Aislynn's "flah-flies"

I've been meaning to post about Aislynn's "flah-flies" (butterflies). Have you seen the add for "My Live Butterfly" garden?  Well they had an awesome deal on woot.com and I thought it would be a fun little surprise for Aislynn.

After the butterfly garden arrived in the mail, we sent away for our baby caterpillars (ca-piyars).  They come in a little container, w/ food @ the bottom.  They were quite small when we got them.  I guess you could say it was kind of boring at first.  You're just watching these little spiky caterpillars crawl around.  They make silk and would use that to crawl up the sides of the container.  They also grew really fast and got fatter & fatter each day.  Aislynn had fun looking at them and showing them off to us ("look mommy, baby ca-piyars!").

The instructions said it would take 7-10 days for them to grow, and turn into chrysallis'.  I will say, these things are messy - their little container got grody looking.  But sure enough, 1 week later, they crawled to the top of the dish, and hung upside down.  3 of them didn't make it to the top, so they just laid at the bottom.  Literally overnight, their bodies turned into chrysallis'.  It was weird - they didn't spin a cocoon, their bodies just morphed.  By this time, I was kind of fascinated!

The instructions also said, if the chrysalis fall, to gently scoop them out and lay them on a paper towel at the bottom of the "garden".  After a day, I moved them all into the garden.  At this point, I felt like a mommy-bird, waiting for her little eggs to hatch.  The chrysallis' didn't change much, just got a bit darker.  One week later, the first butterfly emerged.  Amazing considering what they looked like before - such a huge transformation w/ long, delicate legs & antennas, bright pretty wings.  After 2 days, all 5 butterflies emerged - and I didn't get to see it happen. 

first butterfly, with 2 of the chrysallis' laying on the bottom still

Ais got a kick out of the "flah-flies"  ("flah-fly" is also the word for 'flashlight').  We kept them for a couple days, then realized they needed to probably eat, and be free.  I was hoping for a kodak moment before the release.  In the commercial, they show kids holding the butterflies, playing with them.  But, they were so fast, they just flew right out.  Oh well.

 

It was fun.  I kinda hope they made it and are enjoying the flowers :) 

*Disclaimer:  The commercial doesn't indicate how "messy" these little buggars are!  Once they come out of their chrysalises, all this red stuff drips out & gets all over the place. Messay!