Born Free

Well, these guys maybe weren't born free, but they're free now.

For Lilly's birthday my best friend, Courtney, and her family sent a butterfly kit.  It came with a mesh net habitat, instructions, everything to feed and care for the butterflies and six teeny tiny little caterpillars in a plastic cup. 

Lilly was so excited about the butterflies, then a little disappointed when I explained that we would not be attaching them to leashes to take them for a walk.  But, she was back on board when the caterpillars started growing....and grow they did.

Here are our six little friends in their cup.  The tan stuff on the bottom is their food.

 Every day the caterpillars got bigger and more creepy.

 After everyone was safely inside their chrysalis we removed our little 'pets' from their cup and put them in the habitat.  The bright blue mesh habitat almost perfectly mimics a butterfly's natural environment.

 The only thing left to do was wait...and take pictures.  Lilly was so excited every morning to get up and see if there were any butterflies yet.

 Then, one day after her nap she woke up to find that the first one was here!

 Later that day I actually saw one of the chrysalis shaking.  I yelled for Lilly and she got there just in time to see the butterfly fall out onto the bottom of the enclosure.

 We fed the butterflies sugar water and it was lots of fun for Lilly to see them eating.

 To Bryan's and my surprise all six caterpillars survived to form chrysalis and emerged as healthy butterflies.  We kept the butterflies for over a week and watched them fly, eat and 'sleep'.  Lilly loved the butterflies and thought of them as pets.  She never did name them, which shocked me a little...  maybe it's because we made it clear from the beginning that we would set them free.

 The instructions clearly said that the butterflies were unlikely to breed until they were released, but when I saw this going on I couldn't imagine what else they might be doing.  It was definitely time to turn them lose.

 Friday night after dinner seemed like a good time.  Lilly was actually pretty happy to set the butterflies free.  I was worried that she would be sad once they were gone.  But, in reality she seemed a little bummed that they all didn't fly away at once.  She opened the habitat and gently coaxed the butterflies out.

 I can't imagine why the butterflies didn't immediately race for freedom with this waiting for them on the outside...

 One of the butterflies flew out, landing on Lilly's cheek and quickly flew away.  We are convinced that it kissed Lilly goodbye.

 One of the other, more unfortunate, butterflies landed in Jack's hand and flew away, but not after Jack's hand snapped shut like a trap.  Bryan was able to get the butterfly free and he flew away, hopefully uninjured.

 Now, these little guys really were born free...and right in our neighbor's backyard.  Five little fox cubs are living under a storage shed.  We've seen, what must be, the mother roaming the neighborhood the last couple of weeks, but had no idea that she was keeping such a secret.  They let me get pretty close with the camera, but only three let me get close enough for a decent picture.  I just hope Lilly and Jack get a chance to see them.