And this is the cat. If its a tiger. They eat willow right? My neighbor has a huge willow tree that I can get leaves off everyday to feed.

Looks like a tiny tiger swallowtail caterpillar on wild black cherry/Prunus serotina to me - congrats!!

I'm raising two of them now on the same tree leaves. They take longer than most caterpillars, so just be patient, if you raise it yourself.

Sherry

Yayyy!!!! I've been wanting to raise these since forever!! I may go dig up that tree now!!

Don't do that, you need the leaves to feed the caterpillar! :)

Sherry

Congrats on your find, but do not attempt to transplant the tree until the fall when it goes dormant. Especially if you've cut off most of the foliage. It is already stressed, and would no doubt die if you dig it up in the middle of the summer.

Okay no digging up the tree until fall! Actually I think there was a bunch of little sprouts of this tree in the little wooded area I found it in. But no big trees? I will just borrow some of the neighbors willow leaves. They'll never know they went missing!! Sherry the cherry tree is 35 mins away from where I live! So I would def have to switch him to willow. Unless the few branches of leaves I collected stay fresh!

Willows are one type of host plant that tiger swallowtails DON'T use. Red-spotted purples use wild cherry and willows, so maybe that's what you were thinking.

Tigers use tulip poplar, wafer ash/Ptelea trifoliata, sweetbay/Magnolia virginiana, and many members of the rose family, especially types of prunus, also various ashes. Surely you can find some of those trees in your area? Do you live in a suburban area?

Sherry

I live in the city. I'm glad I have you, because google misled me. I have lots and lots of different trees around me. I may go buy a wafer ash because I wanted one for the gst's anyways. I can also always go collect food from the woods in my moms area.

My other neighbor has a peach tree in their yard? I read that peach is a member of the prunus family. I know they don't use pesticides because the fruit was eaten by ants etc.

Yes, peach is one of the host plants for tigers. Only problem is, your tiger has already eaten wild black cherry, so it may not want peach, but give it a try.

Wild black cherry grows everywhere, so you may find it near you.

Sherry

Do you happen to know if other types of cherry will work as host plants? We have quite a few tiger swallowtails around here, and an abundance of tulip poplars. There aren't any black cherries around, however. I do have a number of other cherries--chokecherry, Mazzard cherry, and Japanese cherry. I'm just curious as to whether the tiger swallowtails are using those as well. It's difficult to do my own "field research"-the trees are a little tall for me. Of course, the cherries are shrimpy compared to the tulip poplars, which can reach 80 to 120 feet tall. :-D

I've raised tigers on chokecherry.

Chokecherry is on the tiger host plant list, and, since it's more closely related to wild black cherry, it'd probably be better than peach.

Sherry

Sherry, I've had trouble getting the tiger cat to eat the cherry leaves. He kept wandering off the leaves. So I put one cherry leaf and one peach leaf. He crawled onto the peach leaf and seems to be eating now!!! So I guess he preferred peach!

If this is the first caterpillar you've raised, you may not know about molting. Cats eat until their skin can't hold any more, then they molt into a new, bigger skin. During this time, they're completely still and don't eat. So don't try to force the cat to eat - it may be molting.

That said, if the cat prefers peach, give it peach. Also, caterpillars, especially young ones, much prefer young, tender leaves to old, tough ones. Since your cat is so young, give it tender leaves. I don't know how you're keeping them fresh, but I put mine in left overs containers, and punch holes in the tops where I insert the short branches. If you cut down too close to the new growth, the leaves will droop, so you need to cut further down on the branch, and then insert that in the hole of the plastic container top. I also wash the leaves with the sprayer on my kitchen sink - you need to be sure you don't put in any spiders or other predators, and the sprayer will knock them off, also any other nastiness on the leaf.

Sherry

VERY cool find indeed!!! Lucky you. Good luck, and keep us posted.
Angie

This isn't my first time raising cats. But it is my first time raising a tiger. I don't think it's molting. I've got the branch in a setup like you mentioned. And I rinse the leaves and inspect to be sure there aren't any critters. I'll keep updating in this thread with pics!! Hope he makes it to pupation okay!! I'm nervous about this guy. They seem like divas!!

I've raised the tiger cats and they are not divas. Make sure it can't escape or get into the water, but otherwise it's easy. It just takes a bit longer time, like Sherry said!