Painted lady butterflies
Hi everyone!
I recently bought a butterfly growing kit from insect lore! It comes with every you need to raise 5 caterpillars into painted lady butterflies 😊
I will be posting regular updates here if anyone would like to follow along the journey
Day 1 - caterpillars have arrived!
Two of them are very active and moving around in the little tub, the other three are a little bit inactive but this is to be expected after the travel to my home
They are absolutely tiny at the moment but should grow bigger in the coming days
@SomebodySpicy13 Hi, welcome to Hobby Zone. I am so glad you like butterflies too! Did you see the thread here? 7cups.com/forum/hobbyzone/PetsAnimalInterests_1449/BeautifulButterflies_307310
It might be interesting to see how they compare.
Aww im so excited ❤️😊
This is so cooool!
Day 2
The caterpillars started to be more active yesterday after eating, they were crawling around and up the container.
I was concerned about one tiny one as it wasn't moving around at all and hadn't eaten...
...But this morning I found 5 out of 5 caterpillars had been moving around! The littler one is fine and moving around today
As you can see the caterpillars have grown bigger already, they are starting to settle down getting ready to shed their exoskeletons to get even bigger!
Yay!! Lovely progress report. Very cool to see that the caterpillars are doing well :)
@SomebodySpicy13 what do they eat? I was expecting leaves or greenery? The caterpillars in my garden seem to target juicy greens like my cabbage and lettuce 🦋🦋🦋🤣
@MistyMagic
The brown fudge like substance at the bottom of the container is their food, I was a little confused when I saw that as well, but when they become butterflies they will enjoy leaves and fruit 🥰
@SomebodySpicy13 umm can I saw ewwwww, sorry, but it makes sense! Thanks. Do they smell? And can we name them all please?
Listening - One Step At A Time!
Day 3
The caterpillars have gotten bigger yet again! One is still particularly active, but I have noticed it is bigger than the other 4 caterpillars as you can see in the photo
They are doing well, still eating and preparing to get bigger and bigger by the day. The information booklet said they should grow to more than 10 times their original size! I can't wait to see that!
Day 4
As you can see the caterpillars have gotten bigger yet again! They are multiplying in size by the day!
I think this could be due to the warm weather we are experiencing in the UK at the moment as this can encourage them to grow faster
The small bits of black you can see is parts of the exoskeleton that the caterpillars have shed as they get bigger.
Unfortunately the little brown balls you can see is the caterpillars waste products 💩 so apologies for that!
The caterpillars are taking more interest in the top of the container again which is a positive sign they are getting bigger and preparing for the metamorphosis stage
Wonderful news!! :)
Day 5
Wow the caterpillars have grown overnight! As you can see they are getting so big now!
As you can see they are making a lot of silk web which is a good sign and they are still very active.
One particular caterpillar is hanging out in top of the tub again, I think this one will be first to turn into a crysilis
I'm sure the hot weather is helping a lot with how quickly the caterpillars are progressing which is great
As suggested in a comment to me yesterday, once they are more easily identifiable I will let you all name the caterpillars 🩷