The Butterfly Project: Day 12

Release Day

We didn't want to subject the butterflies to a 3 hour car ride, so we released them today before leaving for the beach. Lilypad Princess gently brought each butterfly out of the house, one at a time, and released them into the air. We let them go next to our butterfly house, hoping they will return for the rest of the summer so we can watch them grow.

The Butterfly Project: Day 11

We have 5 butterflies! All the caterpillars successfully hatched into beautiful Painted Lady butterflies. When we woke up this morning there were still only 2, by noon all 5 were stretching their wings and learning to fly.

The Butterfly Project: Day 10

We have butterflies!



We woke up this morning to find two butterflies stretching out their wings in their new home. Somehow during the night the butterfly house was knocked off the dining room hutch. The three remaining cocoons have stuck themselves to other parts of the house, and two had hatched into beautiful, Painted Lady butterflies.







Lilypad Princess was very excited to head outside to pick flowers off our butterfly bush to feed them, along with some cut up watermelon. Forster was too busy trying to figure out a way to get to them to worry about what they were eating.

The Butterfly Project: Day 6

The caterpillars are still going through metamorphis inside their caterpillars. Nothing new to update today (I added day 3 and 4 below if you are interested.)

The Butterfly Project: Day 4

Today Lilypad Princess and I actually watched the three remaining caterpillars form their chrysalis (chrysali? How do you pluralize that?) Now all 5 are hanging from the top of the cup.

The Butterfly Project: Day 3

Today two of the caterpillars made their way to the top of the cup, and by bedtime had finished their chrysalis. The other 3 caterpillars are pretty fat and keep heading back towards the top of the cup. I don't think it will be long before they follow.

The Butterfly Project, Day 2

The caterpillars are definitely bigger, they would have to be with the amount of food they have consumed! The food source at the bottom of the cup looked like a half inch of smooth peanut butter then they arrived. They have consumed about half of that in the last 24 hours, eating straight through to the bottom of the cup in multiple spots.

The Butterfly Project, Day 1

Lilypad Princess loves butterflies. She loves to go on butterfly hunts with her daddy, always wanting to let them out about 10 minutes later so they can go home to their mommies. Lilypad Dad and I thought she would enjoy watching a caterpillar turn into a butterfly since she already knows the story of metamorphosis. We purchased a butterfly habitat that came with a coupon for 5 Painted Lady caterpillars, which were delivered today. Lilypad Princess has not stopped watching her caterpillars, she even insisted on bringing them up to her bedroom at bedtime.

The caterpillars come in a plastic cup with a lid and lots of food on the bottom. We couldn't believe how active they were today, and how much they ate! They are noticeably bigger tonight that they were this afternoon. And there is already a large amount of webbing around the cup. I should have taken the picture earlier today when the cup was clearer, but I didn't realize just how busy they would be in less than 12 hours.

painted lady butterfly image from here