Caterpillars To Butterflies

Have you ever watched the process of metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly?
I don't remember doing this- ever when I was younger and I'm really excited to share this with C.

During the process I researched books to read to C.  Find them in my previous post here.


I found out about the Insect Lore Live Butterfly Garden on Cheap Mama Chick and was going to watch the price on Amazon, but ended up at a TJ Maxx and found the same one for a great price.

Once home, I took the card inside the kit and ordered the caterpillars online with the code included. You can do this online or through the mail.  I just paid $3 shipping.  I think they took about two weeks to arrive.

C and I were gone when they arrived and my husband brought them inside but didn't open them.  They sat on the counter unopened for two days and survived!

5/14 arrived
5/16 actually opened

 5/18 (4 days after receipt)

 5/20 (6 days after receipt) Clearly growing

5/23 (9 days after receipt) 

So much bigger.  I didn't realize how much they would grow!  By the end of the day three were in J formation.

The whole time I've been reading C books on the process of an egg to a butterfly and he asks every day if his caterpillars turned into chrysalis.  I think it's cute.  Such a mature word for a little man!

5/24 (10 days after receipt)

Two turning into chrysalis.  They seem to shrink and just harden to me.  One has some gold spots where the feet were.  Another caterpillar was still crawling around the top finding where it was most comfortable and repeatedly bumping the one with gold spots.  I wonder how this affects them.

5/25 (11 days after receipt) two more are chrysalids for a total of four.

5/26 (12 days after receipt) the last one is a chrysalis and I transferred them into the net/ container.  

Here's the food/ waste combination inside the cup.  I'm glad I didn't have to touch it.

Transferring them was actually quite challenging.  I removed the plastic cover from the container they came in.  Inside the cover was a "paper" sheet that the caterpillars spun silk on and attached themselves to prior to becoming chrysalids.  I removed this "paper" (VERY carefully) and transferred it into the netted container.  In the process one chrysalis fell off.  It was the newest one.  I wonder if it didn't attach itself well enough or if it was that it was so "new."  I placed this unattached one on the bottom of the netted container as the instructions said.

I'm quite surprised in this whole process.  It's amazing what insects can do!  It's neat to see the gold flecks on the chrysalids too.  It seems like the caterpillars eat and eat, to grow, but then shrink down once they turn into chrysalids.  It also looked like they lost a part of the end of their body as they turned into chrysalids.  Weird.

 Butterfly #1

6/3 (20 days after receipt) Two butterflies emerged.  We were checking a lot today as I noticed in the morning that two chrysalids were really dark.  Sure enough, one emerged during nap time.

We brought the first one outside in a cup with lid and placed it on a hanging flower basket.

The butterfly sat on a flower for a long time and eventually attempted to fly to a nearby tree, only to land in the grass.

C and I went off to play while the butterfly dried out it's wings to fly.  I marked where it was with a watering can as I was afraid we wouldn't be able to find him later.  We continually came back and it was still there.  Unfortunately my husband was also out mowing the lawn and I thought he knew the butterfly was there, but I have a feeling he ran over it with the riding lawnmower.  As far as C is concerned the butterfly flew away.

 Butterfly #2

The second butterfly actually emerged while we were out playing and releasing the first one.  I hope we get to see one of the five emerge.

This photo shows the remaining three chrysalids.  The lighter two are just the "skin."  The red is from butterfly #2 and is leftover meconium from the butterfly's formation.

 Butterflies #3 & 4

6/4 (21 days after receipt)  Another butterfly emerged overnight.  C and I noticed another was starting to emerge as well.  It felt like all we were doing for 30 minutes was look to see if the butterfly had emerged, and of course, when we weren't looking it did.  One more to go!  I think it might be today yet.

6/5 (22 days after receipt) The last butterfly was trying to emerge.  This is the one that wasn't hanging.  It was trying all day to get out.  I thought about grabbing a tweezers to help but thought I'd probably end up hurting him.  He didn't make it.  After trying for so long he finally gave up.  I left him for another 24hours but didn't see him move.   Disappointing, but that is the cycle of life.  Not all will make it.

Overall, this is a great activity to do with your children.  I think C is a little young to get a full appreciation for this process, but he still learned a lot.  I think this would be a great activity to do again in another year or two with him.

You can find this project at Amazon.  You can also get "refill" sets at Insect Lore.