Caterpillars

So we got the spawn a gift for Christmas, a kit that you can send off for caterpillars and watch them grow into butterflies.

So once it got warm enough, we sent them off.  Five little caterpillars arrived, and the spawn was so excited.

They were so tiny!

Here's what they looked like on Day One:

And Day Two:

Day Four:

Day Six:  They're growing fast!

Day Eight:

Day Ten:

And Day Twelve:  They look a lot different from the tiny little things we'd gotten two weeks before.

On Day Thirteen, they started climbing up to the top and hung upside-down in a J shape, ready to make a chrysalis.

Day 14, they were all in their chrysalis.  And nothing to do but wait.

On Day 20, we woke up to see that two of them had emerged, and were drinking nectar from the flowers we'd put in.

They're Painted Lady butterflies, and they were so pretty.

We missed three of them emerge, and only had two left, and we determined to see at least one of them.  I saw that the chrysalis had gone clear, which was a sign that an emergence was minutes, or maybe an hour, away.

And there it is, a new little butterfly, fresh out of his chrysalis.

His wings were soft and curled, and he needed a minute to get his legs steady.

With my help, the spawn very gently collected the new butterfly, and we carefully put him in the enclosure with his siblings.

A couple hours later, his wings were dry and he was ready to fly.  We waited a couple days, and released them on Easter Sunday.

It was a wonderful experience. we were so happy with it, and we're definitely doing it again next year!