Friday, May 2, 2008

Our newest pets!

The butterfly hut


For easter, our family got a butterfly house and a mail in certificate for five painted lady caterpillars. I mailed in the certificate, and within a week, five tiny caterpillars were mailed to us in a little cup. They were approximately a 1/2" long. The cup had nutrients in the bottom, so we only had to stay out of their way and keep the cup out of the sun.

A week later, the caterpillars were almost 3" long. It was crazy how quickly they grew. About a week and a half ago, the caterpillars all went into chrysalises. Once they were all safely sleeping, we carefully opened the lid and pinned the special paper with the caterpillars inside our butterfly hut.

We've been waiting patiently, and the first butterfly came out this morning while nobody was home. The big kids are going to be so excited when they come home from school!



The first butterfly to hatch




The whole bunch of them

3 comments:

Chardell said...

So cool! My kids would love that.

Katie said...

Wow... so what do you do when they are all hatched? Will you release them? How do you take care of butterflies?

Stacey said...

My kids have wanted that ever since the commercials started playing. My oldest was ecstatic when his teacher got it for their class. He tells me about the "callepitters" every day.