Description

Witness one of nature's most spectacular transformations up close with this reusable, collapsible habitat. Fine, transparent mesh lets you see butterfly metamorphosis up close. Product includes easy-to-use feeder and complete instructions for habitat. Butterfly larvae with food shipped directly to your home. The habitat collapses for storage when not in use. You can adopt and raise a handful of caterpillars, watch them transform into painted lady butterflies, then lift the garden cover to release your beautiful specimens into the wild. This exciting habitat makes a fabulous introduction to the miracles of nature. The larvae and food available round the year.

Customer Reviews

 Butterfly larvae dead - Jul 28, 2010

After having to pay an extra $3 to receive the larvae, they all died within three days of receiving them. VERY disappointing to my grandchildren! If they had lived and grown to their stated potential, this would have been an excellent review.

 Butterfies are always perfect - Jul 26, 2010

We've done this one several times. This time my 6 yo nephew personally requested it and I was so excited to send it to him. He is having a blast with the experience and is so happy! I love this project.

 Absolutely a joy to enjoy this with my grandson. - Jul 16, 2010

This was the perfect gift for my 5 year old grandson, he is a real bug guy! In a very shy voice and he's not shy, he told me it was just what he wanted. He followed the growth of the larvae and their webs every day. I got reports from him. Even with his two year old brother, all five butterflies emerged!!!! He was amazed that their wings grew and grew, but was a bit sad about letting them go. He said "Sorry" to me.

I was thrilled that it all went as described. I am waiting for him to want another batch of larvae.

Thanks so much for a wonderful, educational experience for him and me.

 How Cool!!! - Jul 15, 2010

This was so much fun! I gave this kit to my son and he was absolutely magnetized by this. Once you get the kit, you have to send in the form with a small s/h and, in about a week & 1/2 you get little critters (look like dark maggots) creeping and crawling around a cake of solid sand (I am aware that this does not sound good:). Then, they make their way to the top of the lid and instinctively hang upside-down by their own silk and turn into this weird shell-like creatures. Then, they pop out and become beautiful butterflies that you can release.
I think I had as much fun with this than my children did.

Of course, the habitat can be reused and all you need are the larvae (inexpensive).

Have fun (hope I didn't gross you all out...but, hey...that's nature:)

Miles

 Fun product - Jul 14, 2010

I ordered this for my six year old, and she loved it as well as learning a lot about the cycle of life for these butterflies. The different steps along the way are very educational, and the reward is live butterflies for a few weeks. Since we have a garden, we fed them strawberries, then gave them a slice of banana every now and then, they seemed to thrive. Now the child has a net basket cage to catch lightning bugs!

 Great fun - Jul 12, 2010

I ordered this for my 6 year old son and he enjoyed it very much. He watched the caterpillars grow and turn into butterflies. He was very fascinated by the whole process and loved releasing the butterflies in our yard. I highly recommend this product. Also the product has a support site if you have any questions while raising your butterflies. Great fun.

 Be forewarned - Jul 08, 2010

While this is a great, educational and fun toy - and the world needs more butterflies - you will have to enclose additional money when you order your caterpillars. The price you pay for the kit does not include the "handling" to get your butterflies, but thankfully it's only $3.

 So cool! - Jul 07, 2010

I wasn't sure about ordering this product and what I would have to do but it was so easy. The catipillars are self contained so nothing but observing for the first week. All 5 of our catipillars made chrystillis' & all 5 turned into butterflys exactly a week later. Do think about vacations before ordering. We had to take them with us but it was awesome. My girls loved letting the butterflys free & I learned so much myself in the process.

 Great Fun for your little nature explorer - Jul 06, 2010

My daughter loves nature and this is a safe & durable environment for my child to keep the all the beautiful creatures for observation. It has a handle for easy carrying and zipper closure at the top of net for easy release at the end of our busy day. A must for any nature observer in your house.

 Loved our Live Butterflies - Jul 02, 2010

This was a perfect summer project for my kids. We followed the kits step by step instructions and watched all 5 of our caterpillars make their chrysalis and become butterflies. My 3 year old can even describe the life cycle of a butterfly (and it is hilarious to hear him say chrysalis!)

*Note: We shopped around and Amazon had the best price on the internet and in stores!

 great present - Jul 01, 2010

I bought this for my 4 yr old's birthday. She's enjoyed watching the caterpillars grow and wiggle. We're reading books and waiting for the butterflies. Excellent gift!

 Be prepared to wait - Jun 29, 2010

I made the mistake of thinking this would be a creative Birthday present. First you receive the net habitat. Now you have to pay to get the actual larvae. Ours were lost, and no one wanted to help. They don't track the package so you are at their mercy. Finally we received the little creatures and they became butterflies while we were away on vacation.:(

 Very cool project - Jun 29, 2010

We got this as an educational type project for my kids, who are 9 and 12, and my nephew, who is 4. He just LOVED it. He sat and stared at the larvae for hours and once they turned into cocooons, he knew not to disturb them. There was a mini crime-scene/bloody mess once they do bust out of their cocoons, but not that bad, and well worth it. I HATE bugs and I still enjoyed this product; I even moved the cocoons from the little plastic jar to the butterfly net/cage. We set the butterflies free after 2 days. I would recommend this toy/project to anyone with kids. Very cool learning experience.

