Butterfly Lodge & Our Butterflies

A couple of weeks ago I brought the boys to Oh' Farms Butterfly Lodge. The main purpose was to purchase caterpillars for the boys to observe how they grow into butterflies, and to visit the Butterfly Lodge since we were already traveling all the way to Yishun.

But the Lodge turned out to be quite a small enclosure. I wouldn't say that the butterflies looked too impressive either. Luckily, while I was planning the outing the previous night, I recalled that another mummy brought her children to Bottle Tree Park on the same day as Butterfly Lodge, and I decided to bring along the boys' wet gear for longkang fishing.

Bottle Tree Park is really very near Oh' Farms! I strongly recommend that you plan these two on the same day if you intend to visit Oh Farms, especially if you don't stay very near the area.

I bought three caterpillar kits ($4 each). Each kit came with two caterpillars in a plastic container, as well as care instructions and leaves to feed the caterpillars. The auntie was also very detailed when she taught me how to take care of the caterpillars.

Hmm, how did our caterpillars turn out?

The very next morning, four had turned into pupa and two were lying motionless on the bottom of the container. I also saw a few ants attacking the motionless caterpillars. I guessed they were dead so I threw them away. Out of the four hanging pupa, one looked rather black..

One week later, two butterflies emerged in one morning. Hubby wanted to release them before we went out in the afternoon, but I thought their wings were not dry yet as they were not flying around in the container and decided to wait till we came back. But when we reached home at 8pm+, one of the butterflies was not moving anymore! It seemed to have died (of hunger??).. nevertheless Jiale and I brought it downstairs to the bushes in case it had just fainted. The other butterfly was released successfully, but before it flew to my leg and stopped there for a while! Couldn't bear to leave us? Hee hee.

A third butterfly appeared the next morning. This time we released it around noon.

One of the normal-looking pupa

One week later, there was still no sign of life from the last (black) pupa. I decided to throw it away since it was probably dead.

Tip for rearing caterpillars:

Our 2nd butterfly

I should have put the containers in plates of water as soon as I brought them home. I think they are susceptible to ant attacks, though I wonder how they survive in the wild then.

Bye bye butterfly

Caterpillars!

Excreting excess dye

The pupa that looked red & raw, before turning black

The survival rate indicated in the care instructions was 50-60%, so I guess our 3 butterflies out of 6 caterpillars wasn't too bad lah.

[Sorry for the messy photos which are not in sequence. I can't get them to align properly, and Didi is up!]