A Dance With the Butterflies: June 2006
A Dance With the Butterflies: June 2006
I just went to school to check up on our caterpillars and discovered that they are all dead. At least I think they are dead. They aren't moving and the one that on the top of the lid was on the bottom of the container. I am so upset! The children are going to be so sad. I will try to get more, but I don't think they will emerge in time:(
If I can find more butterflies, I'm wondering how many to buy? I want to be able to have some of them emerge.
Norma
posted by Norma @ 4:39 PM
9 Comments:
Norma,
My heart goes out to you. This has happened to me in the past with caterpillars from Carolina Biological.
What is happening is overbreeding. So many companies are "butterfly farmers" raising them for school science and for weddings and for other celebrations. NOT COOL!
Although InsectLore is in the business, as well, we have had better luck with them. (insectlore.com) I'm sure you could call and get an overnight shipment (pricey, but maybe your school could help out?).
Please know I'm thinking of you!
This is SO difficult!
Norma,
Please let me know what it would cost to overnight a shipment from InsectLore. I would be willing to contribute something to helf defray the cost.
Susan,
Thank you so much for your offer, but it isn't necessary. I just want to be able to complete this project. I feel bad that I am always last minute. I also want to complete this project because our school foundation has purchased two camcorders for our room and school. They are willing to purchase more if they see that we are using them with students. So needless to say I am motivated to do just that. When I saw your project and that you had expanded it to include video, I knew this was for me. So thank you again for your offer.
When my own children your little I used to collect Black Swallowtail caterpillars from my garden. You can find them on carrot tops. I would put the caterpillars in a large jar with dirt on the bottom and sticks for them to climb on. Every day we would put fresh carrot tops in the jar, clean out the waste and watch the process.
Once the caterpillars pupated, we put them in a clean jar. It was really neat looking at the sticks with the chrysalis hanging from a thread. In a week or a beautiful butterfly was waiting to be released. We made sure it had time to dry its wings before releasing. When I opened the jar, my daughter had her finger by the opening and the butterfly walked right on it. She waited a few seconds and the beautiful butterfly flew away.
The nice part about this is that these butterflies released in their natural environment. I wouldn't be surprised at all if our butterfly returned to the carrots in our garden to lay eggs.
I brought some jars with caterpillars to my second grade class. The kids loved watching the adventure and they brought carrot tops from their gardens to feed our guests. They also brought caterpillars that they found on carrot tops in their gardens!
We used jars from mayonnaise, pickles, etc. so it was a nice way to recycle!
Those were the good old days!
Hope, thank you for suggesting that I look around my area for a local exhibit of butterflies. I found one at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles. It would make a wonderful weekend trip for families. I am going to suggest it to my students. Thanks for the great idea.
Susan,
Those were the good days. It seemed so peaceful and time was endless. Today is so rushed that we don't have time to enjoy the wonderful beautify of butterflies.
An update: I've ordered a new shipment of butterflies from Insectlore. Hopefully they will be arriving on Tuesday.
Norma,
Please keep us updated on your new crop!
The first year we went with InsectLore it was GREAT!
Now they have become very popular and we are seeing similar problems (although not as devastating as Carolina Biological). I'm guessing they'll be where Carolina Biological is soon.
These "butterfly farmers" simply can't keep up with the demand.
The clue to a problem is when they pupate - sick caterpillars leave a "red spot" in the cup. We had no red spots the first year with InsectLore, but had many this year. Even so, most of the chrysalides emerged and could fly.
I REALLY like Susan's idea of trying to find the caterpillars in a natural environment. Unfortunately, we hardly ever see butterflies anymore around Arlington. There has been too much development and loss of habitat for them. If you have fields around, however, that would definitely be the way to go.
I also like Hope's idea of planting host plants. I'm really going to work toward that next year.
Post a Comment
<< Home