My backyard has citrus trees, lemon satsuma and orange, originally planted there not only to provide fresh citrus for my family but also to provide a host plant for the majestic Giant Swallowtail butterfly.
Here is a photo of a Giant Swallowtail butterfly that I raised in captivity in my laundry room( in a zippered 14" x 30" columnar container covered in fine mesh), in order to protect it from predators such as wasps and birds when in the larval, caterpillar stage. Each day I misted the column with water and introduced fresh host plant material for the caterpillars to eat. The caterpillars in this photo of the mesh holding cage are the monarchs not giant. You can purchase these small insectaries from Insectlore.com or your local museum, zoo, or botanical gardens gift shops.
The beautiful butterflies dance gently on the softest breeze and light ever gently on the tips of the new growth of leaves or on the top of a young leaf to lay their eggs. When the female lights on the leaf to oviposit her egg she flutters her wings as though she were a ballerina on center stage.
Because I reared this giant swallowtail in captivity and had it in my laundry room, it emerged in december when it was cold outside. I was unable to set it free outside because the temperatures were in the 30's. I placed it in an insectary and fed it two times a day with sugar water ( 1 part sugar 4 parts water) the same recipe for a hummingbird feeder. I held it with my fingers as in photo and rolled out its proboscis with a straight needle so that it would drink the sugar water. I did this so that it would not starve as they do not always readily go to a feeding bowl. I thought you might want to see the photo my husband took of me feeding it so that you could also feed them in emergency situations while housed in an unnatural habitiat prior to release to the wild.
Here is a photo of the ventral side of the Giant Swallowtail .
The Giant swallowtails visit my garden to nectar on my Hamelia shrub in full bloom. The shrub generates enough nectar on a daily basis to feed Cloudless yellow sulphur butterflies and lots of nectaring hummingbirds as well as those beautiful giant swallowtails.
Here is a photo of a Hamelia bloom, Hamelia patens from which they feed.
I have the shrub planted near the west end of my screened in porch that way it shades the porch in the heat of the summer and allows sun to enter the porch in winter. The first freeze is usually the first sign of my needing to cut the stems of the hamelia back to about a 12 " high mound above the root zone. It will soon emerge with beautiful new growth in the early Spring in Katy, Texas.
The photos below are those of the Giant Swallowtail, Papilio cresphontes at the pupation stage and the final pupae.
In the photo of the pupae lower left, you can clearly see the silk cord that attaches the pupae to a surface in two specific areas. I have kept the lower end of the butterfly's abdomen attached to the string but have removed the lowers silk cords that allow the pupae to hang at an angle so that you might see them clearer. This allows the butterfly's large wings to emerge at an angle so that they are not damaged and can dry efficiently. This photo also shows the details of camoflauge as it would appear naturally in nature against a wooded pupation site such as a lichen covered branch on a tree or bush.
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