Insect Lore Butterfly Garden and Giveaway

Michael received a butterfly kit from Insect Lore a bug child's heaven!

The whole order was sent through UPS in a white poly sealed bag. The order was sent out on Monday and he received the package on Wednesday. I was excited for Michael cause what a great way to learn the process of living butterflies. We opened the package and inside was a butterfly habitat, 2 containers of caterpillars, a magazine showing all the other awesome stuff Insect Lore has to offer, and finally instructions.

The caterpillars came in 2 plastic containers, along with their food inside the container, all we have to do with them is keep them in a cool upright place. This is the day I got them.
Its now a waiting game waiting for the caterpillars to turn into chrysalis. In the mean time I found out that caterpillars are a lot like spiders they make webs!

The webs they make are nothing fancy like a spider but they help the caterpillar move around the cup. They make little small balls which all ball up around the cup this is their waste. This is on Sunday 4 days after getting in mail.

I read that it should take about 7-10 days for the caterpillars to become chrysalis. It is now Monday morning 6 days after we received the caterpillars in the mail and already 3 of them have started making their chrysalis.

I am waiting on one more to become a chrysalis so I can move them into the next stage of the set, Michael is also wanting to see them so he is excited.

Whoo the last caterpillar is finally turning into a chrysalis!

Today is July 22, Sunday, all the others turned back on Monday the 16th! so they should be butterflies soon! In the directions it reads "pin the disk to the lower inside mesh wall of your butterfly garden" this was a pain. Number 1 I am not a expert but I am pretty sure that a chrysalis always needs to be upright, and all the mesh is on the sides, so how do i go about pinning them on there side? At first I figured that the paper in the cup was sticky on the one side so all you had to do would be take it out and stick it to the mesh or top, but no it was not sticky so yes you need a pin or tape like I ended up using.

I also was not prepared for the chrysalis to start moving! they have a powerful strong swing they do when spooked. I was freaked out lol cause we have had come across chrysalis before but they never had moved unless you saw them hatching which I knew these were not ready for. I moved them into the habitat, I looped the tape and placing one part to the paper, the other to the plastic top of the habitat. So far so good, they seem fine and stopped the swinging after about 5 minutes.

It is the 24th and 2 butterflies have hatched! We missed them but the bottom of the cage has what looks to be like blood? and they both seem to be doing fine.

The booklet that came with the butterflies reads as follows for feeding them after they hatch. Mix 3 teaspoons of sugar into one cup of water. Cut some fresh flowers and place in bottom of habitat. Or if you do not have flowers you can use a paper towel crumbled with the sugar water substance on it, also they like oranges or watermelon. So I again was not prepared so used the paper towel route. I notice that the one butterfly seems to be bleeding? which turns out it is color, kinda like if you wash your whites with a red shirt and it bleeds on everything well a butterfly carries to much meconium and it looks like blood, but just color.

Its now July 27th, and all but my stubborn one have hatched. Michael has been placing the fruit in each day and cleaning it out. One of the butterflies got out but thankfully it returned to the cage. Paige used to work at a butterfly world so she taught the boys how to handle the butterflies. You take your fingers and slide them on either side of the wing so you do not damage the wing, If butterflies cannot fly they will die. I noticed also that the 2nd day of them being out of their chrysalis that they are more active.

I brought the butterflies down for Michael so he could change out the fruit, all this time I have had them on my dresser in our room safe from kids, cats and heat. I went to lift the cage up, it was stuck! so I slowly removed it, the fruit juice, extra color from butterflies and sugar water had seeped through causing it to stick.

I cleaned it up and placed a old tee under the cage now which seems to be working fine.

Finally all the caterpillars hatched and are butterflies! We waited 2 days for the last one to get his "wings" and we took them out to let them go. Today is Aug 1st and we have had them since July 18th. We started with 10 caterpillars which one was very small, it didn't make it, then from that 9 hatched and 8 went free!

We lost one the night before we went to let them loose. Michael handled the habitat outside, he unzipped the top, and we waited......

Finally after a few minutes one left, then a few others it took some slight shaking on our end to get the rest out.

After all the butterflies were free I hosed down the habitat, which washed up with ease, which once dry packed up and stored well.

Before:

After:

I would highly recommend the Butterfly Habitat for any child young or old. It was a very fun learning experience for myself and the children. I learned that they make webs, they leak color and also eat fruit. Michael seemed to know a lot already he is a huge bug child so he loved having the butterflies and was on top of making sure they always had food. So if your looking for a special gift for your child try Insect Lore they have so many items to choose! I wanna do the ants and lady bugs next : ) Michael would absolutely love! I also love how cheap the products of Insect Lore seem to be priced and the memories will last a lifetime!

You can purchase this kit and more at Insect Lore which right now they have double the bugs! Happy Learning. I will be giving away a $10 gift card towards your own purchase of any insect lore product. Just fill in the rafflecopter below. Open to US residents only. a Rafflecopter giveaway