Butterfly kits
squeakybiscuit
I was going to purchase a butterfly kit from www.insectlore.com for
24.99. It comes with live caterpillars.
Have any of you had any success with this kind of kit? Is it difficult
to keep them healthy until they change? Do I need to keep them indoors
or is it ok to keep the kit on the porch? (I live in Pennsylvania, it
is spring here)
Just wondering if anyone had any experience with this from this
company or another.
24.99. It comes with live caterpillars.
Have any of you had any success with this kind of kit? Is it difficult
to keep them healthy until they change? Do I need to keep them indoors
or is it ok to keep the kit on the porch? (I live in Pennsylvania, it
is spring here)
Just wondering if anyone had any experience with this from this
company or another.
April Morris
My kids loved these and we've done them with great success. I don't remember
them being particularly difficult to keep alive. We kept ours indoors but as
long as the porch doesn't have any extreme temperature changes, I can't
imagine why it wouldn't work.
--
~April
Mom to Kate-19, Lisa-17, Karl-15, & Ben-10.
*REACH Homeschool Grp, an inclusive group in Oakland County
http://www.reachhomeschool.com
* Michigan Unschoolers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/michigan_unschoolers/
*Check out Chuck's art www.artkunst23.com
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
Gandalf the Grey
them being particularly difficult to keep alive. We kept ours indoors but as
long as the porch doesn't have any extreme temperature changes, I can't
imagine why it wouldn't work.
--
~April
Mom to Kate-19, Lisa-17, Karl-15, & Ben-10.
*REACH Homeschool Grp, an inclusive group in Oakland County
http://www.reachhomeschool.com
* Michigan Unschoolers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/michigan_unschoolers/
*Check out Chuck's art www.artkunst23.com
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
Gandalf the Grey
On 5/28/06, squeakybiscuit <squeakybiscuit@...> wrote:
>
> I was going to purchase a butterfly kit from www.insectlore.com for
> 24.99. It comes with live caterpillars.
>
> Have any of you had any success with this kind of kit? Is it difficult
> to keep them healthy until they change? Do I need to keep them indoors
> or is it ok to keep the kit on the porch? (I live in Pennsylvania, it
> is spring here)
>
> Just wondering if anyone had any experience with this from this
> company or another.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Tina Layne
I've used these kits before. We had absolutely no problems and all of our caterpillars turned into beautiful monarchs.
I live in Hawaii and kept mine indoors even though it was obviously hot enough to keep them outside. I wanted them where the kids could see them all the time when they wanted- day or night. In PA, I'd keep them inside for access and for warmth concerns. Just stick them near a window for natural light source.
If they're monarchs, you need crown flower leaves to feed them. I think crown flower is the same as milkweed? We kept our leaves in the fridge salad bin and they stayed fresh. We kept our caterpillars in one of the big (quart?) sized mason jars with a screen screwed down with the jar collar. We cleaned it out every couple days- basically moved the caterpillars and leaves to a new mason jar and washed out the other one. They pooh a lot ;)
My ds (8) asked me to go to the local nursery and buy him a crown flower plant. We did, and it is now taller than I am- it's about 5.5 ft tall at this point. DS also asked to purchase some butterfly plants to attract the monarchs to the crown flower. We bought lantana. Now, we constantly have monarchs landing and caterpillars hatching on the crown flowers. Ds checks the plant daily.
I don't know how well crown flower or lantana/other butterfly attractors will do in PA... whether they are perennial or annual. Planting some to attract the butterflies might be pretty cool, though. =)
Tina
squeakybiscuit <squeakybiscuit@...> wrote:
I was going to purchase a butterfly kit from www.insectlore.com for
24.99. It comes with live caterpillars.
Have any of you had any success with this kind of kit? Is it difficult
to keep them healthy until they change? Do I need to keep them indoors
or is it ok to keep the kit on the porch? (I live in Pennsylvania, it
is spring here)
Just wondering if anyone had any experience with this from this
company or another.
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I live in Hawaii and kept mine indoors even though it was obviously hot enough to keep them outside. I wanted them where the kids could see them all the time when they wanted- day or night. In PA, I'd keep them inside for access and for warmth concerns. Just stick them near a window for natural light source.
