The painted ladies are here. All five caterpillars became butterflies. We watched them up close sip sugar water with long thin black tongues.
Into the wild they go.
Two butterflies flew out as soon as the lid was opened. These two lingered for awhile. My son coaxed them out, "Time to go butterfly."
One remains with us. This is Crump. Shortly after posting about the five caterpillars growing well, I could only find four. We worried that we had lost one. Ends up, Crump was the first to enter the cocoon. However, Crump failed to hang it's chrysalis from the top of the cup. When Crump emerged from the cocoon, her/his wings were all crumpled. I would have loved to see Crump take flight and leave us behind, but we're thankful our home butterfly observation continues.
Previously posted on the painted lady butterfly experiment
:Butterfly Experiment Begins
Butterfly Experiment Update 1
Butterfly Experiment Update 2
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Wow! I'd like to try this with my son. Where did your sister-in-law get them? We get the wild ones in our yard, drinking from our native plants. These butterflies are native to the entire US. My insect book says mallows are an important larval plant. So I'm thinking they'd like the apricot mallows I have, purchased at the Theodore Payne Foundation nursery.
ReplyDeleteHi Ilsa,
ReplyDeleteThe company is Insect Lore. You can find them on amazon. Enjoy!