Butterfly Experiment

In late March and most of April, I decided to do an experiment with the boys. We decided to grow butterflies. I sent off for the Caterpillers, in the mail. The boys were so excited when they finally came. They were Painted Lady Butterflies. I was unable to get pics of the caterpillers, because they had to stay in the plastic container for a few days. All I was getting was glare. As soon as they all crawled to the top, and formed their cacoons, we took them out and pinned them to the butterfly cage. One had fallen off, before the rest had even got to the top, but I decided to go ahead and dump it into the bottom of the cage, to see what would happen. The boys figured it was dead, but I decided to wait and see. It was the first one to be cacooned, so I figured if the others hatched first, it was probably dead.

Here are the remaining four, after we got them pinned to the side of the cage.

And Lo and behold, the one they thought was dead, was not. One morning, they got up and there it was.

The booklet, that came with them, said we could either put fresh cut flowers with sugar water sprinkled on them, a wad of paper towels soaked in sugar water, or fesh slices of oranges or watermelon in to the cage, after they emerged. So, we decided on oranges.

A couple of days later? Two more!

 Here's the first one.

 Then, the remaining two, the next day. We caught them before they had left the spot the cacoons were.

 Here's all four. One seemed to be enjoying the oranges.

 Aren't they beautiful?!!

 I had read where they only lasted a couple of weeks, plus we noticed some ants in the house, which we figured out were headed for the yummy oranges. So, we decided to go ahead and let them go. This one just wouldn't let go! LOL I finally had to tap on the cage a couple of times, to jar it loose. It then, found its way out and flew around us a bit, before following the others. The boys LOVED it!

And so, concludes our little experiment! Didn't God do an excellent job, when he designed and created these creatures? I think so!!

Psalm 148:5 ~ "Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created."