Saturday, October 16, 2010

Butterflies Bleed




October the 5th our butterfly larvae kit from Sciencekit.com arrived.I was excited and curious reading the waivers for a live organisms shipment. Apparently because of certain environmental concerns we were not going to be able to release the butterflies. They would die within 2 weeks of birth, and after which I was supposed to freeze their bodies for 24 hours to make sure they were completely dead.

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Six caterpillars arrived in a small plastic cup with a paper towel under the lid. The food supply, a beige mud was like steroids for them. The caterpillars would double in size practically overnight it seemed. Within a few days, over 60% was gone and their tiny balls of excrement seemed to be taking over. And finally on Saturday the 9th, they started acting broody and hanging upside down from the top of the paper towel. I kept watching them to see them go into pupa stage. Finally they started twitching, and I walked by and one of them had made it! On the floor of the cup was a little caterpillar head or tail, not sure which and it seemed some of the tan balls were tinted red. It was exciting, it just happened so fast. Again they started twitching and making white threads in the jar. I got so excited I called my homeschooling neighbor to come by with her son to see this. It was like one minute they were a caterpillar and the next they were in a cocoon. Everytime they went to pupae, one of these parts of the caterpillar would be one the floor and a little blood.

I thought the directions said I had 10 days to 2 weeks to get them into a cage. Constantly I was watching them. I was walking by on day 7 of pupa stage and a butterfly caught my eye. I had the cup up high on the refrigerator so the kids wouldn't keep shaking it. Eeks, I started to freak out. There was so much excrement in there the poor thing had hardly any room. And if one had made it to butterfly, that meant 5 more were coming! And one of the cocoons was opaque white, which was indicator it was about to come out.

I went into the basement, and saw I had some window screens from our old windows. And I had a box from the strimmer we bought a couple of weeks ago, so I cut a long hole down the side and tried taping the window screen to it. No dice, the screen wouldn't stay secure. I kept praying to God for wisdom, all the while the baby is crying to eat and sleep, but I didn't want the butterflies to die. Their wings are quite sensitive and wet when they are born. I didn't want them rolling on their backs in excrement.

Second cage attempt, I found a wire basket, that is used for holding basketballs and rolled the screen inside. I couldn't get the bottom secure without making holes or jagged edges (I just picture one of the new creatures landing on it while the kids watching and feeling terrible). So I put a plate in the bottom. I stuffed the cracks with tissue paper and put long branches in it. And then on the top I put a pot that kinda fit snug. It seemed doable. I threw a magnolia leaf in there for good measure which I was glad for, because when I carefully emptied the jar one of them quickly crawled under it. I taped the paper towel with the remaining 4 pupae stuck to it to the branch. I have a video showing the 2 pupaes on the bottom shaking. They eventually stopped. They were born about 20 hours later. Again it happens so quick, its a rare event I think to actually see the butterfly emerge.

Today is Saturday. Three more were born today. I put some sugar water in there for them to eat. Mostly they crawl on the branches or the newspaper on the bottom. Occasionally they flex their wings and try to fly. There is little bits of blood on the white plate and even on the side. So unexpected, butterfly blood.

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