Over the weekend we had 5 butterflies emerge.
They’re still in their little mesh habitat. We’ll release them tomorrow when the nighttime temperatures are higher.
I couldn’t get a good photo through the mesh, so I crouched under their enclosure and snapped some photos through the clear plastic on the bottom.
These are Painted Lady Butterflies.
The caterpillars were fun to watch because they grew so quickly. The pupa stage was very dull until we transplanted them into their mesh habitat. I was holding the fabric on which they’d attached themselves and suddenly they were all gyrating violently. I nearly dropped them (as their defense mechanism hoped I would). I did NOT scream, as my pride as an old entomology student was at stake, but I felt a little bit like Indiana Jones around snakes.
Timothy loved this activity.