Move the chrysalises from the caterpillar cup to the butterfly cage by putting a double sided loop of duct tape on the cup lid and taping it to the bottom of the top cardboard disk inside the butterfly cage. Now wait for the butterflies to hatch. Two of the chrysalises fell in the cup, and they were laid on a paper towel at the bottom of the butterfly cage.
Hang the cage from the ceiling with duct tape. The top and bottom were rubber banded together. However, the top was also tie with a string that leads to the ceiling where it is taped. A chair was needed to reach the ceiling. Tape the cage at a convenient observation height, lower for children and higher for adult.
Staple the veil material onto the cardboard disk, lining up the line on the veil to the edge of the disk. Overlap the material a quarter inch to each side of the disk and staple. Staple every couple of inches around the disk. Repeat the same process with the other disk and other line. This can be done in about 10 minutes. Gather the material together on each end and rubber band the ends together. Tie a string to one end and hang the cage from the ceiling using duct tape. This activity will need parental help for young children about 6 years old. However, it is an easily inexpensive project to do with your children.
Draw a line 12 inches from the open edge of the fabric the entire length of the material, 3 feet 4 inches. The fabric is 53 inches wide, but it comes folded in half or 26.5 inches. Draw marks 12 inches from the edge that opens along the length of the fabric and connect the mark to form a line 3 feet 4 inches long. The sharpie will penetrate the material and mark both layers.
Next, obtain a cardboard box that is more than a foot wide and a foot long (this one came from the Kroger Store), a foot long ruler, a sharpie type pen, and a scissors. If you do not want the dark lines in the butterfly cage use a pencil. Mark a dot in the middle of the box and place the 6 inch mark on the ruler on the dot. Draw 6 lines through the center to make 14 wedges. Draw lines from the tip to tip of each wedge to make an outer circle. Cut the disk out and repeat to make two disks.
To make a homemade butterfly cage, first buy some wedding veil fabric from a fabric store. The fabric being purchased in the picture is called MATTE TULLE, part number 0040-1703 from JoAnn Fabric store. It cost $1.50 a yard, and one cage needs 1.0 yard and 4 inches of the material.
This is a homemade $2.00 butterfly cage made from wedding veil mesh material from Joan Ann Fabrics waiting for the butterflies to hatch. Purchased 3 feet and 4 inches of material and made cardboard disks from a grocery store cardboard to 1 foot in diameter. The length of the material stapled around the disk was calculated from the circumference of a circle or πd or 3.14 X 1 which is equal to 3.14 feet or 3 feet 4 inches. The fabric was stapled around the disks and rubber banded at the top and bottom. String and tape were used to hang the cage at observation level. The DIY cage compared to $8 commercial cage. This DIY could significantly lower the cost of the project for student.
While there was dozens of Sea Monkey hatched on day one, on day 14 there is only 3 adults in the aquarium.
We only had one day to enjoy watching the caterpillar crawl around, since when I looked in the cup today they were on the top of the lid in a J shape. In the J shape, they are getting ready to shed their skins one last time and then turn into a chrysalis. Such incredible genetics that program this information into their life cycle. We think we had it rough growing up, but we never had to change bodies. People pretty much look like people their entire life, but this caterpillar will now turn into Chrysalis, and then a butterfly. Metamorphosis comes from the Greek words “meta” meaning change and “morph” meaning form. What a wonderful experience to observe.
This is a Painted Lady Butterfly larvae. The literature says they will be larvae for 5-10 days shedding skin to make four stages. This is how the caterpillar arrived after 6 days in shipment, and they ship as a first stage larvae. So, I am guessing this one is at or near its last larvae stage. Better, start getting a butterfly cage built.
Kids get a kick out of watch caterpillars in a cup on the window sill. We are now going to watch the caterpillars grow until they form chrysalis. The chrysalis will eventually be moved to a butterfly cage for metamorphosis.
Painted Lady Butterfly caterpillars from Insect Lore survived their 6 days in shipment from California to Cincinnati by “so called” USPS Priority Mail 2-Day. They grew during shipping to about an inch long. The good news is the cup had all the food they needed and they can stay in the cup until the chrysalises form. The larvae were interesting to observe. The lifespan of a Painted Lady Butterfly is 2–4 weeks. Their scientific name is (Vanessa cardui), and the species undergoes complete metamorphosis. Painted lady butterflies are native almost everywhere and they can be released in warm weather.
