BUTTERFLIES - This is to all the parents and grandparents out there (or the curious). Amazon has a special today on Insect Lore kits - both butterfly and ladybug. I just paid $16.00 for a refill cup of caterpillars direct from InsectLore. Our 5 chrysalises have been hanging for a week so we will have butterflies any day now. On Amazon you can pay $15.00 and get the kit with the pop up habitat OR pay $18.00 and get the habitat set with two cups of caterpillars (5 in each). My granddaughter LOVES raising butterflies. They are painted lady butterflies and can safely be released anywhere in the world. I highly recommend these sets. NOTE: there are two types of set; one has LIVE caterpillars so the cycle starts immediately; the second is a voucher where the receiver sends in for butterflies when they are ready. It costs an extra $8 to redeem that voucher so the live kit is best if timing works. The caterpillars are in a self contained cup so no random critters wandering around. You don't open it until a few days after they all go into a chrysalis. Then you move the lid with the chrysalises into the habitat - again, all is contained. It takes 7-10 days from receipt to chrysalis and another 7-10 to butterfly. They recommend releasing after three days of observation.
This is an awesome gift to ship to a child. Just make sure someone will be there to receive the caterpillars or they leave them on the porch. They are insects but they can only bake in the sun so long.
The ladybug habitats are also on sale. I bought one years ago but it went to her daycare so I don't know how it went. I'm considering buying a new kit since it is cheaper than the refills.
We raised butterflies once and put host plants and flowers into the habitat for the butterflies instead of releasing in 3 days as recommended. The butterflies laid eggs. LOTS of eggs. Once the thread-size caterpillars hatched, we cleaned their waste daily with a tiny paintbrush and fed them host plants until they grew up. We built a big habitat out of a clear bin and had almost 100 chrysalises. This was a huge amount of work but we enjoyed watching them grow through every life cycle stage. Chloe wants to do it again. (Note that if you do this, you have to use flowers and leaves that have not been sprayed with pesticide).
So, give the gift of science and raise some pollinators today and enjoy your butterflies!