I killed them all.

Except one. Coli is a bug person. So, for her birthday, I went to Insectlore and bought an anthill habitat, a butterfly garden, and a ladybug land. There was a nice sale if you bought all three.


All 5 caterpillars (I think there were 6 when we started...) grew & made their chrysalluses or whatever. All 5 hatched into lovely Painted Lady butterflies. All 5 were doing fabulously when we left last Friday. 3 were dead when we got home. Oh my heart SUNK. We decided to let the other 2 fly away asap. We were busy as cukkies the next day & didn't get it done. The next day was cold & rainy. Today, another was dead!!! Ayiyiyyyyyyyyy. We took the mesh garden thing outside, opened it up & left it. Fortunately, the lone survivor flew away. OMG, I am a horrible mommy. Nicole cried & cried & cried hysterically when she saw the empty garden.

The ladybugs have been set outside with the cap off & slowly have been leaving. They grew to maturity no prob. The ants...lol. They dug & dug & seem to be burying each other. I don't know what the trick is. There's only about 2 of the original 20 or so left. *sigh*

But she had a good time watching them grow & I told her we can do it again next year. Soon she'll be catching fireflies....................