Recent Escapades with Caterpillars and Butterflies!🦋
- Milisha Patil
- Jun 21
- 2 min read
I’m sorry I haven’t posted in awhile, I just had nothing to post about. However, right now I do have some great to post, so thanks for your patience and readership.
I’ve just been raising lots and lots of caterpillars, specifically speaking the Lime Butterfly (Papilio demoleus malayanus) and the Common Mormon butterfly (Papilio polytes romulus). I have been catching them from my friend’s garden, where there is a lime plant which the butterflies lay eggs on.
My friend’s parents do not like these voracious eaters chewing up their prized lime plant, so I offered to take them away.
First, I found three caterpillars on their plant, combined with the two my neighbour gifted me and one I found in my garden was six caterpillars. Not my record for the most caterpillars I’ve ever had, but a sizeable batch (according to me)
I went back over to my friend’s garden and found another three caterpillars, caught another one from my house, and found two Common Mormon caterpillars eating up a curry plant near the swimming pool.
Caterpillar count:11
Obviously I gave some away, one to another friend and three to a school friend who raises moths.
My neighbour also gifted me a very young Common Mormon caterpillar, but by the time he did that, 3 of my seven caterpillars had already formed a chrysalis.
Meanwhile, some confusion was going on at my friends house, me thinking a lime caterpillar was a mormon, and giving them curry leaves and finding out that it was a lime.
4 butterflies have hatched by now, with one chrysalis, and I will give my remaining 3 caterpillars to the same friend I removed them from the garden, won’t be long until they become a chrysalis there, so they don’t ming sparing a few leaves to them, and the curry-lime confusion one I will collect and release it or gift to a friend.
I have been showing my caterpillars with younger kids in the school and released two with them too. I really enjoyed it but I have been struggling with being able to bring in lime leaves for them everyday as I can only find them in school and for a few days, I have been forgetting to bring the tank to school. But I think the moral of this story today is to grow a lime plant, and to raise outdooors are it prevents them getting starved.
Here are some pictures.
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