It’s been a quite few days at our house. Our once tiny caterpillars continued to eat and eat. The humidity in the air from our latest rain storms misted up the cup a bit so our caterpillars were a bit hard to see over the last few days but they took advantage of the privacy and all formed chrysalids on the same day. Each caterpillar climbed to the top of the cup one by one and found a comfy spot to hang.

My kids loved watching each caterpillar find it’s own spot and slowly make the transition to their next stage of life. We had a little bit of competition going on apparently. In one cup, three caterpillars formed chrysalids without a problem when a trouble maker came up and spun silk around all three of them, connecting them together at the ends. It will be interesting to see if that causes any problems when those butterflies are ready to emerge. The same trouble maker knocked another caterpillar down from the top of the cup and caused him to transition to a chrysalid on the bottom of the cup.

The chrysalid with the ink leaking out is the one who caused all the problems. You can’t tell very well on this picture because we were in the process of transferring them to the butterfly garden but these chrysalids are attached to the top of the cup and all linked together by silk threads at the other end. My kids think it’s hilarious that one caterpillar spun all the others together.

This is the chrysalid that formed on the bottom of the cup. Anyone know what to do about that. I’ve heard that if they stay on the ground that the wings of the butterfly won’t form correctly. I sent a note out to Insect Lore on Twitter. They are always great for emergency butterfly advice.

I used to run a home daycare and preschool and we did the Insect Lore butterfly kit every spring. The kids loved it but I realized that my own kids were too young to remember it. They have been having a blast watching our caterpillars grow and they are anxiously waiting for the first butterfly to emerge. In the meantime, we’re planning some great butterfly related projects so keep an eye out for those.

Enter to Win a Butterfly Garden from Insect Lore

Don’t let us have all the fun. Insect Lore is teaming up with Busy Mommy Media to give away 5 Butterfly Garden kits. Check out the giveaway post and enter to win.

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