For Christmas, Ethan and Luke asked for an aquarium. They also each bough a little portable habitat. They have been full of so many different critters so far. They have had tree frogs, bull frogs, toads, praying mantises, caterpillars, butterflies, etc.
They found these Black Swallowtail caterpillars on my dill and collected 6 of them. They put them in their habitat. They pupated within a couple of days and then just emerged as beautiful butterflies the other day. We were able to catch one of them actually turning into a chrysalis. It was amazing. We also caught two emerging as butterflies.
Luke has kept this praying mantis for awhile now. It has molted twice.
We were amazed to discover that butterflies camouflage their chrysalis! We had no idea! The ones that were on the lid were dark brown and the ones on the glass near the greenery were bright green!
The garden has been a challenge! The chickens have dug everything up several times so I have lost so many plants. I also kept replanting every time and don't really know what's what. It will be full of surprises for sure!
