Caterpillars and Butterflies

Caterpillars and Butterflies

Friday, 4th April, 2008

Our caterpillars arrived by post today. They are tiny. They are in a container with their food. There are 5 of them. We hope we will have 5 healthy butterflies in about 3 weeks. We are keeping them out of direct sunlight. They don't need food or water yet.

Wednesday, 30th April, 2008
Two of our caterpillars have cocoons around them. When all 4 are in cocoons we will transfer them to their butterfly garden.
Wednesday, 7th May, 2008
All our caterpillars are now in their cocoons so teacher transferred them to their new home - a butterfly pavillion. We wonder when the butterflies will emerge?
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
Our butterflies are hatching out of their cocoons. When we came in this morning we had one butterfly. We called him "Snappy". When we came in from the yard another butterfly had emerged from his cocoon. We called him "flappy". Our other 2 butterflies are still in their cocoons. We will put flowers and a little water into the butterfly pavillion so that the butterflies have something to eat and drink.
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Flappy has died. We don't know why. Snappy is looking very strong so today we let him go. We hope he is happy in the bushes by our school.Thursday, 15th May,2008
One more butterfly came out today. We called him "Swoop". His wings look a little strange. We hope he's ok. We won't release him until his wings look stronger.
Friday, 16th May 2008. Swoop is looking a little stronger today so we let him free. Here is a picture of the kinds of foods butterflies like. They particularly like flowers, sugared water and soft fruits like oranges, melon and bananas.
Monday, 19th May, 2008
Our last butterfly "Happy" had hatched when we came to school this morning. It was a lovely sunny day and so we let Happy go before we went home. Now the only cocoon we have left is one that we have been minding since September. We don't really think it will ever hatch but we will mind it until the end of the year, just in case. Here is a picture of Happy enjoying his last meal in captivity.