question

Pierre A Plauzoles ae779 at lafn.org
Fri Aug 21 02:07:11 EDT 1998


In a previous article, aa6g at AA6G.ORG (Chuck Vaughn) says:

>>I have caterpillars on some fennel I am growing.  This is the third bunch. 
>>I teach school and would love to take these marvelous creatures and let my
>>students watch them metamorphosize.  Would I damage them if I did this and
>>what else besides the fennel could I feed them?  What would be the safest
>>way to do this and ensure their safety and survival?   I believe they are
>>either Tiger Swallowtail or Black Swallowtail.  The caterpillar is yellow
>>and black striped and gets about 1.5 inches long.  They are voracious
>>eaters.  They have orange antenna looking things that poke out if you touch
>>them.
>
>What part of the country do you live in? This list goes around the world 
>and we need to know where you are. I see a couple answers say they are Black Swallowtails. I live in California and my answer is Anise Swallowtails.
>I've beem raising Anise Swallowtails caterpillars all summer that I've found
>on my fennel.
>
>Fennel keeps for a long time when cut and placed in water so just cut some
>of that and bring it class. When the cuttings start to turn yellow cut some
>fresh to replace it.
>
>Chuck Vaughn <aa6g at aa6g.org>

What Chuck says is good advice - but you have to be careful to make sure 
the caterpillars don't get close to the water.  I would be tempted to 
wrap some fennel (or parsley) like you would wrap cut flowers and take 
that to class with the caterpillars.
-- 
Pierre Plauzoles   ae779 at lafn.org
Canoga Park, California


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