Painted Lady Butterflies

A few weeks ago, my son brought home two Painted Lady Caterpillars from his homeschool co-op. Someone in our co-op had purchased the caterpillars for the kids so that we could all watch the miracle of metamorphosis unfold before our eyes. It truly was an amazing experience!

Our Painted Lady Caterpillars each came in a little cup with all the food they would need for their time as caterpillars. After a few days, they both crawled to the top of their cups and attached themselves in a J shape, hanging upside down from their tails, from the lid of the cup. Caterpillars are the larva stage of a butterfly or moth. The next stage differs though. A moth becomes a cocoon and a butterfly becomes a chrysalis. Our Painted Lady caterpillars were well on their way to becoming chrysalises!

A few hours after hanging upside down, they molted one last time, and the new skin underneath hardened into a chrysalis shell. They stayed like that for 9 days. On that ninth day, right before our eyes, the shell of the chrysalis opened and out came a Painted Lady Butterfly. It wasn't a lengthy process at all! In fact, it happened within just a minute or two!

My son and I learned a great deal about Painted Lady Butterflies while raising and releasing our two. For example, did you know butterflies are solar powered, and need a little direct sunlight warming their wings in order to fly?

I've created a web page that tells all about our experiences with the butterflies, and also goes more into depth regarding the life cycle of the Painted Lady Butterfly. It also includes several photos that we took of our Painted Lady Butterflies!
Painted Lady Butterflies