Painted Lady Butterflies

Some time in late April our daughter went to pick up our grandson from 4K.  They had a class project going on which looked like a lot of fun.  They wanted to try this project at home.  She got the information and placed an order from http://www.insectlore.com/.  In a short amount of time the package arrived.  It was a batch of small caterpillars.  These caterpillars came in a container containing food and a net called a live butterfly pavilion.  The caterpillars were quite small but grew very fast.

The caterpillars after a week or so.

It only took around ten days before the caterpillars began to form their chrysalis.

The beginning of the chrysalis process.

Here the chrysalis's are formed.  It only took 1 1/2 hours for the entire process.

After the chrysalis's are formed they are transferred to their pavilion home.  After they hatch into butterflies  they will be contained in the pavilion habitat until they are ready to be set free. 

After another ten days the hatching process began.  One by one the butterflies emerged.

When they all hatched, it was time to set them free.  They took the habitat outside and Ewan unzipped the netting.

The butterflies weren't that eager to leave.  Some spent time sitting on Ewan's finger and others sat in the trees and on the grass.

These butterflies are called Painted Lady butterflies.  The entire metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly only took about three weeks.  It was a great learning activity for the whole family.  Some of the butterflies stayed in the area for a few days, but then they were off to start their life cycle again.

A Painted Lady butterfly about to be set free.