Junior's Butterflies

Junior recently got a butterfly cage. The cage came with an offer to buy some Painted Lady butterfly larvae, so we took the plunge. In June, we went through a several week process of feeding the larvae, waiting for them to cocoon, pinning them up in the cage, watching them hatch, feeding them and...
...at the end, letting them go. Here Junior is about to open his cage and set his butterflies free.

We received 5 larvae, and 4 survived - amazingly enough - to hatch in the cage. We thought we'd lost a couple along the way, but left them in the cage, and they actually survived.

The reality of losing his butterflies was hard on Junior. Upon hatching, they only have a two-week life span. They were in our house for a week-and-a-half, and we were about to leave for Michigan, so knew it was time to let them go.

Junior and Syndi were fascinated and sad in alternating fashion.

Sylvia? Well, she was a little iffy on the butterflies flying out at her.

After all, Painted ladies are very aggressive ~ riiiiight!

Our last escapee flew right over to the gutter at the corner of the house, where we all gazed upon it in fascination. They are beautiful butterflies.

Junior was overcome with grief at the thought of losing his last butterfly. Poor guy.

He said his final goodbye.

Julia, however, wanted to hold the butterfly.

Syndi sadly watched also, and a few minutes later, we watched the last of Junior's Painted Ladies fly off into the sunset. It was a good experience for Junior, who loves the outdoors and animals and critters. Perhaps we shall try this again next year.