Painted lady butterflies

Day 6

Oh boy have the babies grown! I'm sure they grow every time I look at them

I'm not entirely sure why one of the caterpillars appears to be white, I think it could be because it's getting ready to shed, but I'll Google that.

I know some of you were concerned about them breathing so I took a picture of the top of the pot to show you

Hopefully you can see that in the daisy there are 4 holes, they are covered by a very thin piece of mesh so they cannot escape and so eventually the crysilis can stick to them and not fall

I don't think it will be long at all before they start to turn into crysilis due to the lovely weather we are having here

️ ️ WARNING: CLOSE UP PHOTO OF CATERPILLARS IN THIS THREAD ️ ️

Day 7

The caterpillars continue to amaze me, they are so big now! I can clearly see patterns on them and their little spikes

Any day from now until day 14 they can start to turn into crysilis and I really don't think it will be long before at least one of them does

The stringy substance you can see around is silk webbing. This is used by the caterpillars to protect themselves from predators and if they were on leaves, they would use it to anchor themselves

It's been an amazing journey for these caterpillars so far, I can't believe how much they have changed already!

**Warning for those who don't like insects, caterpillar close up is coming**

I hope you can see in this close up picture the orange and white patterning that has developed on the caterpillar and the little spines it has

@SomebodySpicy13

Subscribed to this thread. I'm so excited. ❤️

Day 8

So the caterpillars have decided to spread their food all over their container so it's getting harder for me to get good pictures for you

However 3 out of 5 caterpillars are hanging out on the inside of the lid of the container. I'm hoping this will mean they will form the 'J' shape soon which is the first step in them becoming crysilis

(I've no idea why this picture is upside down 😫)

I'm really hoping in the next few days they will indeed form the 'J' shape and start turning into crysilis

This has been an exciting journey so far and I really hope you are all enjoying following along with me

Day 9

Something super exciting is happening...

...The caterpillars are turning into crysilis!

So far 3 out of 5 caterpillars have started turning into crysilis which is super duper exciting!

️ ️Warning for a close up of crysilis ️ ️

One of the crysilis has decided to form on the floor of the container but this is okay, it will still form as normal.

Now to wait for the others to turn into crysilis. Once that happens 3 days later when they are all hardened, I can move them into their hatching habitat! That will be when the naming shall begin!

Day 10

So, all 5 caterpillars have now turned into crysilis! We have to now wait 3 days for them to properly harden before they are transferred into the hatching habitat

Two of the crysilis have fallen to the floor, but they should be fine and hatch as normal once they've harden etc

I really can't wait to let you all name them, I'd suggest you all start thinking of some cool names as it'll only be a couple of days until they move house so we will definitely be able to tell who is who

Day 11 (day 1 of crysilis)

There's no real update for you today, the crysilis are still hardening and appear to be doing well. They look the same as they did yesterday

However I'd love to hear some of your name suggestions if you've got any :) if so please comment them below

Day 12

It's moving day! Today the caterpillars have moved into their hatching habitat

You know what that means? It's also naming day! As the crysilis won't move until they now emerge as butterflies. I am a little concerned over the ones on the napkin but I hope they'll be okay

So there are 5 to name, I have labelled them in order of when they turned into crysilis

I will announce the official names either later today, or in tomorrow's post. Have fun naming them!

Naming time!

Hello everyone it is time to name the caterpillars/butterflies!

We have 5 to name and I will post pictures of them again just as a reminder

Please comment the number and name suggestion below 🥰

Tagging people who showed interest in wanting to help name them @oliveTree4069 @MistyMagic @Sunisshiningandsoareyou @trueconfidant123

Hi friends sorry for the lack of updates I've been having technical issues and dealing with stuff. But anyways...

We now have 3 butterflies! I unfortunately missed them hatching out of the crysilis due to being in a meeting but my sister saw it happen

I will include some pictures and videos below. The red you can see isn't blood, insect blood is yellow, it's stuff called meconium, the left over stuff from metamorphosis. I'll try to keep it out of photos and videos in future

Click here to see butterfly hatching!

Unfortunately I have no idea in what order they hatched as I say I did miss it