We bought Landen a butterfly kit months and months ago and finally sent away for his caterpillars. His creepy crawly caterpillars arrived in a little cup with their food about 2 weeks ago. Big excitement from Landen. I, on the other hand, wasn't exactly thrilled to have bugs living on my buffet in my dining room at first, but I was happy to see Landen so excited about raising his butterflies. Fun learning projects are always a good thing.
The first few days his hungry caterpillars just roamed around eating.
Then they began to hang upside down from the top to begin forming their chrysalides (cocoons). See the guy on the left has already completed his chrysalide and the one on the right is getting ready to make his.
Once all of the chrysalides had hardened, Neil helped Landen pin them to the inside of the butterfly net/home.
They began shaking and we were sure they were trying to get out.
Chrysalides from Melissa Alcorn on Vimeo.
After some research we found out they were actually shaking as a natural instinct to ward off predators. Sorry butterflies! We didn't mean to scare you, but a small cup is no place for a butterfly.
So we watched...
and waited...
and a few days later Landen's 5 little caterpillars became beautiful butterflies! This was the first to emerge. The rest opened up in the next 2 days.
They are painted lady butterflies, which resemble little monarch butterflies. Very pretty!
Butterflies from Melissa Alcorn on Vimeo.
We have been having fun watching them sip from a flower dipped in sugar water and orange slices. Landen plans to release them in our backyard in a couple of days.
This has been really awesome to watch and Landen will surely be raising more butterflies soon!
"When you sigh my, my inside just flies, butterflies." The Beatles
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