Call for food

I know this is random, but...

Does anyone have any dill, parsely, red clover, or Queen Anne's lace in their yard? Who lives in the WPI area, that is.

I have a small project right now. I was wondering why my parsely was dying (I thought I did a darn good job potting it) so I took a closer look, and there turned out to be two hitchhikers on my plant eating like MONSTERS. So I did a little research, adn this is what they are:

( pictures under cut )

So now I find myself rearing two baby Black Swallowtail caterpillars. So far I've found that they only eat members of the carrot family, things such as dill, parsely, celery, red clover, carrot leaves, and Queen Anne's lace.

So if anyone has any of these plants lying around, I'd really appreciate being able to pick up enough food for the little buggers to live to chrysalis.

Anyone?

-Haz

Babies, update 2!

So, I went to go see a bio professor today and brought the little buggers with me.

Yes, they are black swallowtails, and yes, they are easy ro raise. Basically, clean the cage and put fresh food in every day. Keep in sunlight. When they start spinning a chrysalis, move them to a bigger enclosure.

So I went down to Chopper, bought a clump of parsely for $1, washed them thoroughly, then put a few sprigs in the cage. After a little hinting (caterpillars are not the brightest of creatures) they saw "Oh! Food!" and skittered on over. They're cute when they eat.

I called up mum and she was excited to hear that her butterfly garden was enticing enough to lay eggs in, so tomorrow morning she's going to go out and look for a few.

So, after a few molting cycles, I should have a few butterflies to set free. However, butterflies means I need to find a bigger enclosure, so I'm headed at some point to Building 19 to get a plastic terrarium like the ones hermit crabs usually come in. That should be big enough...

So I have two pet bugs. How fitting. xD

-Haz