Spicebush swallowtail DSC_8698
This is the first spicebush swallowtail butterfly I spotted in my yard for 2017. At first I thought it was an eastern black swallowtail because it was rather small for a spicebush. When the red pentas are full, butterflies can always dive in and enjoy the purple pentas. The red ones are pretty full, monarchs are everywhere!
I raised a few of these last year and it was so simple. They don't eat nearly as much as monarchs and their host plant in my yard is the red bay tree, I have three of those. All you have to do is find the eggs, snip a piece of the branch where you find the egg(s) and place that piece of branch in a floral tube filled with water. It is important to check the water in the tube each day you don't want that to dry up. And check on the caterpillar once it hatches to make sure it has plenty of food, snipping a little more of a branch when needed. I hope to raise a lot of these in protective custody this year.
Have a beautiful day and happy snapping. I'm off to get more nectar and butterfly host plants at my favorite Florida native plant nursery.
Spicebush swallowtail DSC_8698
This is the first spicebush swallowtail butterfly I spotted in my yard for 2017. At first I thought it was an eastern black swallowtail because it was rather small for a spicebush. When the red pentas are full, butterflies can always dive in and enjoy the purple pentas. The red ones are pretty full, monarchs are everywhere!
I raised a few of these last year and it was so simple. They don't eat nearly as much as monarchs and their host plant in my yard is the red bay tree, I have three of those. All you have to do is find the eggs, snip a piece of the branch where you find the egg(s) and place that piece of branch in a floral tube filled with water. It is important to check the water in the tube each day you don't want that to dry up. And check on the caterpillar once it hatches to make sure it has plenty of food, snipping a little more of a branch when needed. I hope to raise a lot of these in protective custody this year.
Have a beautiful day and happy snapping. I'm off to get more nectar and butterfly host plants at my favorite Florida native plant nursery.