Monday, 11 May 2009

Raising Caterpillars


The chrysalis are a beautiful natural shade of green with iridescent hues of silver and gold.

They are very beautiful and would be perfectly camouflaged in their natural habitat.

Bujana is amazed at how they cling on so tightly with such a small strand.

 Every once in a while they will shake quite a bit which is quite normal as it is part of the process of metamorphosis.

 
Here they are only a few days older.

 This morning one of them went to the lid and suspended himself into a cocoon shape.

He hasn't moved since so I think that they will soon be at the stage where we can transfer them into their habitat!

Here a a couple of cool butterfly sites we found on our travels...




These new additions to our family are a real hit!

They arrived a week ago tiny as anything and but have now grown into really fat little caterpillars. 

Most of the day they sleep in their silk nests but sometimes they get a little adventurous and have a nose around.

Their progress will be diligently recorded on these pages.

The only thing I won't be doing is releasing them (once they become butterflies) onto my broccoli plants.

We'll find a nice little meadow for them instead I think.

If you are interested in raising your own painted lady butterflies just follow the link below.

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