Butterfly Kits

Are you confused about what gift to get for your child this holiday season? Surprise him or her with a butterfly growing kit and you will not be disappointed with their reaction. Butterfly kits are special packages that contain live caterpillars that grow into butterflies. Besides being an educational experience where your child gets to witness the amazing transformation of a caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly, a caterpillar to butterfly kit will be a perfect way for your child to connect with nature. Your child will be able to keenly observe and understand the life cycle of the butterfly : how it feeds, moves, and changes its features as it grows.

What is this transformation? The butterfly undergoes four stages in its life cycle: the egg hatches into a caterpillar, which becomes a chrysalis, and then, an adult emerges. A perfect example is the Monarch butterfly . Many consider it to be the most beautiful butterfly in the world, other than being the best pollinator species.

The adult butterfly lays eggs on a food plant, preferably milkweed, where the caterpillars feed after hatching. It takes four days for the eggs to hatch. The caterpillars feed on the milkweed in order for them to grow. In fourteen days, the caterpillars will be fully grown. At this point, they attach to a leaf or stem using some silk that they produce, and enter a sessile stage, where they pupate into chrysalides. In the chrysalides stage, the features change from those of a caterpillar to become a butterfly. This transformation is known as metamorphosis and it takes 10 days. After the adult butterfly emerges, it lives for 2 to 6 weeks before it dies and in that period, it lays eggs to begin the next generation.

Monarch caterpillars are available for purchase mostly in mid-June to September. Below are some of the best kits to get for your child to give them the best chance to learn all about the butterfly.

Insect Lore Very Hungry Caterpillar Growing Kit

The Insect Lore Very Hungry Caterpillar has a clear cup that contains 5 "very hungry" baby caterpillars in it. It also contains food that the caterpillars feed on. This food is mostly a sugar solution. The kit has a pop-up mesh habitat 11.5 inches high, where you can view the entire transformation process. The kit also contains a chrysalis station, where the caterpillars attach themselves using silk in order to transform into a chrysalis.

The chrysalis station is made up of a hook at the top of the clear cup, placed just below the lid. The hook’s purpose is to ensure that the chrysalides are carefully moved to the habitat station where they comfortably transform into beautiful butterflies. In case any chrysalides falls from the hook, carefully pick it up in a napkin and place it on the floor, next to the side wall. This increases the chances of it completing its metamorphosis.

The feeding kit that comes in this package has everything you need to feed the butterflies. A sugar solution is enough to keep the caterpillars going. The kit contains packets of sugar, a butterfly feeder cup with a cotton wick and a sugar water dropper. To feed the butterflies, you need to put the sugar solution into the feeder cup until the cup is almost full, then replace the cap. The cotton wick at the top of the cup stays moist with the sugar solution for the butterflies to feed on it.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Growing Kit also contains an instruction guide to enable you to care for the caterpillars until they complete their growth cycle. The instruction guide is necessary so as to understand how to use the butterfly growing kit. This helps to guarantee the survival of the butterflies.

Depending on the weather conditions, the adult butterflies can be released outside or can be left to complete their life cycle in the kit. This happens one week after emergence when their wings are strong enough to fly. When day temperatures are over 55 degrees Fahrenheit, then the butterflies can be released. If the weather in your area is still below this temperature, they should be left in the habitat. You can introduce fresh flowers to the butterflies so that they can rest on them and feed on the nectar . Use a feeding pipette to dip sugar, water, and some nectar on the flowers.

The kit weighs approximately 2 pounds and for every five baby caterpillars contained in this caterpillar to butterfly kit, you can expect at least three make it to the adult stage.

Insect Lore Butterfly Garden Gift Set

The Insect Lore Butterfly Garden Gift Set is another butterfly growing kit that contains five live baby caterpillars. It serves as a wonderful gift set because it has bonus items that are butterfly themed. Among the bonus items are 3D butterfly stickers. Also, the butterfly feeder is flower-shaped.

The kit also contains nutritious food where the caterpillars feed and grow up to ten times their size in a span of 7 days. This reduces the extra work of you having to feed the caterpillars. The butterfly habitat is a reusable mesh that is 12 inches high and has a diameter of 6 inches.

The chrysalis station of the Deluxe Garden Gift Set is located at the top of the cup where a hook is placed for the chrysalides to hang on during the sessile phase as they await transformation. When they have hardened enough, you can move them to the habitat station using the hook. The airy mesh habitat is perfect for viewing the butterflies at every stage of their transformation. After about 7 to 10 days, they become butterflies.

When the butterflies emerge, their wings will still be weak and it is therefore advisable not to touch them until two hours after they emerge to avoid breaking their wings. Depending on the temperatures, you can decide whether you want to take them out or not. This decision must be made one week after emergence. If the temperatures are below 55 degrees Fahrenheit, it is best to let them complete their life cycle in the kit. You can provide fresh flowers, sugar solution or freshly cut watermelons, bananas, or oranges. They feed on those too. If you are going to take them out, simply take the kit to your garden or yard and unzip it for the butterflies to fly free.

The colors of the butterfly stickers and the wind-up vary in different caterpillar habitats and therefore offer a variety for you to choose from when purchasing. These kits weigh approximately 1 pound.

Insect Lore Butterfly Growing Kit Toy

The Insect Lore Butterfly Growing Kit Toy is a unique kind of butterfly growing kit because it does not contain caterpillars in the package. The Kit Toy consists of a pop-up mesh habitat that is reusable and can be flattened when not in use for easy storage. The mesh habitat makes it easy for you to observe the miraculous transformation of the butterflies from chrysalides to adult butterflies.

