Instructions for 'Bright White' Butterfly Kits
Back to 'Bright White' Butterfly Kit
Congratulations, you are about to watch part of the incredible life cycle of the Bright White Butterfly! Expect the change from caterpillar to butterfly to take approximately 3 weeks and for the resulting butterflies to live up to 3 weeks.
Your Kit Contains
* Covered Cup with 5 caterpillars and food
* Pop-Up Butterfly Habitat, which can be reused
* 2 Packets of sugar to make a feeding solution for your butterflies
* Eye Dropper - to dispense the sugar solution
* Butterfly feeder with cotton wick
You will need to Provide
* Water and a small bowl to mix and store the sugar solution
*Optional – Pieces of fruit. Butterflies like watermelon, banana, and oranges.
 Caring for your Caterpillars
Your caterpillars only need the food on the bottom of their Cup to thrive and grow. In the wild they like cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower plants, but our special concentrated diet is great for them. Don’t worry if they do not move for the first day or so, this is normal. Watch as they eat, crawl, make silk strands and grow to many times their original size! While they are eating and growing you will see little balls on the bottom of the Cup that are the caterpillars “frass” or waste. It should be left in the Cup. While the caterpillars are in the Cup you may gently pick up the Cup to look at them but do not shake it or be rough with them.
 Important: Keep your caterpillar Cup at room temperature (68° to 78°F) and out of direct sunlight. Direct sunlight may cause condensation in the Cup, which is not healthy for the caterpillars. Also, keep the lid on the Cup at all times to prevent introducing bacteria into it.
Changing from Caterpillar to Chrysalis
At normal room temperature your caterpillars should take 5 to 10 days to grow large enough to make the fascinating change from caterpillar to chrysalis. When they are ready to change your caterpillars will weave a silken carpet to attach themselves to. They may do this on the sides or the lid of the cup. They attach their posterior end to the silk, and then attach some silk belts around their middle. It will suspend itself from the silk belts around the middle so it looks like its suspended in a swing. When they change into a chrysalis they will shed a very thin layer of outer skin that you may not even see. While suspended, they will stop moving and then change. Most of your caterpillars will change within around 24 hours of each other. During the first day while their chrysalis is forming it is very important that they are not disturbed and you must be very careful not to move or jiggle the Cup. This is the most vulnerable stage in the development of a butterfly.
 The chrysalis range in color from a light gray to green. The chrysalis will stay in the cup and the adult butterflies will emerge in the cup. Approximately 7 to 10 days after they have made their chrysalis your butterflies will emerge. These small butterflies have a 1 ¼ inch wingspan so there is room in the cup for them to emerge.
Birth of your Butterflies
Although the 7 to 10 days of the chrysalis phase seems to be a time when nothing is happening, it is really a time of rapid change. Within the chrysalis the old body parts of the caterpillar are undergoing a remarkable transformation, called metamorphosis, to become the beautiful parts that make up the butterfly that will emerge.
The chrysalides will get lighter in color as the time to emerge gets closer. Keep your eyes on them now as you may get to witness the birth of a butterfly!
When a butterfly emerges its wings are soft and folded and it cannot fly. Over a period of 1 to 2 hours the butterfly stretches and strengthens its wings by forcing blood into their veins. During this time be careful not to touch or jiggle the cup. Only 1 to 2 hours after emerging the wings will be full-sized and completely hardened. Your butterfly is now fully-grown and ready for flight. The top of the wings are white and the undersides, that you see when the wings are folded, are yellow and white.
Moving Your Butterflies into the Habitat
24 hours after your butterflies emerge from their chrysalis, you should move them into the Pop up Habitat. If they emerge at different times, you can move them at different times into the habitat. To move the butterflies into the Habitat, place the Cup with the butterflies in it into a refrigerator for around 10 minutes. This calms them and makes them easy to move. Then place the cup inside the Habitat and remove the cup lid. Close the top of the Habitat. After the butterflies warm up they will leave the cup. You may then reach inside the Habitat and remove the cup.
The normal lifespan of the Bright White butterfly is up to 3 weeks. It is likely you’ll have both males and females, and you can easily tell them apart. Male butterflies have 1 black spot on each of its front wings. The females have 2 black spots per wing (like in the picture to the left). But your butterflies are not likely to breed within the Habitat because they prefer live plants for laying their eggs.
Butterflies will not eat the first day but after that you need to feed them (see instructions below.) Butterflies eat by unrolling their proboscis (like a tongue) and drinking sweetened water. When they are finished they roll their proboscis back up. Butterflies taste with their feet. You can use the Eye Dropper to place a drop of sugar water near the feet of a butterfly resting on the side of the cage to see if they feed on it. Butterflies also like to drink from slices of freshly cut watermelon, banana or orange.
To feed your butterflies make a sugar solution by mixing a single sugar packet in 1/4 cup of water. Fill the feeder cup almost to the top and replace the lid. The cotton wick will stay moist and the butterflies will drink the sugar water from the moist wick. Set the feeder on the floor of the Habitat. Keep extra sugar water refrigerated between feedings. Rinse and refill the feeder (no soap) once a week. If you run out of sugar solution you can make more by mixing 1tsp of real sugar with 4 oz of water.
Can I Release the Butterflies After Observing?
No. Please do not release the butterflies, they have a short adult life span and should remain in captivity through it. The reason for this is that the favorite foods of these caterpillars are things humans like to grow to eat, so they can cause significant damage to our gardens and farms. They especially like cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower plants. If you let the adult butterflies go, they may reproduce and that can do some damage to your local ecosystem as well as local farms.
Ready to Raise more Butterflies
Your Pop-Up Habitat is reusable and we have caterpillar refills. Save 10% on your reorder – just enter coupon/voucher code #112150000 when checking out online. Visit us at www.NatureGifts.com or call us at 800-405-1497 when you are ready to experience the fun of rearing butterflies again.
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Phone
order? Call 1-800-405-1497