Giant Swallowtail Caterpillar

A couple days ago we found some caterpillar’s. I literally had to take another leaf and poke it a little to see if it was in fact a caterpiller that looked like bird poop (hence the reason I poked it with a leaf, rather than my finger). They are enjoying a bite to eat on an orange tree.

Munching on an orange tree leaf.

Time to get to what they eat. Giant swallowtail caterpillar’s eat anything from citrus trees such as orange, limes, lemons, and grapefruit. They also love to eat from a hop trees

This guy was enjoying the taste of the giant swallowtail caterpillar!
It looks like it is literally sucking all the blood out of it.
Perfectly disguised as bird poop.
He got scared curled into a ball and stuck his little antennas out! We learned the antennas are an defense against predators!
He finally unfurled himself, but kept those creepy little antennas out. It is quite effective let me tell you. They creeper me out.
Once he felt safe again he retracted his antennas and looked like poo again.
I guess all the blood was ingested so the bug is satisfied.
I had to take a photo of this one because he took up the whole leaf.
My son says this is a bee hive. I think it is the egg of the giant swallowtail caterpillar. 

As of this moment I do not have any photos of the chrysalis or the butterfly. When I do take some pictures of those I will post them. I hope you all enjoy your day.

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By Fulltiming in the US

Where to begin! I am first a mom of three; one boy and two girls. We travel around the US with my husband and homeschool on the road! last year I learned to make homemade soap and sell it for a small income.

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