mamaraby Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Has anyone ever done the butterfly garden kits that you can buy from places like Rainbow Resource (or HST)? The kit I'm looking at has the net habitat that you hang inside, a coupon for the larvae, and food for the larvae. For some of the other kits I've seen online it mentions needing to have milkweed for the butterflies to eat until they are big enough to release. Is this necessary for the kits from Rainbow Resource? Anything else I should know before we get started? ETA: Or should we wait until spring? It's in the low 80s lately, upper 70s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanne115 Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 We did that and loved it. Our butterflies loved oranges. I just sliced them in half and put them in their habitat. It was so cool to see them eat. I also put flowers in their habitat, but they preferred the oranges. I'm sure I read about the oranges either on the website or the instructions that come with the kit. It is a lot of fun. I didn't get milkweed or read that I needed it. I used the kit from Insect Lore. Good luck with your butterflies. Suzanne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Michelle* Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 We've got lots of monarch butterflies outside and plenty of caterpillars devouring our milkweed. We have one chrysalis that will probably emerge tomorrow and a new one that formed outside this morning. :) Honestly, you really don't need a kit or anything. The pop-up tent is nice for them to form a chrysalis in, but you only use it very briefly. Probably the easiest thing to do is to go to a garden center and pick up a few pots of milkweed. They'll most likely be covered in butterfly eggs already. When you see the caterpillars emerge, just keep an eye on them. They go through, I believe, 5 instar stages where they place themselves under a leaf and stay very still until they shed their skin and go to the next stage. You know they're ready to form a chrysalis when they abandon the plant. At that point, we capture the caterpillars as they're making their way down the plant stand and put them in the tent. After a day or so, they hook themselves to the top of the tent and hang in a J-shape. When their little antenna shrivel up, you know they're ready to shed their skin for the last time and reveal the chrysalis inside. When the chrysalis turns from jade green to dark, it's almost time for butterflies. Just make sure they have plenty of room to expand and then watch the show! Here are some of our posts about butterflies. The top one has a video of the chrysalis spinning around. http://saintaugustin...h/label/Insects Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teeniebeenie6 Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Make sure you remove the silk strands from the chrysalis as the instructions state. I missed this part of the instructions and one of our dear butterflies got stuck part way in it's chrysalis. It was horrible to watch. I waited most of the day and then tried to help it to no avail. It tried and tried to get out but could not. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NittanyJen Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 We had our kit in the winter time, and the butterflies lived for quite a long time on orange slices. Hardy things. I even accidentally trapped one under the orange plate for several days, and when I found it and released it, poof-- up and flying again after its wings re-inflated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsmm Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 We have ordered from insect lore because we don't have milkweed around here. (well, not near by). The caterpillars come in a little cup with all the food they need. When they are in their chrysalis, you remove the paper top of the jar and put them in the habitat. once they emerge, you can feed them sugar water, orange slices, or watermelon slices. Release when the temp is above 55 degrees F. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatholicMom Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 We JUST got done using the one from Insect Lore. We released our butterflies a few days ago. Nothing major you need to know. It's all in the instructions and it's pretty simple. It does say to remove the frass (poop) and silk strands from the chrysalises when you put them in the habitat. When I did it, it was SOooo gross, lol. I was using a q-tip to try to remove the silk webs that were all over the chrysalises and as I was tugging on it (trying to be gentle - but dang those things were sticky!) the chrysalises started moving and flapping around!! It was so freaky! I started shrieking and yelling "eeeww!! eeew!" and so thankfully dh came in and finished it, LOL. I was not expecting that weirdness. The caterpillars were also grosser than I expected and pooped ALL over in their little cup. Woo hoo. Overall a grosser experience than I expected, lol, but once they became butterflies I was happy. We fed ours oranges, too, and they seemed to like it. They also liked fresh flowers (but you have to know which ones butterflies will eat from). We put an orange in my front garden and released the butterflies there to see if any would hang out. One of them did hang out and eat the orange and was sticking its tongue in the damp ground for some reason for at least a half hour. The kids had fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 We just released our ten Painted Lady butterflies from an Insect Lore kit a couple of weeks ago, and it was SO much fun! Re the confusion over the milkweed: you only need milkweed if you are raising Monarch butterflies! This is their food, and where they lay their eggs. If you are going with a kit from Insect Lore, the Painted Lady butterflies are what you will be doing. Everything is included in the kit, with the exception of the sugar-water you will make (exact ratio included in instructions). And yes, ours tended to spend a lot more time on the orange segments we put in:) And as other pp have mentioned, you will need to gently clean away the excess silk and frass that is sort of tangled around the chrysalides once they have hardened a bit. A couple of other things: when the caterpillars arrived I was almost positive they were dead as they did not seem to move at ALL...but after a day they were all moving around, eating, and growing very quickly! The other thing...we took pictures at every stage and smallest change that my dd noticed for her little lab notebook (she is only 3.5, so mostly pictures with mom scribing a few sentences for her). When the butterflies emerge, it is very fast! So toward the end you will want to keep a close eye on it. If your dc are young, you might warn them they might see a drop or two of bright blood when the butterflies emerge. This comes from when blood begins to circulate through their wings. Good luck! The experience was enough for us to plant a butterfly garden and we plan on repeating the experience every year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 We get the Painted Lady kit from insect lore every spring. We love them they're so easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfknitter.# Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 The kit is fun. We had a great success and the kids loved it. I can say, if you intend to purchase more next year, do not purchase from http://Butterfly-Lady.com/butterfly-home.htm. I never received mine and got no response when I asked what happened. Sticking with Insect Lore, while more expensive, might be prudent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 We did this last year and loved it. We didn't clean anything away though...so not sure about that. Ours was an all in one kit. They came in a little dish with the food they needed to get to the chrysalis stage and we just set them up and took pics often. When it was time they attached to the cheese-type cloth at the top of the container and we removed this and pinned it inside the habitat. We used one of those pop up net laundry baskets from the dollar store and just covered the top. We fed them fresh fruit once they hatched and then released them. Some companies only ship at certain times, based on seasons, but you can keep them alive indoors if you wish. We wanted to release them, as I didn't want the kids to have to raise them and then see them all die. Just personal preference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Michelle* Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 Our newest butterfly! Just emerged a few minutes ago. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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