Comments for
3 inch brown mottled caterpillar (giant swallowtail caterpillar)

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On Citrus
by: Anonymous

These have been found on three different citrus trees in my yard in Coral Springs, Florida. When you try remove them, they put stickers out in defense that look like horns. Very destructive to your trees.
GIANT SWALLOWTAIL CATERPILLAR
by: Moni

JoDena
The giant swallowtail cat may be ugly but the butterfly is beautiful.
Since the Arachides toras is a tropical insect we can not help you with photos...could not even find any on the internet...Good luck rearing it. Send us a photo of the chrysalis and the butterfly or moth.
Amazed
by: JoDena

I live near Pensacola and found several of these caterpillers on a young lemon tree. They are rather ugly to me as compared to the painted lady butterfly larve I had my granddaughters raise and release last month. I finally found a photo of Arachides Toras which is what I have in my butterfly habitat. Still wonder what they will look like when they come out of their crysilis.
giant swallowtail caterpillar
by: Moni

Jeanette
It would be best to leave them on the orange tree. It should not get too cold for them to develop into their pupa or chrysalis stage for overwintering. Depending on your weather conditions this butterfly may grow year round in your area. I am not sure just where the southern line for those conditions would be.

They can be reared but it does take time and careful watching to keep fresh food for the caterpillar until it is ready to pupate. Then keeping the pupa alive overwinter is tricky.

Here is what I have written for others wanting to try to rear caterpillars in case you want to try.

- The rearing of caterpillars is a challenge. Mother Nature does it best. And just so you know ahead of time, when you find a caterpillar in the 'wild', sometimes they have been parasitized....meaning another insect like a fly or wasp has laid eggs inside the caterpillar. So when you try to rear the caterpillar, it dies from the eggs inside it - not something you can predict.

Here is a good site for rearing caterpillars...click on Raising.... on the right hand side to read the various suggestions. You can also submit questions - Which I would recommend for this insect. These are folks that raise them regularly.
http://www.buglifecycle.com

With all that said the basics of rearing any insect is to feed it what it wants to eat...fresh (never sprayed with insecticides) food continually. Then, when the caterpillar stops eating...they will typically go searching for a place to pupate. It is best to provide layers of barely damp paper towels for the caterpillar to pupate in between. Then this needs to be kept someplace where the temperatures are much like outside. Not sure if just setting the container in the garage for the winter is OK or if the pupa will freeze. Some folks put them in the refrigerator then put a drop of water on the paper towel once a month thru the winter until the trees start to put out foliage. Then you would bring the pupa outside to let it emerge with the normal weather. Putting a stick in for the butterfly to climb up on.
This is a brief description and may not be enough for rearing but gives you an idea.
Please do a lot of internet research.


swallowtail catapillars
by: Jeanette

we just found 3 on our little orange tree. Can we keep them in a terrarium inside until they "hatch" ? Will they freeze?
getting cold in Austin TX
Mottled Caterpillar-thanks for ID
by: Melanie

Hi! Thank you for the wonderful news. We're excited about this one!
giant swallowtail caterpillar
by: Moni

Melanie
From your description and photo you have a giant swallowtail caterpillars on your rue. They usually eat citrus, prickly ash, hoptree, and other plants in the citrus family. They are a wonderful find and definitely not a garden pest!
Would love to have them in my garden!!
These large butterflies feed on nectar.
Here are photos of the butterfly also...http://bugguide.net/node/view/3253/bgimage

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