If they're monarchs, you need crown flower leaves to feed them. I think crown flower is the same as milkweed? We kept our leaves in the fridge salad bin and they stayed fresh. We kept our caterpillars in one of the big (quart?) sized mason jars with a screen screwed down with the jar collar. We cleaned it out every couple days- basically moved the caterpillars and leaves to a new mason jar and washed out the other one. They pooh a lot ;)
My ds (8) asked me to go to the local nursery and buy him a crown flower plant. We did, and it is now taller than I am- it's about 5.5 ft tall at this point. DS also asked to purchase some butterfly plants to attract the monarchs to the crown flower. We bought lantana. Now, we constantly have monarchs landing and caterpillars hatching on the crown flowers. Ds checks the plant daily.
I don't know how well crown flower or lantana/other butterfly attractors will do in PA... whether they are perennial or annual. Planting some to attract the butterflies might be pretty cool, though. =)
Tina
squeakybiscuit <squeakybiscuit@...> wrote:
I was going to purchase a butterfly kit from www.insectlore.com for
24.99. It comes with live caterpillars.
Have any of you had any success with this kind of kit? Is it difficult
to keep them healthy until they change? Do I need to keep them indoors
or is it ok to keep the kit on the porch? (I live in Pennsylvania, it
is spring here)
Just wondering if anyone had any experience with this from this
company or another.
SPONSORED LINKS
Secondary school education Graduate school education Home school education Graduate school education online High school education Chicago school education
---------------------------------
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
Visit your group "unschoolingbasics" on the web.
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
---------------------------------
Layne Family Blog:
http://threekeys.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. PC-to-Phone calls for ridiculously low rates.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Alice Sackman
squeakybiscuit wrote:
own food in a container that you don't even have to open until they turn
into chrysalids. All you do is watch them - very, very easy. Then you
move the chrysalids to the butterfly pavilion and in a week, voila!
butterflies. The butterflies drink sugar water dripped on flowers until
you feel the urge to let them go. I think as long as they are out of
the direct sunlight and the temp doesn't dip below 55, outside should be
fine. I think I had more fun with this whole thing than my kids, but
what the hey! I like bugs!
-Alice
> I was going to purchase a butterfly kit from www.insectlore.com forWe just did it and it was super easy! The caterpillars come with their
> 24.99. It comes with live caterpillars.
> Have any of you had any success with this kind of kit? Is it difficult
> to keep them healthy until they change? Do I need to keep them indoors
> or is it ok to keep the kit on the porch?
own food in a container that you don't even have to open until they turn
into chrysalids. All you do is watch them - very, very easy. Then you
move the chrysalids to the butterfly pavilion and in a week, voila!
butterflies. The butterflies drink sugar water dripped on flowers until
you feel the urge to let them go. I think as long as they are out of
the direct sunlight and the temp doesn't dip below 55, outside should be
fine. I think I had more fun with this whole thing than my kids, but
what the hey! I like bugs!
-Alice
Danielle Conger
April Morris wrote:
chrysallises/ chrysalli (what would be the plural of that word?) and
brought them inside to "hatch out."
We've used a variety of methods from making our own butterfly pavilion
to a reused plastic container (wouldn't recommend this one) to just
leaving them loose and letting them hatch freely.
If you'd like to hear more about it how we did it or where we found
them, I'd be happy to talk more.
--
~~Danielle
Emily (8), Julia (7), Sam (5)
http://www.danielleconger.com/Homeschool/Welcomehome.html
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"With our thoughts, we make the world." ~~Buddha
> My kids loved these and we've done them with great success. I don'tWhere do you live? We've successfully found our own caterpillars or
> remember
> them being particularly difficult to keep alive. We kept ours indoors
> but as
> long as the porch doesn't have any extreme temperature changes, I can't
> imagine why it wouldn't work.
chrysallises/ chrysalli (what would be the plural of that word?) and
brought them inside to "hatch out."
We've used a variety of methods from making our own butterfly pavilion
to a reused plastic container (wouldn't recommend this one) to just
leaving them loose and letting them hatch freely.
If you'd like to hear more about it how we did it or where we found
them, I'd be happy to talk more.
--
~~Danielle
Emily (8), Julia (7), Sam (5)
http://www.danielleconger.com/Homeschool/Welcomehome.html
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"With our thoughts, we make the world." ~~Buddha