Metamorphosis

We got one of those cool butterfly kits for Christmas and finally got to order the larvae for it! Got the little buggers about 2wks ago...they grew SO fast and every one of them formed into a chrysalid now! Very exciting. One of them formed in less than 1hr- I swear to you! I checked them after putting E to bed one night and when J got home it had formed! Couldn't believe it! When we got them they measured less than 1/2". Fully grown they measured 2" before forming the chrysalids (also called a pupa). They sometimes doubled their size in a day! They also molt about 4 times throughout which explains the little black fuzzy things we'd see here and there and wondered if they were falling apart or what :D

We still have to take them out now and pin them to the mesh butterfly house now...should hopefully have 5 'Painted Lady' butterflies in less than a week. E's learned a lot from this process and so have I. She had a butterfly book and frog book that explained all this awhile back, as well as library books here and there, but it's so much more interesting seeing it all firsthand. She's kept a journal throughout as well.

Here's a few pics of the larger caterpillars and a few chrysalids. I'll take a few more when they become butterflies. We'll probably let a few go here and maybe a few at mom's. They supposedly stick around their release site for a few days so that'll be fun to see.