Sea-Monkeys are really hybrid brine shrimp with the scientific name artemia NYOS. The ad was a bait and switch; one expects humanoid creatures and gets brine shrimp instead. The good news is that the awe and wonder of nature makes up for the fantasy of the humanoid cartoon for many. Philosophically, there seems to be a bit of fantasy in children’s science that motivates them to buy into the experience. It was the fantasy of space travel that motivates children to launch model rockets, but act of building rockets that leads to a future in engineering. It is the dream of faraway countries that motivate children to make and listen to short wave radio signals, but the act of building and using radios that teaches physics and electronics. It is the dream of flying that motivates children to make model airplanes, but making them that teaches skills. Fact is stranger than fiction, and the true story of artemia NYOS satisfies the intellectual curious about life. This class will explain the truth about these amazing creatures.
This is a comic book ad for Sea-Monkeys. Sea Monkeys started in 1957 as Instant Life by Harold von Braunhut, an inventor and entrepreneur, and renamed Sea-Monkeys in 1960. Harold von Braunhut was accused of being a con artist preying on adolescence by marketing these fantasy humanoid cartoon expectations in comic book bypassing any parental protection, and indeed in the 1970s, New York’s attorney general, Louis Lefkowitz, went after von Braunhut arguing that Sea-Monkeys were fraudulent, because it’s a fantasy.” However, the judge compared the issue to “sponge cake — it’s not a sponge; and butterflies are not made of butter.” vindicating Braunhut4. Sea-Monkey advertising is a fraud. This reminds me of the movie, Miracle on 34th Street, that proved Santa was real because of all the letters that children sent to him and our society aiding and abetting that practice. Likewise, what proves Sea-Monkeys are real is all the children since 1957 that have bought, enjoyed, and learned from the product. I don’t think the end justifies the means, as evidence by all the science kits that advertise just what you get. However, the kit does have redeeming value of being cheap, convenient, with a well documented internet body of knowledge. Sea-Monkeys are not real, but what you get are actually a hybrid brine shrimp, artemia NYOS.
Watching the newly hatched Sea-Monkeys, their scientific name is Artemia NYOS (New York Oceanic Society). The shrimp start out as a dots and can get as big as 2 inches
Sea Monkey hatchlings were discovered after one day. It was exciting to see this new life so quickly. I expected them to take 3-5 days to get big enough to observe, but no, they were visible after 24 hours.
The instructions are designed for a child to understand. The 12 oz. aquarium is provided with the packages of materials, 1) a blue pack with salt and water purifier, 2) a red pack with eggs and salt, and 3) a green pack with food. First fill the container with spring water and add package #1. Package #1 contains a declorinator to purify tap water if used, and let set for 24 hours. Then on Day 2, add package 2 with the eggs, stir. If all goes well, small brine shrimp will be swimming in the water, and if not, the egg were not viable or present. The hatchlings are microscopic at first. The eggs can be purchase separately for $7.71 if the batch is bad.
This has been a classic biology experiment for decades. The kits cost only $10 with Amazon Prime but the product had 379 reviews with a strange distribution of equal 5s and 1s. It looks like there is about a 50:50 change of the sea monkeys growing. I think there always has been a quality control issue. Sea Monkeys first started in 1957 with ads in comic books. Many kids saved up there pennies to get them and they are a legend today. They look nothing like the pictures of them; the ads sold fantasy more than fact. Scientifically, they are brine shrimp, a very interesting species found in salt lakes like in Utah. However, the company claims they are a special cross breeds that do not need aeration and are thus low maintenance pets for children. One can make a study out of these creatures. I hope to show you the grown Sea Monkeys in a week.
I found an added cost that gave me buyer’s remorse. At first I was excited about the whole kit for $25 with free shipping using Amazon Prime. However, when one gets to the point of cashing in the voucher, there is an additional $7.95 to get your caterpillars. That makes the project $33, too expensive for a 6 weeks class with a $50 lab fee. I do not think I will use this kit for the Fall course. Nature Gift Store sells two cups of caterpillar for $23.93 with shipping, and that would be $11.97 per student. I am going to try to make our own cages out of wedding veil material and cardboard. This kit costs too much for my class, since there are other experiments that need resources.
The cage looks nice, but it is small, only 1ft high and 10” in diameter. The cage is just the bare necessities, but it may work for a butterfly with a short life cycle. While small for a butterfly, it can be justified in my mind as a temporary observatory before releasing the butterflies. It is not big enough to keep butterflies for long periods. The cage will be thrown away in 4 weeks, anyway.