Sunday, June 26, 2011

Raising Butterflies

I've seen beautiful monarch butterfly in the backyard several times this spring.
Then Carol discovered one caterpillar on the tomato plant.
I found 6 more on the same plant and here they are.
According to online information, caterpillars are picky eaters and pretty fragile.
Ours grow at least twice in size a day.
They remind me of raising silk worms. Some educators in Taiwan are advocating raising caterpillars instead of silk worms as caterpillars can be released to the environment when children lost interest in raising them.
I've added a wooden structure inside the habitat this morning. In the afternoon one of the caterpillar is crawling around the wooden structure with speed, probably looking for a spot to pupate?