It starts to turn into a butterfly. The Butterfly Emerges! ... What Kind of Beetle Does a Grub Worm Turn Into? Black Swallowtail butterfly (ventral view) gathering nectar from a … My children and I spend our summers raising butterflies indoors. How Long Does a Caterpillar Stay in a Cocoon? already exists. Chances are a caterpillar that you found on the ground will dig around in the paper towel for a day or two, and then turn into a smooth brown pupa. Editor's Picks. The Eating Habits of Caterpillars; SAVE CANCEL. Would you like to merge this question into it? Credit: Clinton & Charles Robertson/CC-BY 2.0 According to HowStuffWorks, the time required for a caterpillar to pupate (change into an adult butterfly or moth) averages about two weeks. A caterpillar eats to store energy for when it is time to build her cocoon. Black Swallowtail less than one hour old! ... First it spins a cocoon and turns to a jelly like thing which is called a pupa for about 2 weeks and then transforms into a butterfly. Empty chrysalis of a Black Swallowtail. Unlike a cocoon, which is spun from thread produced by a moth caterpillar, chrysalises exist inside a butterfly caterpillar and emerge once the process of metamorphosis begins. Black Swallowtail butterflies are great to raise indoors for several reasons including abundance, plentiful food source, attractive and … They will stay and transform over time into a butterfly or a moth. This can range from about seven days to more than a year, but for a large number of species it is less than 30 days. Its shape starts to change. It then turns into a butterfly. (2-3 weeks) When the butterfly first emerges from the chrysalis, its wings are soft and crumpled. To form a chrysalis, a butterfly caterpillar does not use silk. SAVE CANCEL. it depend on 1- kind of butterfly 2- temperature of environment. me and the little girl that i babysit found two caterpillar and we want to know how long it takes before they become butterflies ... how long does it take for a Caterpillar to turn into a butterfly? The answer to how long it takes for a butterfly to transform is usually 2-6 weeks, and to improve your question.... How long does it take for a caterpillar to transform into a butterfly? already exists. The butterfly pushes on the walls of the shell until it breaks open. The transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly is absolutely fascinating. Eventually the caterpillar will be ready to transform into a butterfly or moth in a process called metamorphosis. All this happens in the chrysalis. The chrysalis will turn clear just before the butterfly is ready to hatch. The butterfly pushes from inside and slowly struggles out, until the case splits open.