Releasing Butterflies

We actually let our butterflies go on April 15th.

I'm just finally getting a chance to post a blog about it.

Last year when we opened the habitat, the butterflies took off like mad.

But this year, we had to coax them out.

K got the first one out on his finger.

It didn't wan to leave, and another one joined him.

One flew over to my leg and hung out for a while.

Gv had one stay with him.

Gt got this one off of my flowers.

And he got to hold him for a while too.  He was thrilled.

We kept our butterflies in the habitat for about 2 1/2 weeks.  I don't suggest keeping them that long (although the paperwork that comes with the caterpillars says that you can keep them up to a month).

The reason I don't suggest doing that, is that after a week, they began to fight with each other and quite a few of the butterflies had damaged wings.  We didn't notice the damage until we let them go.

The transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly is absolutely amazing.

This is our second time doing it, and it doesn't bore us in the least.

Now my boys are out looking for caterpillars, so we can do it again.