Callerpillars

Grace can't say "caterpillars" quite right so she pronounces it "callipillars." I don't correct her-it's cute.

For Grace's birthday, Ellen got her a butterfly garden. With the butterfly garden came a certificate for live caterpillars that would turn into butterflies for the garden. I was suspicious both that we would actually receive "live" caterpillars and that they would turn into anything other than dead caterpillars.

The caterpillars arrived in a small plastic cup with a yellowish goo on the bottom of the cup. This goo is supposed to feed and hydrate the caterpillars while they are going through their metamorphosis. The caterpillars' poop (called frass) also looks like the yellowish goo. The caterpillars spin some silk to move around and at the end of 10 days climb to the top of the container to become chrysalids. They are on their way to the top of the container now. They move very s-l-o-w-l-y.

Grace and I have learned so much about caterpillars through this project (and not just that frass is poop). It has really been fascinating. I will post more photos when the caterpillars become butterflies.