Growing butterflies

I have always loved butterflies. The idea of metamorphosis and seeing something turn into a creature of beauty has always intrigued me. A teacher who retired last year at my school would grow butterflies with her class every year. After over 50 years of teaching, she retired from teaching fifth grade. I always thought it was so cool that she did this with her class and after her retirement, I decided as a nod to her that I would continue it with my own class. There is so much to be learned about butterflies both physically and metaphorically.

I had seen advertisements for butterfly kits and decided to give it a try. The kit could either come with five live caterpillars or 32. If you’re going to do it, why not go for the full spread and get 32, right? Well, I don’t think I knew what to envision when 32 live caterpillars arrived. I quickly realized that perhaps most people with no experience doing this would start at five and maybe work their way up to 32.

The first thing you do when the kit arrives is prepare tiny clear cups that are provided by adding some caterpillar food and gently transferring each caterpillar with a paintbrush to their new home for the next couple of weeks. A lid is placed on the cup, which yes, I did read that direction at least a dozen times for fear I was going to be suffocating them.

Mind you, I ordered 32 caterpillars, but as I was transferring them to each of the 32 cups, I noticed that I seemed to have a lot more caterpillars leftover than I did cups. Then, I noticed this little line in the pamphlet that read, “If we have sent you more than 32 caterpillars (sometimes this happens), leave the remaining caterpillars in the original 8 oz cup they were shipped in. There will be enough food in that cup to nourish the extra caterpillars throughout their life cycle.”

Well, exactly how many caterpillars was I sent? I received 45 caterpillars. Yes, 45. A total of 13 more than I was expecting and probably 40 more than I should have started with for my first time.

The butterfly kit

Photos provided by Megan Rathz

Another aspect of my butterfly growing that I did not anticipate was that this would coincide with my school’s spring break, so what started out as an experience for my students also overlapped in my living room where 40 of my new pets took residence. I was afraid to leave them in case something drastic happened with the temperature of my classroom or if they were ready to be transferred to their habitat and I wasn’t there. I felt very responsible for my new caterpillar friends and wanted to do right by them, so they went into my living room.

Once the caterpillars were transferred to their cups, you basically leave them alone and observe their changes. It can take anywhere from 10 days to two weeks. You want to be sure you don’t disturb them as they are changing into chrysalides. You must monitor the room’s temperature and humidity. I noticed that there was silky webbing in the cup of the caterpillars that is used to attach the butterfly to a leaf, so they don’t get blown away by the wind. I also noticed what is referred to as “frass” in the tiny cups.

What is frass, you may ask? Well, that is a lovely way of saying caterpillar poop. The caterpillars climb to the tops of their little cups once they have eaten their fill, stored enough energy, and are ready to become chrysalides. Something else I learned is that if you shake or disturb your chrysalides, you will see them wiggle, which is what they do in the wild to ward off predators.

It is important at this stage to pretty much leave them be until it’s time to transfer them from their cups into their butterfly habitat.

Once the chrysalides are hardened (usually after about three days or so), you gently move them to their butterfly enclosure with a paintbrush and attach them to the sides of the mesh of the habitat, so they can securely attach themselves and transform into butterflies.

It was at this point that I also noticed another little note in my pamphlet, “Like any birth, the transformation from chrysalis to butterfly can be a little messy. You may notice a small amount of red meconium. Do not be disturbed by this natural occurrence. Meconium is not blood; it is liquid waste left over after metamorphosis.”

Well, that’s lovely, isn’t it?

Fast forward a couple of weeks and the transformation begins to happen. The chrysalids became fuzzy and hardened. They hang in a J shape from the top of their cups and stay that way for about 10 days. At that point, I transferred them into their butterfly habitat to wait and see them turn into butterflies. I would find myself periodically looking at them to see if there was any movement, but for the most part, they just stayed that way doing what seemed to be nothing. I even started to think: Are they still alive? Did I not do the transfer to the habitat correctly?

A couple of weeks went by, and I came downstairs to check on my butterflies, and before my eyes, was an entire habitat filled with painted lady butterflies. The habitat that was holding what seemed to be lifeless chrysalides was a sea of orange fluttering all over the place. A few days later (when the temperatures were warm enough), the butterflies were released with the kids at my school in our Nature Lab. As I carried the butterfly habitat outside and heard the excitement from the kids throughout the building, I realized just how cool this process was for not only them, but also me.

One of the teachers commented that the noise of hearing the kids see the butterflies was the best sound she heard in the building that day.

If there is one thing that I have learned about doing this, it is that butterflies are a lot like us. Sometimes we do not look our best and some of us get to where we are going quicker than others. Sometimes it feels like it is taking forever for it to be our turn. Sometimes when we are covered with webbing and frass, it is hard to see our own beauty. Things will happen and bloom when they are supposed to. Sometimes you bite off more than you can chew, but you figure it out. Sometimes you think you’re getting 32 of something and you end up with 45. Whatever the case may be, we are all evolving all the time. We are all at different stages in our lives and there’s a plan for all of us. Nature is teaching us. What are we learning?

Megan Rathz is a wife, mother, and teacher. She says everything she has ever learned in life came from her Master Gardener mother.