How can I raise a caterpillar to the adult stage?
Raising a caterpillar through the chrysalis? or pupa to the adult moth or butterfly is an excellent lesson about insect metamorphosis. All you need is a caterpillar, some of its favored food, and a suitable container. You can find caterpillars on most plants during the spring and early summer. Put the caterpillar and a few fresh leaves in a wide mouth jar or plastic shoebox. Cover the jar mouth with netting or a piece of nylon. Every day change the leaves and provide dry paper towels to help prevent mold. You can put in pencil-size twigs upon which the caterpillar can attach its chrysalis? or silken cocoon (with the pupa inside). The insect will hatch in 10-14 days, if it does not overwinter?. Before releasing it you can photograph your prize. Don’t be disappointed if small wasps or flies–natural parasites–hatch out instead. These insects keep the butterfly and moth populations under natural control.
