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

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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

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!

Great for teaching students!

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.

Typically this is a great experience. I have been ordering caterpillars for years and have had no issues. This time, one caterpillar in each cup never got any bigger and i had to release them so they didn't mess with the other 4 that went into their chrysalis. I was expecting that all 8 butterflies would have hatched over the weekend, but when I got to my classroom this morning, it looks like 4 (all on one of the lids) are almost black and i think they died. I have NEVER had this happen and I, along with my class) are really disappointed. Hopefully next year it will be better.

My caterpillars actually arrived one day early and I was not present to receive them. I was worried that they would not live to delivery, but delivery attempted again the next day and they were all completely fine. Out of 10 caterpillars (I had ordered 2 cups) only one of them died before making it to the chrysalis stage, and all 9 of the chrysalises came out butterflies. My students loved them. The directions were easy, and everything went just as it should, minus one caterpillar, which happens. I will order them again for my students next year!

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.