Rating: - Very educational and fun
We mailed in the coupon to receive the caterpillars in mid July, and all 10 survived the hot summer mailbox. Within a week they turned into chrysalids, and after about another week the butterflies just popped out! We got one of them coming out on video camera - they come out quick! One of them couldn't come out quite right, but even the 3 on the floor on a paper towel came out just fine.

They weren't too crazy about sugar water, so I did some research and thought maybe the concentration wasn't high enough. So I used a little less than a tablespoon of sugar to 1/2 cup of water, and I see them drink from that a bit more. I also cut up oranges, apples, nectarines, and bananas. I also cut up some fresh flowers that butterflies like and put them in a tiny container with water. They like that the best.

I still felt like they weren't eating very much, so I went to a local greenhouse and got a smallest annual plant they had that butterflies love (lantana), and within minutes of putting it inside, the butterflies were all over it. And they started laying eggs!! And they're only 5 days old!! Thankfully I've researched what painted lady caterpillars eat (different species eat different leaves) and been collecting plants outdoors. Insect Lore informed me that the caterpillars would come out of the mesh holes, so we bought a critter cage and put a paper towel underneath the lid.