 Worth it for preschoolers - Jun 26, 2010

My 4 y/o loved this. He lost patience though when we had to wait another week for the actuall caterpillers. I thought everything would come together. Overall it is a very educational and exciticing project.

 Where is the rest? - Jun 25, 2010

Got the package in the mail finally and there were only the kit not the larva! I thought when we put an order that includes everything. So after we settle on the idea of ordering the larva separate, it took a while to get them cause of the shipping transactions. First to UPS then to USPS of course something has to go wrong with the post office service. Our larva is MIA right now and I am not sure if they are alive.
We can't wait to find out how are they doing and start the experience, after 1 1/2 week!

 great learning tool - Jun 25, 2010

My two and three year olds loved watching this process. The catepillars don't come with the kit, one most send in a mail order or order on line. This is understandable, as one would not want the catepillars if you were not going to use right away. There was a nomimal shipping fee but I saved money going through Amazon so I didn't really mind (I have seen these go for as much as $30.00 if specialty stores).
I would recommend for parent/teacher or a great gift idea!

 New American Ladies in California - Jun 23, 2010

I live in Texas and am an amateur butterfly photographer, photographing about 60 species in my yard each year. I wanted to try and instill my love for the hobby in my 6 year old granddaughter in LA. I sent her this kit as a present for graduation from kindergarten. She was so excited. I had no idea she wanted one but when she opened it she said, "I wanted this for my birthday and nobody got it for me." She ordered the caterpillars and they came in about 3 days. She did have to pay a small shipping fee but I knew that in advance and sent her the money for that in her graduation card. The caterpillars came in great condition and started growing and shedding their skin the very next day. It only took about a week before they became chrysalids and about another week to hatch. All 5 hatched into beautiful American Ladies and are now beautifying LA. It was great fun for her as well as educational. I actually sent her two kits because that made it qualify for free shipping and was almost as inexpensive as one kit and paying shipping. She can't wait for her vacation to come and go so she can order the next batch of caterpillars. I could not, nor could she be happier with the experience.

 Great idea ... but nature takes it's own sweet time - Jun 18, 2010

We got this for our 4 year old's birthday and she was really excited. Everything went very smoothly, but for a 4 year old, waiting for a week for the catapillars to arrive was hard, then waiting another 7-10 days for them to become cocoon's, and another 7-10 days for the butterflies to emerge was hard. However, we got 4 beautiful butterflies from our 5 catapillars, and one poor guy that seems ok, but his wings never expanded! We will keep them for a couple more days and then let them fly free. Overall lots of fun, but maybe better for an older child who understands the concept of waiting a bit.

 Adyna's first pets - Jun 15, 2010

My granddaughter enjoyed the butterfly garden very much. She is 4 yrs old and we enjoyed letting them go. It was a wonderful time for her to see them grow from lavae to beautiful butterflies. Thank you

 Wonderful eduational opportunity - Jun 13, 2010

Our daughter just loved watching the caterpillers grow up and go through the transformation to butterfly. You do need to order the insects separately, and you do need to closely watch your mailbox (especially in summer) so you can catch the postman when he delivers the caterpillers. I enjoyed the entire process, too! It reminded me of when I was a kid.

 Fun learning - Jun 10, 2010

While we were disappointed that the ordering of the caterpillars is an extra step and cost, the Butterfly Garden was fun and educational.

 Awesome for your whole family - Jun 09, 2010

This kit is just an awesome thing for your entire family. Everyone at our house has enjoyed watching the ten caterpillars grow and form their chrysallis. And now we have 8 painted ladies flitting about the habitat. A friend told me they will go wild over watermelon, can't wait to try it. I plan to purchase a kit for two friends (one age 7 and the other age 5) who have birthdays this summer. The only thing I would say is that it was a bit hard for my kids to wait for the larva to arrive in the mail. That was the only part that was disappointing for them. But of course, it was also a good lesson in patience. Goodness knows that never hurts. Ha!ha! This really is a great "toy" for either a girl or a boy and would be appropriate for a whole range of ages. I could even imagine adults/senior citizens enjoying watching this process!

 Live Butterfly Garden Kit - Jun 05, 2010

This is a great science project for kids , or adults! The kit I ordered did not include the live larva and I did have to go the extra step to get them so there was a wait time. I had assumed the larva would come with the kit. Maybe some places to sell this kit with them. At any rate the Process of watching them go through the various stages is great education for anyone and my grandson especially loved doing this project. he took it to school and shared with his science teacher and class and that went over great~!

A+ for this Kit! It is plastic and I am not sure of the durability because we have only used it once. I do intend to do the project again soon for the other grandkids!

 The Two Things I like best about this product... - Jun 02, 2010

ONE: The whole top of the enclosure unzips and TWO: the top is clear plastic so that you can easily see inside. It's a little smaller than the original butterfly enclosure we had that was made by a different manufacturer; however, that enclcosure had a small opening at the bottom of the enclosure that unzipped making it hard to put the butterflies in without damaging their wings. Also, the top was made of cloth so you could not see your butterflies except looking at them through the netting. This is a great buy! Currently we have a bagworm in ours.

 Wonderful experience! - Jun 01, 2010

The butterfly larvae came very quick and it worked exactly as described. 7-10 days to form cocoons and 7-10 days to transform to butterflies. We got 5 of them to cocoon and 4 hatched, one is still trying to get out, but we released the 4 into the yard yesterday! The kids loved watching them transform and also eat from the oranges!