Insect LoreCup of Live Baby Caterpillars with Figurines | Butterfly Kit Refill - Plus Butterfly Life Cycle Stages Toy Figurines | 5 Painted Lady Caterpillars Shipped Now

The media could not be loaded. The caterpillars come in a cup that you are not supposed to open lest their food get moldy or whatever. They spin a web so it quickly gets hard to see clearly to observe them. They grow very quickly and from the time of delivery to emerging as butterflies only took 20 days. It says you can release them unless in certain states. But ours all fly upside down despite following directions carefully and seemingly no issues during development. I even give them my room cleared out and set up to be butterfly friendly(no dangers or places to get stuck etc) to practice and set up a feeding station of various flowers and "nectar" mixes for them. They refused the sugar water mix the instructions told us to make so after a bunch of research I tried a few kinds including the sports drink/water combo and they really seemed to love the orange and blue ones. it's been a week now and they still are having trouble flying. I do keep them in the netted cage(bought separately) when i go to bed lest they get squashed middle of the night, but they have free flying room other than that. Someone suggested it may be because of inter breeding so much that they have development problems of some sort but I can't say for sure as they do not provide any information as to where these caterpillars came from. It has been a phenomenal experience with the kids to watch these wonderful creations God designed. Did you know they pretty much turn into a caterpillar soup in the chrysalis and then reconstruct themselves from that into butterflies? Also glad they warned us about the meconium in instructions. It really does look like blood. The little models of the 4 stages were a huge hit with my little guy. I definitely recommend having this experience, though I would be prepared to care for them their whole several weeks of life in case yours also have trouble flying and cannot be released. Still a fantastic experience to witness

Great for teaching students!

I teach kindergarten. My caterpillars came a week earlier than what the company had said. We received them the day before a 4 day break for Easter, so my kids missed out observing for those days. When we got back, 3 caterpillars were dead (possibly 4). The company guarantees 3 will live. In order to get a replacement the company said I needed to return my order! So by the time I would receive the replacement, the unit would be totally over! I was very disappointed!

I was skeptical of caterpillars being shipped and surviving to become butterflies. This product exceeded my expectations, all the caterpillars survived! The instructions were easy to understand. My 3 year old daughter and I had a blast watching them go through their transition. She loved setting them free as well. Great activity for toddlers. I will buy more of these and include more neighborhood kids next time.

We have ordered this item three times (once with the full kit with the cage, and twice with the refill only, all from the same company. The first time, all 5 caterpillars successfully matured and transformed into butterflies. The second time, there were 4 caterpillars of the same size, and a 5th that was much smaller, upon arrival. The smaller one mysteriously disappeared one day....likely into the belly of a much larger one...but the rest went on to become butterflies! The 3rd time, 3 were alive, 1 was dead, and 1 was missing. They were much larger this time - they went into the chrysalis stage the same night we received them. (It appeared that the dead one had tried to begin its transformation during the delivery but wasn't able). We have been able to catch the transformation into the chrysalis multiple times, and my 7yo daughter loves it every time. She releases them into our wildflower garden each time, and she enjoys the few minutes she has with each before they fly away. This has been a great experience.

I hesitated to order the caterpillars in July since it is sweltering. The caterpillars made it on time and were all very healthy and hungry! My grandson has enjoyed watching the metamorphosis process. We had one issue that was easy to overcome. My daughter was going on vacation, and they all completed their caterpillar-to-butterfly transition on the day of travel! The problem was solved since they decided to take them to Florida on vacation and release the butterflies when ready to leave their habitat. Florida will be the perfect place for the cycle to continue! We could not be happier with the product and efficient delivery!

I would give it five stars. I am only giving it three so those that need to know this will know this. I am glad you get two cups because the first cup is fine, but the second one four of them made it to the pupa stage, but there was one caterpillar that kept climbing everywhere. The rest went into the pupa stage yesterday morning. It is 8 pm now and that last one still isn't in the pupa stage and he was a saboteur. He knocked all the other chrysalis down. I think that some of them may be okay because they were hardened a bit more, but he took one down yesterday right away and I think that one won't make it.I think this is a good learning opportunity and how nature works, but if you have sensitive children be aware that this can happen.

This is the first time I have ordered caterpillars myself. Usually, I have ordered them through my school. (I teach kindergarten.) But now, I am at a new school where no one here has done the butterfly experiment. So, I ended up ordering them myself.They arrived fast and in good condition. The only thing was - they were so big and a few of them had already started forming their chrysalis. I am used to tiny caterpillars that we watch grow. Within the first week, they all crawled to the top of the enclosure and started the changing process. I had to change up some of my lesson plans to fit the new time frame. Everything worked out in the end. Nine out of ten caterpillars turned into butterflies and were released. One disappeared as a caterpillar - not sure what happened to it.