A few weeks back, I ordered a butterfly habitat for Ava. I love educational activities that are fun and that our whole family can enjoy. This was a perfect summer activity. After a few days, we received 8 tiny caterpillars in the mail. They lived on our mantel for several days just eating their food and getting ready for their transformation. We were surprised at how fast they grew! In only a matter of days they had tripled in size and one by one they moved to the top of their enclosure to form their chrysalis.
Once they were all cocooned, we carefully transferred them into the butterfly habitat. We all found ourselves checking out the habitat several times a day to see if there was any action. After a few days, we noticed that we were near the habitat, the pupae would begin to vibrate rapidly. Apparently, they could sense our presence and this is how they ward off predators. Pretty cool, right? See, that's making education interesting right there. ;) One night as I was cooking dinner, I took a minute to check out the habitat and saw that our first butterfly had made its appearance. When the butterflies emerge, they do not move for several hours because their wings are still wet and they are unable to fly. As the wings dry, they unfurl and the butterfly can take flight.
Now that we had some butterflies, it was time to feed them. They company we bought them from suggested soaking paper towels in sugar water and also feeding them oranges. They loved the oranges!
We discovered that although these butterflies are called painted ladies, only the top of their wings are colorful. The underside is dull similar to a moth.
Aren't they pretty?
After a few weeks, the time came to let our butterflies be free. Ava said goodbye to her eight little summertime pets.
We opened the habitat
and only one butterfly flew out immediately. The rest just hung out.
The red stuff you see on the side of the habitat is not blood but rather the liquid that is on the butterfly's wings when they emerge from the pupa. We left the habitat on our front porch and checked back occasionally. It was several hours before all the butterflies flew away. I guess we had made them a pretty nice home! We really thought that we would see the butterflies out in our yard for a few days afterward but when they left, they completely took off to the wild blue yonder. I guess they felt they had a whole, wide world to explore. :)
This was a really fun summer project for our family. We enjoyed watching the entire process up close. And aren't you glad I just provided you with this science lesson? Ha! If you are interested in checking this out, I purchased the habitat from Amazon. Here is the link:
You are such a fun mom!
ReplyDeleteThat's so sweet! One of the best compliments I've ever gotten!
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