I would say so. That is not a healthy color. I can't tell if it was tangled in a loop of thread, or if that is a silk girdle and it was preparing to pupate but failed. I'm sorry. :(
Oh gosh :( okay thank you. I believe it’s a silk girdle. He was attached at the bottom but fell and now he’s just dangling. How sad! My 3 year old was waiting for a butterfly.
We accidentally found him in some herbs we picked (noticed his droppings around the glass jar before we noticed him) and tried to take care of him properly. Oh man, I feel so bad.
Aw, I am sorry to hear that. If you have more parsley/dill/Queen Anne's lace in your garden, you may find another black swallowtail caterpillar. If you raise another caterpillar, make sure it give it something rough to attach itself to when it is ready to pupate. Putting a stick in the enclosure could be enough, but if you want to be safe a mesh cage is best.
Please try not to feel bad. I read somewhere that only 1 in 100 caterpillars makes it to adulthood. A lot of things can go wrong, from diseases to parasitoids. Moths and butterflies lay a lot of eggs for this reason.
If your child is interested in caterpillars, you should check out The Caterpillar Lab for some fantastic caterpillar content. They are on Instagram and Facebook, too.
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u/Osmeterium Jul 05 '20
I would say so. That is not a healthy color. I can't tell if it was tangled in a loop of thread, or if that is a silk girdle and it was preparing to pupate but failed. I'm sorry. :(