Butterfly Garden - Pupal Stage

So, the caterpillars are no more. We now have five pupae on our hands:



Here's a slightly closer view of the little rascals:



The transformation was surprisingly quick. Just when I started to worry that the huge caterpillars (they ate most of the food in the container and grew considerably larger) would no longer fit in the container, they made their way to the top of the cup, dropped their skin and formed chrysalides.

By pure luck, I got to watch one caterpillar molt. I was just walking by the cup when I noticed a lot of movement. I stopped to see what was happening. The last remaining caterpillar was hanging from the top of the cup and shaking furiously. Then from the vibrating caterpillar, a lump of skin was dropped. I called Mike over to watch with me. The vibrating continued as the chrysalid appeared to form before our very eyes. Very cool. Also, very gross.

That was all on Saturday. Monday was the day Sarah had been anticipating all along. The day that we broke out the Butterfly Garden Habitat and moved the chrysalides into their new home:



We opened the cup that they came in and gently removed the paper from under the lid - the chrysalides were attached to the paper disk. Then, we pinned the paper disk to the inside of the habitat (the instructions said tape could be used, but tape did not work for us):



Now, we wait. In about 7-10 days, butterflies! Oh, Sarah cannot wait to feed them.