Extra Caterpillar- NO HABITAT

Congratulations, you are about to watch part of the incredible life cycle of the Painted Lady Butterfly! 

 

Your Kit Contains:

* Covered Cup with caterpillars and food.

*Container for sugar-water for butterflies.

*Butterfly Habitat, which can be reused. Save it and we will give you an extra caterpillar at camp next year instead of a habitat!!

You will need to Provide:

* Water, sugar, and a small bowl to mix and store the sugar solution.

* Pieces of fruit. Butterflies like watermelon, banana and orange.

 

Caring for your Caterpillars

-Your caterpillars only need the food on the bottom of their cup to grow. You can watch as they eat, crawl, spin silk and grow to many times their original size!  

-Don’t worry if they do not move for the first day or so, this is normal.  

-While they are eating & growing you will see little balls on the bottom of the cup that are the caterpillars “frass” or waste. It should be left in the cup. While the caterpillars are in the cup you may gently pick it up to look at them but do not shake it or be rough with them. 

-Keep your caterpillar Cup at room temperature (68° to 78°F) & out of direct sunlight. Direct sunlight my cause condensation in the cup, which is not healthy for them.

-Keep the lid on the Cup at all times to prevent introducing bacteria into it.

 

Changing from Caterpillar to Chrysalis

-At normal room temperature the caterpillars should take 5 to 10 days to grow large enough to make the change from caterpillar to chrysalis.  

-When they are ready to change your caterpillars will climb to the top of the cup and attach themselves, by strands of silk, to the paper that is under the lid. They will hang upside down from the paper and make a “J” shape.

-Once they are in the “J” shape, their body will change into a chrysalis & they will shed a thin layer of outer skin you may not even see. During the first day while their chrysalis is forming it is very important that they are not disturbed and you must be very careful not to move or jiggle the cup. This is the most vulnerable stage in the development of a butterfly.

 

Caring for your Chrysalides

-About 24 hours after ALL of the caterpillars have formed chrysalides is the best time to move them into the Hanging Habitat. By this time, they should all be firmly attached to the paper under the lid of the cup.  

-To move them to the Habitat you are going to move the whole paper, not the individual chrysalides. 

1. Open your habitat. 

2. Optional: Add water to the butterfly feeder (no sugar) and place in the center of the floor of the habitat. This will help increase humidity in the habitat. 

3. Gently open the cup & remove the paper (with attached chrysalis), being very careful not to disturb the chrysalides. 

4. Using a straight pin, hang the paper securely on an inside wall (not the top) of the Habitat. The chrysalides will be hanging downward & laying against the paper. If any of your chrysalides become detached from the paper gently lay them on a napkin on the floor of the Habitat next to a side wall. The chances are good that they will still emerge as healthy butterflies.  

5. To close your habitat: (It is nice to have a helper). Pinch two opposite sides together, this should be the sides without the thin ribbon. While holding those sides, overlap the other sides together and tie a bow with the ribbon.

5. If you have a spray bottle that sprays very misty, use the mister to give them a gentle mist of room temperature water once a day. They will do better if misted but are OK without. Too much misting is worse than no misting. 

-As with the cup, the habitat should be kept at room temperature & out of direct sunlight.

 

Birth of Your Butterflies

-Approximately 7 to 10 days after they have made their chrysalis your butterfly will emerge. Although, from the outside, the 7 to 10 days of the chrysalis phase seems to be a time when nothing is happening, it is really a time of rapid change. Within the chrysalis the old body parts of the caterpillar are undergoing a remarkable transformation, called metamorphosis, to become the beautiful parts that make up the butterfly that will emerge.

-The chrysalides will get darker as the time to emerge gets closer.  Keep your eyes on them now as you may get to witness the birth of a butterfly!  As a butterfly emerges, it will hold onto the paper in a vertical position while stretching its wings to full size.  

-Don’t be alarmed if you see a red liquid, which may look like blood, coming from the butterfly. This is called Meconium, a waste product left over from the butterfly’s metamorphosis.

-When a butterfly emerges its wings are soft and folded and it cannot fly.  Over a period of 1 to 2 hours the butterfly stretches and strengthens its wings by forcing blood into its veins.  During this time, be careful not to touch or jiggle the habitat and do not try to touch the newly emerged butterflies. 

-Only 1 to 2 hours after emerging the wings will be full-sized and completely hardened. Your butterfly is now fully-grown and ready for flight. 

-You can then reach into the habitat and remove the paper and chrysalis remains.

 

Feeding, Observing and Releasing your Butterflies

-The normal lifespan of a butterfly is 2 to 4 weeks. You may want to observe your butterflies for a few days before you release them from the Habitat. 

-Butterflies will not eat the first day but after that you need to feed them.

-Butterflies eat by unrolling their proboscis (like a tongue) and drinking sweetened water. When they are finished, they roll their proboscis back up.  

-Butterflies also like to drink from slices of freshly cut watermelon, banana or orange. 

-To feed your butterflies make a sugar solution by mixing 1 tsp. sugar in 4 oz. of water. Fill the feeder cup almost to the top and replace the lid. The cotton wick will stay moist and the butterflies will drink the sugar water from the moist wick.  

-Set the feeder on the floor of the Habitat.  

-Keep extra sugar water refrigerated between feedings. 

-Rinse and refill the feeder (no soap) once a week. 

-If you have a mister, give the butterflies a gentle mist of room temperature water 1Xday.

-After observing your butterflies for a few days we recommend you release them into their natural environment. This way they can continue their normal life cycle and breed and lay eggs that will become caterpillars. Your butterflies are not likely to breed within the Habitat because they prefer plants for laying eggs. Painted Ladies live throughout North America so you can release them anywhere.  When temperatures are above 55°F it is safe to release your butterflies. Once released, the butterflies can often be seen for several days in the vicinity of their release.  If it is too chilly, you can keep them inside for their full lifespan.