My sister got the Munchkin a butterfly house for Christmas two years ago. We ordered the critters, they never came. So this year everything but butterflies were living in the house - worms, flys, moth, grub worm. You get the idea. So I finally put in an order with Insect Lore for caterpillars.
We got our caterpillars about 3 weeks ago. When they came, they were itty bitty teeny tiny. I thought for sure they were dead because they weren't moving at all. Well they started eating and eating and eating. It truly is like The Very Hungry Caterpillar book. These guys didn't eat through all the same things (pie, lollipop, sausage).
The excitement began when the first guy made his way to the top of the cup and started to form his cocoon. Slowly the other 4 guys moved up and did the same thing.
On Saturday, the first cocoon builder reappeared as a beautiful Painted Lady butterfly. The screaming that I heard had me convinced something had died and was just found. Oh NO, it was just the alert of a new household member. Today the 5th guy popped out.
This evening was our official release party. 3 of the 5 high tailed it right out of town. They didn't even pass go to collect a sniff our of tasty butterfly bush. They just floated away. The other two hung out long enough for us to get some pictures.
All and all, I would recommend this experience. It was fun family time because we all had to check on the caterpillars and cocoons. Since Hubs works from home there was always a report or two of what was going on or who had arrived for the day. Definitely work the $20 investment.
