Hmmm, is it really that easy to sex them; female has blue and male doesn't?!?!?!?!?!

Yeah!! Congratulations! It is such a gratifying feeling knowing that you were critical to this beauty making it to adulthood! You have a female; the males have yellow. These black and blue swallowtails can make it a little tricky.

A very gorgeous female! Maybe she will mate and leave you some eggs. It is so exciting to have overwintering chrysalids eclose. Congratulations, Tracey.

She's gorgeous! Congratulations, Tracey!
Sherry

Nice Picture! I cant wait until the Swallowtails make it to me.. still none yet. The first time is always the best!
S.B.

Gorgeous pictures, Tracey! I'm glad that your BST made it over the winter. I had all of mine in a big plastic storage container on our back porch over the winter and about 20 have eclosed and there are two yet to go. I didn't expect to get BST's so soon this year but I had a female visit here back in April and I just released one of her offspring the other day. Right now I have 14 pupas and 11 cats. Today I saw my very first Monarch of the year, two as a matter of fact. They were nectaring on the butterfly weed and then flew around the yard awhile and came back to it for another drink. :) Have you seen any there yet?
Cathy

I am debating about bringing in the tiny BST cats I am finding--for now, I put a sleeve over them and their dill plants. I may get a big pop up thing like Tdogmom has (I think it's her); it gets so hard dealing with the pavilions(those butterfly cages).

Anyway, I'm glad to see those cats--it seems a little early for me. I may bring in a few just to ensure that some make it.

Still no monarchs.

Cathy--how do you raise so many caterpillars? I find it hard with just a few.

Never give up! I had a BST pupate in June last year, and it never eclosed until May this year. A very long time!

I have bought a bunch of styrofoam cups and am gonna try to use those like CalSherry does. Yes, the pop-ups are hard for me to use, too.

Susan

Thanks everyone! I had no intentions of giving up; years could've passed before I removed that chrysalid! I'm just thrilled knowing that I didn't kill it by leaving it outside, LOL.
I was kind of surprised to see so many cats so early (May), even though I have seen the BST butterflies. I'm just really upset that I didn't take them in sooner, which, I should've done. I would've had 18 instead of 1 (waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh). Lesson hopefully learned!
I haven't seen any monarchs yet, but I do keep checking the milkweeds. If I recall correctly, I did have monarch cats last June, naturally that I didn't collect in time :(
I'll know better this year; I've got my containers ready to collect.
Cathy; it's good to know that you overwinter them outside. I won't be so paranoid come this winter, even though I successfully overwintered one (and only one). At least I can feel confident that I just didn't get lucky...
Susan; pupated in June and eclosed in May?!?!?! Wow! With everybody's different experiences here, it's just good to know how erratic their schedules are. I recall doing some BST pupa research last year, and someone said they had one in the pupa stage for something like a year and a half. That would've freaked me out ;)

Bernergirl,

Watch the caterpillars as they seem to be picked off very quickly by predators. I have kept the small caterpillars on plants in glasses of water in my kitchen before. Put a piece of foil around the plants to keep the cats from going into the water. This works as long as you don't leave them until time to eclose. I think this is when I found 2 chrysalides on the phone cord! They're easier to keep in the open on a piece of newspaper. When they're small, they don't seem to roam like they do when they get larger.

I found a bunch of BST cats before I left on my trip and a friend took them to raise. I'm not seeing anything right now. I was hoping to release a couple to see if I could get them going again. Ain't goin' to happen! They'll just have to find their way here again.

Chrysalides on the phone cord! That is so cute! I've got a sleeve of netting over the BST babies now, and I've been checking. They get big so fast! I'll bring them in, and the American Painted Ladies--there are loads in my "wild" area--poor things are on plants about an inch high. Hope Pussy Toes come up soon--I've not seen them use it, but I'll try it anyway!

I had 2 overwintering Tobacco Budworms (Heliothis virescens) eclose this morning. I was also starting to wonder if they were ever going to eclose, but 2 of them finally did. I know I have more in the same bucket of dirt (if they're still alive), but I have no idea how many. Either way, I'm happy to finally have some of them eclose!
-Jmcat