvesting milkweed for the cats. I brought as many in as  I could find, since I noticed some wasps hanging about. The idea of letting them get parasitzed in unpleasant, since it wouldn't be that much work to just bring them in (she lied, trying desperately to convince herself). I believe that they are Papilio polyxenes.

The eggs start off a honey color. Notice how different the shape of these eggs are from the Monarch eggs! These are almost perfectly spherical.

 As was the case with the monarch cats, they turn black right before hatching.

 Size comparison

 Like a beautiful black pearl

 Eating the shell

 These cats look so different from the monarchs! Their setae and spines are much larger and more noticeable. I think I read somewhere that the early instar larvae resemble bird droppings as a protective measure. 

Size comparison right after hatching.

I ran into several problems with the Swallowtail cats right away. First off, they are as tiny as the monarch cats were, and just as prone to wandering or getting crushed. I lost a few trying to transfer them to fresh leaves. Later on I realized with alarm that there wasn't enough parsley in the garden for them at the rate they were consuming it. Unfortunately when I bought some from the grocery store, it must have had pesticides on it since even after a thorough cleaning the cats who ate it quickly died. I managed to find an organic source of curly parsley and that worked fairly well.