Raising Swallowtail Butterflies from Caterpillar

Have been hoping to watch the metamorphosis of caterpillar to butterfly for some time, particularly so my 4 year old son can observe. Looked online, and the cooler caterpillars (monarch, lunar moth)  are upwards of $25 a piece. Expensive! But today, we lucked out and found 2 Swallowtail Caterpillars on my parsley plant (note to self, just plant parsley if you live in Alabama and want to try this project).

They're so pretty (at all stages) & can't wait to watch the process.

More info: http://texasbutterflyranch.com/2014/07/01/how-to-raise-eastern-swallowtail-butterflies-at-home/

This is what they look like now (still pretty small)

They should get a lot bigger (They eat a lot apparently)

Then into a chrysalis that looks like this

The female eastern black swallowtail butterfly. Sooo pretty

Comparison At Different Stages of Development (we got ours as a 3rd instar)

Male (bottom left) vs Female (top right) Swallowtail Butterfly

If you gently touch them, these slimy antennae shoot out for a couple of seconds and you can smell something funny (defense mechanism)

All settled into their new cage with a couple of parsley plants (one mostly eaten already), and a damp sponge

Their names are Renato and Figaro (thinking Italian food critique since they're busy getting picky about their Italian parsley)