Caterpillars, cocoons, butterflies, oh my!

For Christmas, Madison got a butterfly house kit in which you send away for your "larvae" and have to opportunity to watch a butterfly's life cycle right before your eyes. We decided to wait until it was warmer to send away for ours, because we wanted to be able to release the butterflies in our backyard.

A few weeks ago, we sent away for them. Shortly afterwards, we received a box in the mail labeled "Live insects, open immediately." Ewww! I carefully opened the box only to find 5 little tiny caterpillars in a plastic jar. The jar is to stay sealed and has holes poked at the top for air and food at the bottom for the little creatures. Every morning when we awoke, the kids would run to check on their caterpillars, surprised to find that they nearly doubled in size overnight, every night! It was crazy!

On about the 7th day, just as described in the instructions, they all climbed to the top of the jar and hung from a thin sheet of cotton, upside down. They stayed that way for a day or two, and then suddenly all formed cocoons around themselves one evening while we were gone only a couple hours. All five of them! We were bummed we missed watching them form cocoons in action, but of course this meant now we could await them coming out as butterflies.

Nine days later, they emerged! Of course I missed it all as I was at school while they did it, but nonetheless, the kids got to witness the birth of a butterfly, so I was happy. It really was so cool and the kids were so excited to check on their butterflies. We kept them for about two days and then released them in our backyard. They immediately flew up into the trees and we continued to see them for another 20 minutes or so. I saw one flying in our yard the next day, but then we haven't seen them since. Nathan received this same butterfly kit from aunt Hayley for his 2nd birthday, so we plan on sending away for his soon and watching them all over again!



My only regret is that I didn't take pictures of each step in their lifecycle...it was so neat to watch the progression. Oh well, next time!

Here's one of the five, just as we were releasing them. The red on the paper towel is actually left over color that comes out of the butterfly when they emerge from the cocoon...looks like a bloody mess, I know...but it's not blood.

Here is a closeup of the butterflies eating nectar off of a rose...how cool is that!??