Painted Ladies

I have a boy, two actually and they love the world of creepy crawlies. They have their limits mind you. They won't get too close to a praying mantis and they were creeped out when their mother picked up a beetle so show them, but they do love butterflies and moths. Must come from having two older sisters. They chase them around the yard with a butterfly net only to be denied the prize.

So one lazy Saturday afternoon they made a discovery. It seems you can buy painted lady larve and have it sent to your home. From that point you raise your own little butterflies. So we embarked on an adventure. We (meaning me) didn't think to document the whole journey of said butterflies, but it was still delightful.

We watched them grow as caterpillars, moved their cocoons to the butterfly net when the time was right and waited for them to hatch. It was kind of a gruesome thing, the kids kept asking if they were okay. You see when they hatch they leave what looks like a bloody battlefield behind them. We learned that it was just left over coloring and nutrients that they no longer needed. Kind of strange and yet fascinating.

We purchased two groups of 5 caterpillars, we lost one caterpillar right away but the other 9 made it all the way to cocoon stage. From that point we were sure that we had lost a couple because they took forever to hatch, we had one that hatched from the floor because it fell off the paper and one that just needed a bit of extra time. We felt quite accomplished to have hatched all 9 successfully. They kids had a great time letting them go. The last one to hatch stayed behind to eat for while and this is when I went 'Hey let me get the camera.' Yeah, I know I'm a stellar mom.

So without further ado here is our painted lady.