Painted lady butterflies

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

Aww this is so cute!! I’m definitely subscribing to your thread!🤗🤗

@oliveTree4069

Thank you, can't wait to share updates

@SomebodySpicy13

Aww its gonna be a beautiful journey to become a part of! Thank youu for sharing, Amy! *subscribes to the thread* 🥰

@Sunisshiningandsoareyou

Yay, thanks sun! Super excited to see how they progress

@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.

@MistyMagic

I did! It was actually this thread that inspired me to get my own butterflies 🥰

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!

@MistyMagic

At the moment they don't smell as there is a lid on the container. And yes, once I can tell the difference between them I will let you guys name them all 🥰

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 🩷

@SomebodySpicy13 We can name the caterpillars?🥺 awww can't waiiittttsieees!

@Sunisshiningandsoareyou

Absolutely you can! I love that people want to get involved with this too 🥰

Yay!! They are getting closer to chrysalis! I’m so excited to name them 🤗🤗

@oliveTree4069

As soon as the are all (or mostly all) crysilis I will be able to tell the difference and naming can happen 🥰

How do they breathe? Are there holes in the lid?

Yes, there are small air holes in the lid for them to breathe ☺️

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

This is so amazing!!!

@SomebodySpicy13

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

@trueconfidant123

Thankyou so much, I'm so excited for them to become butterflies 🦋

@SomebodySpicy13

Yay! Can't wait 😻

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!

@SomebodySpicy13 I can't wait! Thanks for posting all of this with such great picture, a bit gooey but hey that's catepillar poop and to turn into a butterfly we need to go through something to create the transformation :)

Listening - One Step At A Time!

@MistyMagic

The caterpillar poop isn't the nicest thing 😅 you are welcome, it's such an interesting thing to see I couldn't keep it all to myself!

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

Yay! That was definitely a fast process, can’t wait to name them!😊

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

@SomebodySpicy13 the first one that became Chrysalis should have a fast name, so SpeedySpicy? is there one that is magic? so Magic Spicy? Then TrueSpicy and OliveSpicy? What do others think hehehe lets hear your better names?

Listening - One Step At A Time!