This year is not the first year I have tried this project out. My children and I started out with a few caterpillars from a friend in Victoria in 2009, and gave them as many thistles as we could possibly find.. we had 4 out of 11 live and fly away. Although the mortality rate was fairly upsetting for my children, we were happy to see a few of them fly into the sunshine. I will never forget the feeling that day.
We took a year off and then decided to work with butterflies from a wonderful lady in Langley BC. Her name is Kim Sutton, and she has butterfly larvae kits for sale through her site.. Flutterbuys .We used her artificial diet, which the little guys consumed big time! All of the butterflies lived and flew away happily and we were so thrilled! So.. we did that again this year as well, and again, all of the caterpillars grew and happily flew off into the warm light.
Now, I had to make sure they all came out of their chrysalises and so it took a good four days of waiting before we decided to set them free.. drinking Gatorade, eating mushy banana and moving their wings up and down in the veiled light at the window. During that time some of them got busy creating new life, and so.. well.. I added plants. :)) The eggs were abundant! Tomorrow I will write more :)
We took a year off and then decided to work with butterflies from a wonderful lady in Langley BC. Her name is Kim Sutton, and she has butterfly larvae kits for sale through her site.. Flutterbuys .We used her artificial diet, which the little guys consumed big time! All of the butterflies lived and flew away happily and we were so thrilled! So.. we did that again this year as well, and again, all of the caterpillars grew and happily flew off into the warm light.
Now, I had to make sure they all came out of their chrysalises and so it took a good four days of waiting before we decided to set them free.. drinking Gatorade, eating mushy banana and moving their wings up and down in the veiled light at the window. During that time some of them got busy creating new life, and so.. well.. I added plants. :)) The eggs were abundant! Tomorrow I will write more :)
