Swallowtail takeover

I have really enjoyed my Monarchs this summer, but now it's time for Black Swallowtails! They are a beautiful butterfly and also make a unique chrysalis.

Here's the top of my butterfly house right now. I still have a lot of Monarch chrysalises, but more than half of the ones that have come out in recent days have been plagued with disease, so I don't know how many more disease-free ones I'll be able to release to fly off to Mexico. It's hard to see them not make it, but I have to remember I helped an awful lot this summer make it to adulthood.

This is a Black Swallowtail chrysalis on a rock. I use these rocks to weight down my butterfly house so it doesn't fall over in the wind, but my, the Swallowtails LOVE them. About 3/4 of my Swallowtails chrysalises have hung themselves on my rocks. It's so funny! ...and I have to be careful when I clean the house out now.

There are 7 on this rock. You can see the 2 in the front left still have not shed their skin and turned into a chrysalis. They appear ready to, though. This rock is turned over, so normally they would "hang" off the rock like the picture following this one.

Here's another couple on the side of a rock. Some of these I worry I will smoosh them when I turn the rock back over, but if they found that spot when they rock was turned over before, there must be enough room for them.

This chrysalis is green, but is also a Black Swallowtail chrysalis. They can turn either green or brown, I've read it depends on what they're attached to.

These two are playing piggyback.

And these three attached themselves to the underside of the paper towel on the floor of my butterfly house. I almost threw them away when I was cleaning the house out! Yikes!

This is the bottom of my butterfly house now. I have one little Monarch cat left still chomping on Milkweed and the other plants are Queen Anne's Lace that the Black Swallowtail cats are feeding on.