The kit also contains a feeding pipette and an instruction guide that enables you to properly care for the butterflies from the caterpillar stage to the adult stage. You can redeem the voucher included in the box to buy caterpillars online. The first order for a cup containing 5 live caterpillars will be free as part of your purchase of the butterfly growing kit. It is important to note that you will, however, need to pay an additional shipping fee in order to receive the caterpillars.

Your caterpillar package will be a clear plastic cup containing 5 live caterpillars and enough food for them to feed on until they are adult butterflies. The cup should be kept away from direct sunlight. Direct sunlight causes condensation on the cup, making it unfavorable for the caterpillars. The caterpillars will feed and grow up to ten times their original size. They also produce silk and after around 7 to 10 days, using the silk that they created, they will hang upside down in the cup and become chrysalides.

After the chrysalides have hardened enough, you should transfer them to the pop-up butterfly habitat where, after another 7 to 10 days, they fully transform into beautiful adult butterflies. After emergence from their cocoons, introduce some fresh flowers into the habitat. Use the feeding pipette to drip some sugar solution onto the flowers. Freshly cut watermelon pieces, bananas, and oranges also serve as wonderful food for the butterflies.

A week after emergence is a suitable time to release your butterflies into the wild. You can do this by taking the habitat into the yard and simply unzipping it to allow the butterflies to fly out of the mesh habitat. The right timing, however, depends on the daily temperatures and humidity. The humidity should be optimum and the temperatures should be above 55 degrees Fahrenheit in order for the butterflies to survive. If this is not the case, letting them complete their life cycle in the butterfly habitat is also an option.

The Butterfly Kit Toy is long lasting and reusable. It weighs approximately 10.6 ounces and it is 11.5 inches tall in order to allow you to properly view the butterflies. It has a diameter of 3 inches.

Insect Lore Live Butterfly Pavilion

The Insect Lore Live Butterfly Pavilion is a caterpillar to butterfly kit that is perfect for your kids to watch the developmental stages of the butterflies. It is a cylindrical mesh container that is about 15.5 inches high. It contains a feeding pipette, instructions, and an activity guide. It is, however, not shipped together with the caterpillars. It comes with a coupon that you can send away for your caterpillars to be delivered later. After you send the coupon, the eggs are hatched in a butterfly nursery and the caterpillars are mailed to your house in two weeks. They are usually in a clear container with enough nutritious food for the caterpillars. The container contains 10 live caterpillars.

After delivery, ensure that you keep the container away from direct sunlight. Your children can watch through the clear container as the caterpillars feed and produce silk. After 7 to 10 days, the caterpillars become chrysalides which hang upside down in the container in order to begin the transformation process.

When the chrysalides are hard enough, you can transfer them to the mesh butterfly habitat. Here your kids can watch as the chrysalides become adult butterflies. The chrysalides take 7 to 10 days to transform into adult butterflies. The total amount of time taken for a caterpillar to complete its metamorphosis is two to three weeks. Out of the ten caterpillars delivered, Insect Lore guarantees that six of those caterpillars will complete the metamorphosis.

After the metamorphosis is completed and the butterflies have fully emerged from the cocoons and their wings are strong enough, introduce some flowers into the habitat. The flowers provide a resting place for the butterflies as well as some nectar. Since the flowers are not outside, they won’t produce too much nectar. It is therefore important to provide some additional food for the butterflies. Using the feeding pipette, drip some sugar solution onto the flowers and watch as the butterflies magnificently feed on the sugar solution. Slices of watermelon and oranges are also a good food source for the butterflies. After one week, the butterflies will be ready to be released into the wild.

The weather conditions are the main determinant of whether you should release the butterflies. This is because [butterflies survive at temperatures above 55 degrees Fahrenheit[(https://texasbutterflyranch.com/2013/12/03/baby-its-cold-outside-what-to-do-with-late-season-butterflies/). Below this temperature, it is advisable to let the butterflies stay in the butterfly habitat in order for them to complete their life cycle. Releasing them at a lower temperature will only lead to their death.

The weather conditions in your area should not discourage you from purchasing the kit and attempting to grow butterflies. Caterpillars are available throughout the year, so if you received your coupon during the cold season, you can buy caterpillars during the warm season in order to release them when they become adult butterflies. You can also continue to keep a live population of caterpillars and grow butterflies year round. Additional mail-in certificates are always available for order, so you can experience the wonderful transformation as many times as you want. The butterfly pavilion is durable and reusable.

This model weighs 1.55 pounds.

Additional Tips for Growing Butterflies

As much as the outside temperature matters for the survival of the butterflies, they also require a certain amount of heat in order to survive inside the house. A room temperature of 68-78 degrees Fahrenheit is the most favorable to grow butterflies. Once in a while, introduce a water mister into the mesh butterfly habitat. This provides a gentle mist of room temperature water that keeps the habitat moist. It is not advisable for the habitat to be too dry. But don’t make it too moist either. Doing so will kill your butterflies.

Also, the cup should always be closed to avoid bacteria getting into the cup. During transformation, do not move the chrysalides until they are hard enough. This is their most vulnerable stage and moving them might kill them.

Butterflies feed by sucking using their proboscis, which they unfold to feed and then fold them again after feeding. It’s okay to touch the butterflies; just be careful of their wings and head.

Conclusion

Butterfly growing kits help in the rearing of butterflies for the ecosystem. Butterflies are great pollinators, helping in reproduction and breeding of new varieties of plants. Growing butterflies is encouraged not only to teach children about life cycles and these beautiful insects but in order to improve our ecosystem as well.

Choose the caterpillar to butterfly kit that most appeals to you and use it with the included caterpillars or any caterpillars you find in your yard. You can also go online and buy caterpillars from sites that have Monarch caterpillars for sale.