Melanee, you would be better off buying one of those kits that starts with the caterpillar. For about $25 (I think!) you get everything that you need. When you buy it at the store, it does NOT come with caterpillars, but you mail in a certificate good for five of them. That way, they don't pack live caterpillars in the box that's sitting on the shelf. When I was subbing, I was twice in a classroom that had them. One day, the cocoons actually opened on a day I was there! My family has raised monarchs from eggs we've found in the wild.
This is a great all-around site. They also have (had?) a print catalog you could request. They have many "kits" for a wide variety of insects. http://www.insectlore.com/ Hope this helps! Bev
http://www.hsiz.org/resources.asp?resourceCatID=283,287,400 http://www.carolina.com http://www.biologyproducts.com/ http://www.sciplus.com/
Actually, the kits make it surprisingly simple. They give you a bunch of caterpillars, so if one or two doesn't make it, it's OK. If they didn't make it easy, teachers wouldn't buy it a second year, because the kids got discouraged. We did kill one or two of our caterpillars the year we grew Monarchs. But in reality, how many of them actually survive? It gave us an opportunity to talk about all the hazards they actually have out in the "real" world.
We had a nice experience with insect lore. It was a gift that a freind purchased from Amazon.com and we later sent in the coupon for the larva. they came and 4 or 5 were alive and all 4 became butterflies. We kept them about 2 days then released them. We will try lady bugs this year and order direct from the insectlore site.
that would be cool to do but unfortually Im allergic to caterpillars..or I think I am. when I was younger I loved to let them crawl on my arms, one day I broke out in hives..havent touched a caterpillar in years! I love butterflies and love to look at caterpillars but no touching for me LOL
I loved putting them on you when we were kids Melissa... Let's do it together and I will keep them at my house! Love Me
Yes you did LOVE to torture me, didnt you? LOL we could do that, they start at dow gardens next week...
Melissa, some of the hairy caterpillars has some kind of "poison" in their hair that would cause a reaction. I'm guessing that's what happened. It does not mean you're "allergic" to it. You'd be fine growing them! It's a great experience for the kids!
No touching required. LOL I love bugs and stuff, but my dd doesn't yet. They come in a little tub that you put in the netted container. They make the cocoons in the paper lid then you remove it and tape it to the side of the net thing. they later hatch and fly around. You never have to touch the cats. or butterflies.
Yep Melissa, Jackie is correct. A kid in our homeschool group was playing with one at the park and broke out in a big rash. They looked it up online and found it to be toxic. BLEAH!
