We sent for our caterpillars with food and we have had so much fun watching them...
They went from larvae to chrysalides within 10 days and then attached themselves upside down to this paper disk.
We then transferred them to the butterfly habitat and waited in hopes of seeing them emerge. One by one they popped...until there were 1, 2, 3, 4, and finally 5. Each one happening in a flash and while we were not looking. I decided that it would be really cool to witness the birth, so I literally waited one afternoon knowing it would be anytime because of the darkness of the chrysalis. Well I did every job I could think of while sitting next to the garden and as soon as I got up to put a load of laundry away.......I returned to find the last one had emerged. I guess they just didn't want an audience:) It happens miraculously fast and we were surprised how messy it could be. The butterflies drip a red liquid (meconium) that has the appearance of blood. By the time we had all 5, the garden needed a good scrub down.
We could have released them after a few days, but since we were having so much fun observing and feeding them, we held on to them for more like a week. The first day of summer was our "release day".
What a fun and educational experiment. We loved watching our Painted Ladies grow and then letting them go to fly free!!