| Marissa's Butterflies |
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| Marissa received a butterfly pavillion for Christmas this past year...We waited until it warmed up to order her caterpillars...We received them on May 8th. They were tiny caterpillars in a little jar! The food was supplied...we watched them eat and grow and grow and grow! There was barely enough room in the jar for the five of them to crawl around! Then, on the 18th of May, the first caterpillar made its way to the top of the jar and began forming its chrysalid! The second followed, then the third, and so on...within a day or so, all of them were hanging in their chrysalids from the top of the jar, beginning their transformation into beautiful painted lady butterflies! |
| Painted Lady Larvae |
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| formation of chysalids AWESOME!!!!! |
| The birth of a butterfly (on the top of the paper disc, you can see the butterfly after emerging from its chrysalid...it hung in the vertical position for several hours, pumping its wings before they hardened and it began to fly...On the the right side of the paper disc, you can see another butterfly starting to break away from its chrysalid!) |
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| On May 29th, the first butterfly had emerged and began to fly...a paper plate was placed in the bottom of the pavillion and since no fresh flowers were available, we placed tissue drenced with sugar water for the butterfly to eat! |
| SAVANNAH |
| SAFARI |
| SAHARA |
| SOPHIE |
| Marissa named all of her butterflies (above)...Unfortunately, we lost one~SABRINA~she never made it completely out of her chrysalid!...RIP, Sabrina |
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| FEEDING TIME! |
| WHAT A BEAUTY! |
| On Saturday, June 3rd, Marissa~along with her sister Khalei and friend Kaitlyn, said "goodbye" to her little friends...It was a sunny evening and the whole neighborhood gathered around to see what was going on...Everyone was amazed! Marissa unzipped the pavillion and set them free in our front yard...All flew away, except for one...we tried everything and it just didn't want to leave...we brought it back in the house for the night and then it finally flew away the next day! |
| It is said that the butterflies will stay in the general area of their release...We were able to see a couple of them the day after their release and capture the pictures to the right! The raising and release of these butterflies has been an awesome experience...not just for Marissa, but for all of us. We have all truly enjoyed watching them grow and transform into these beautiful creatures. This batch was free with the purchase of Marissa's butterfly pavillion, but I have a feeling we will be purchasing a refill kit very soon! We hope you enjoy the documentation of this experience as much as we enjoyed the experience, itself! |
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