Caterpillar Update

We are so happy:)  Two of the butterflies emerged from their cocoons in the middle of the night.  What a beautiful way to wake up in the morning.  We are learned so much studying these amazing creatures.  We also had to tell the boys about a red liquid called meconium that is leftover color and unneeded tissue that the butterfly will release.  We didn't want the boys to become alarmed thinking it was blood.  They made a nice mess in their butterfly habitat.

We were pleasantly surprised when the 3rd butterfly emerged and we were able to see it.  We talked with the boys about how they cannot fly right away and how it takes a couple of hours for their wings to harden so that they can fly.

We had 2 caterpillars not make it.  We were so over joyed by our 3 beautiful butterflies, we took the boys outside to play while the butterflies rested and did their thing.  As soon as we came back in, our cat decided to get a closer look at the butterflies and knocked over the habitat.  We are not sure what happened to the 2 caterpillars born the night before as we cannot seem to locate them.  And the cat got ahold of the newly born butterfly that couldn't even fly yet.  I was able to save the butterfly but unfortuntately, his poor wing is torn and you can see some holes in one of its wings. 

We put him/her (not sure how to differiantiate the difference between male and female butterflies) back into the habitat with some sugar water to eat and hung the butterfly habitat from the shower out of view from the cat.  The butterfly seems to be doing well and eating even though it is having a hard time flying.  So, I guess we won't be releasing this butterfly if he/she cannot even fly.

We are happy to report that one of the missing butterflies landed on my shoulder while I was in kitchen.  Kind of took me by surprise.  We are still missing one and wondering if the cat did in fact eat it as it has been 2 days since the incident. 

We are having so much fun watching them eat and studying the two.  We hope to release the one not injured butterfly in a few days.  We read that once released they may stay in the area- that would be really neat.