Insect LoreInsect Lore Cup of Caterpillars Basic – 5 Live Painted Lady Caterpillars with Food – Refill Kit for Butterfly Garden Habitat – STEM Science Activity for Kids & Classrooms

Got these for my daughter and grandkids. They were so pleased with the process of having caterpillars turn into butterflies that I got some for myself. Their cats did not bother their butterflies in their habitat. However my Predator cats would not leave the habitat alone. So I had to carry the habitat to the bathroom with me or to the kitchen and had to shut the butterflies in another room at night. Still it was fascinating to see nature at work and to be able to release the butterflies. I also bought a butterfly plant to put on the patio if they decided to remain in the area

I will never buy a cup of caterpillars through Amazon again. We have done this every year with my kids and have always ordered from the Insect Lore website, but this time I used Amazon because we wanted the cup quicker to show some friends who were staying with us. This was a big mistake. Every other year all 5 caterpillars have become butterflies and it has been such a fun experience for out kids! This year however when we got the cup, one caterpillar was already dead on arrival. A couple days later another caterpillar that was way smaller then the others on arrival also died. Still 3 were alive and eventually started making their chrysalis. One died before it could form it's chrysalis and fell to the bottom becoming a big pile of goo. 2 of the caterpillars have formed chrysalis and we have moved them to our big net. One of the them looks normal, and one of them is black, so I don't have much hope we will have more then 1 butterfly, and that's even debatable since all of them have died. The cup smells foul now that we have taken the lid off to put in the larger net, so I am wondering if the food was diseased or something.We do this every year and did everything according to the instructions, the only thing different this year was ordering through Amazon. I guess correlation doesn't always mean causation but in this case it's making me only ever want to buy through the Insect Lore website. I'll have to look and see if we still get the guarantee buying through Amazon.

Arrived healthy and have already flown away. I buy a cup of caterpillars for my niece's 2 kids (ages 5 and 1) every spring and they love watching them go through the stages and fly away in the back yard. Each time, all 5 have pupated and become butterflies. I bought the kit originally as a Christmas gift so they just reuse it.

We’ve done caterpillars through Insect Lore for 4 years now. My children love it! This is the first year buying through Insect Lore on Amazon. The only change we’ve noticed is that instead of 5 caterpillars per container, there were 4. We had 8 in total, instead of the 10 stated on the description.

These poor little critters didn't have a chance!!! When they came in, you could tell they were not handled carefully. In fact, the box didn't even state that they were living beings in there. I am absolutely disappointed and disgusted with this purchase. You may not have a heart, but I do. I'm no tree hugger, but I have empathy for even something like caterpillars and butterflies. I did this every year because we had a neighbor who had milk weeds all over his field. He let us know when they were ready and we collected they. My parents' porch was AWESOME when they started coming out of their chrysalis's! These WERE for my grandchildren but I will keep them here and hope for the best. I know three are dead and two are trying. Breaks my heart.

They came alive. I tought they were dead at first time but then i read the card that they sent and in 5 min later they started moving. NgL this is for my daughter but i’m also excited!!

I’ve always used the brand called Clearwater but could not get them delivered when I wanted so I decided to try these Insect Lores! So very disappointed. Only got four butterflies out of 2 cups, which were supposed to total 10 (5 per cup). I can understand if perhaps one from each cup did not make it, but this was really bad. The Clearwater brand blows away this brand. The caterpillars grow larger and so are the butterflies. Unfortunately, disappointed and waste of money for me, especially since these were educational gifts for children which is the most upsetting part of it. I wish I could have given a great review, but these were awful. Been doing this for years and never had this with the other brand. I’m hoping for others that order these, that mine were just duds. Good luck to all who purchase these caterpillars.

They worked out so well, I bought them twice and both times they were great! Firstly, I read don't let the butterflies free in that they can be an invasive species. That's ok, we let them free inside our house! These are friendly butterflies too! My child lifted them up by letting them crawl onto her hands. The caterpillar stage was cute. The chrysalis stage was beautiful and of course the butterflies were lively and wonderful.