Butterfly raising projects are exciting opportunities for nature lovers. After the project ends, you can continue to feed and observe your butterflies in their habitat. There is much that can be learned from adult butterflies as well. Did you know that they taste with their feet? It’s amazing and a little funny to watch this happen when you put a sugar water drop near their feet inside the habitat. Painted Lady butterflies feed from over 100 different plants; this makes them incredibly vital pollinators. If butterflies get too cold, they cannot fly, feed or mate. That's why we recommend you release your butterflies when daytime temperatures are above 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

The School Kit Caterpillar Refill includes 33 caterpillars and all of the nutritious food they need to develop into beautiful Painted Lady Butterflies. 33 small vials are also provided so each child can carefully house and observe his or her very own caterpillar. A group of butterflies is known as a "flutter", "swarm", "rabble" or "kaleidoscope" of butterflies. The birth of the butterfly? After 7 -14 days the chrysalides will darken and you will be able to see the colours of the butterflies through the shell. As the butterfly emerges, it will rest while pumping its wings to full size. After 1 or 2 hours the wings will be full sized and hard and the butterfly is ready to fly. Now you can decorate the inside of your Pavilion or Garden with flowers, twigs & leaves. You can keep your butterflies for 2 – 3 days feeding them sugar solution (sugar and water) or fruit before releasing them in your garden.

Attract Butterflies to Your Garden

Cup of 3-5 LIVE caterpillars with food or voucher to redeem for caterpillars (caterpillars available March to mid-September) Butterfly growing is literally looking after caterpillars in your house until they transform into butterflies to be released into the wild. Watching the life cycle is amazing.

All butterflies have a long, tube-shaped mouth called a "proboscis" which they use to drink liquids such as plant nectar. When not in use, this proboscis stays curled up and out of sight. A friend bought us our butterfly kit and we’ve successfully grown three lots of Painted Lady caterpillars as well as lending the habitat net for friends to use too. Crumpled wings caterpillars (a live butterfly culture) will arrive in a clear plastic cup with all of the nutritious food they need. Place the cup in a safe place away from direct sunlight. The caterpillars will remain in the cup and will eat, spin silk and grow to TEN times their original size! After seven to ten days they will hang upside down and harden into chrysalides (chrysalides are also known as pupae). What happens next? When the caterpillars are ready to become chrysalides, they will climb to the top of the cup and hang upside down attaching themselves to the paper disc inside the lid. After 24 / 48 hours the chrysalis and will have a beautiful sheen of bronze and gold. When your chrysalides have formed move them into either your Butterfly Garden or Pavilion.When a butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, its mouth is made up of two separate pieces. The butterfly must "fuse" or "zip" these two parts together to form one tubular proboscis before it is able to eat. Cup of 3-5 LIVE caterpillars with all the nutritious food they need to grow into lovable Painted Lady butterflies

Simply buy a butterfly growing kit (link at bottom) with live caterpillars, special food and a habitat net. Set it up and watch them grow. Top tip

Once the chrysalides have hardened, gently move them to the pop-up butterfly habitat. It will take about seven to ten more days for them to complete the transformation to adult butterflies. A lidded pot arrives in the post, (or box if you buy the full kit), filled with ‘sludge’ (caterpillar food) and 5 or 6 tiny live Painted Lady caterpillars. A butterfly cannot fly or eat immediately after emergence. It needs time to prepare itself for life as a butterfly.