Growing Butterflies

For Christmas, Carley received a butterfly kit from a friend of mine. And as the weather got warmer, we ordered the butterfly larvae.

The caterpillars took less than a week to arrive. They came in a "larval culture cup" that had food at the bottom of the cup.


4/9/10

For the first week, the caterpillars just moved around the cup and ate their food. As they entered the pupal stage, the caterpillars crawled to the top of the cup and hung upside down.



One evening they looked like this....

4/11/10

And the next morning, a couple looked like this...

4/15/10

Once they all harden into crysalids we were able to open the cup, pull out the paper liner than they clung to and move them into the butterfly habitat.


4/16/10

We're still watching and waiting for the first butterfly to break free.