Insect Lore Live Butterfly Pavillion
by Insect Lore
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List Price: Our Price: $16.02 You Save: $13.97 (47%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Toy See more product details |
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Toys and Games Reviews of Insect Lore Live Butterfly Pavillion
Customer Review: Enchanting Butterfly Experience
Summary: 5 Stars
My daughter recieved this as a gift and I was pretty skeptical, but lo and behold -- we successfully raised all ten caterpillars and released them as adult butterflies. You don't need to feed or interact with the caterpillars: they come in transparent sealed containers with their own food. This means that kids can't play with them (my daughter was disappointed that her new pets couldn't walk on her fingers) but also means that you do not need to deal with the mountains of caterpillar poop that they produce.
When they pupate, you open the containers and pin the lids (where they instinctively attach themselves) inside the pavillion. Everything the insructions say will happen does, in fact, happen, and within a week or so your beautiful painted lady butterflies emerge. We kept ours for a few days and then set them free -- a satisfying experience from start to finish.
The whole system is extremely well thought out and the instructions are clear. Be sure to visit Insect Lore's web site, because it's full of helpful information and tips -- our pupas were wiggling and rocking alarmingly, and their FAQs anticipated the question and explained why they do that.
My only quibble is that the sugar water solution we fed to the butterflies tended to soak through the floor of the pavilion, making a sticky mess -- we had to put an old towel underneath. Otherwise, this was a smashing success and my kid can't wait to order another batch of caterpillars.
Customer Review: Very educational and fun
Summary: 5 Stars
We mailed in the coupon to receive the caterpillars in mid July, and all 10 survived the hot summer mailbox. Within a week they turned into chrysalids, and after about another week the butterflies just popped out! We got one of them coming out on video camera - they come out quick! One of them couldn't come out quite right, but even the 3 on the floor on a paper towel came out just fine.
They weren't too crazy about sugar water, so I did some research and thought maybe the concentration wasn't high enough. So I used a little less than a tablespoon of sugar to 1/2 cup of water, and I see them drink from that a bit more. I also cut up oranges, apples, nectarines, and bananas. I also cut up some fresh flowers that butterflies like and put them in a tiny container with water. They like that the best.
I still felt like they weren't eating very much, so I went to a local greenhouse and got a smallest annual plant they had that butterflies love (lantana), and within minutes of putting it inside, the butterflies were all over it. And they started laying eggs!! And they're only 5 days old!! Thankfully I've researched what painted lady caterpillars eat (different species eat different leaves) and been collecting plants outdoors. Insect Lore informed me that the caterpillars would come out of the mesh holes, so we bought a critter cage and put a paper towel underneath the lid.
Customer Review: Fun, But Be Careful!
Summary: 5 Stars
This habitat was a blast! This was ordered by the libraries in my area as part of the Catch the Reading Bug summer reading program. The kids absolutely loved it! We even had a butterfly release party after storytime so the kids could watch them fly away. It was fun to watch how the butterflies were willing to help each other out. One of ours was born with an injured wing(like Nemo and his fin). One of the butterflies helped him learn to fly by gently pushing him in the air until the injured butterfly figured out how to fly. Out of the 10 caterpillars we received, 8 made it. One somehow disappeared and one was killed in the chrysalid stage.
If you have young kids, this kit is fun, but make sure to keep the caterpillars, chrysalis, and butterflies in a safe place. The young kids at our library were a little careless one day while one of our other librarians wasn't watching the desk and they knocked off one of the chrysalids. It was in a crucial stage right before it was to turn into a butterfly(a day or two before), so it wasn't quite ready to come out when it's cocoon was cracked. The one butterfly who had hatched already tried to help it to get out, but it never succeeded. That's why it's important with young children to keep an eye on them when they're watching the butterflies. Older kids are fine alone, though.
Customer Review: Great Product, Needs More Food
Summary: 4 Stars
I am really enjoying this product. At the moment all 10 of my caterpillars have become pupas. I think, however that they either need to include more food in the little cups, should make the cups wider, or they should put food more in the center so their frass doesn't restrict their access to food as much (most of the frass accummulates around the edges of the cup). Before they changed, they were eatting some of the paper under the cap of the cup, which you need. Yet, they have all changed over and seem healthy. I should have 10 butterflies next week and am so far happy with the product over all. Know that you will pay an extra $6.00 with the certificate to get 10 butterflies.
To buy "refills" you will need to go to the insect lore website or another caterpillar selling website and that it will cost more then the amount on the certificate.
And don't worry when you get the caterpillars and it looks like they're black, dead little hard things. They're not, just give them some time and they'll start to move! And if they really are all dead you can return them and get a new batch (they come with a paper saying you can return them for new ones if there's a problem).
I would recommend this product to anyone. I should think this to be a great this to have in the classroom.
Customer Review: Amazing Wonderful Visual Experience for Any Child that Loves Butterflies
Summary: 5 Stars
My 3 year old loves to watch the metamorphosis from larvae to butterfly on You Tube, so I thought he would enjoy seeing it in real life. He was so fascinated he sat still for HOURS every day in front of the butterfly "house" watching and waiting. . . (And he is a child that rarely sits still for more than 5 minutes at a time!)The day the butterflies started to emerge from their cocoons he had the hugest smile on his face all day. He took the butterflies out for "walks" (like how we walk our puppy) on his finger and treated them like his pets, and then he eventually let them go in the garden. At $14 on Amazon (and no S/H and no tax), the pavilion is a great deal because if you go to the Insect Lore website (company that makes the Butterfly Pavilion) they want $15 just for the larvae plus you have to pay $9 shipping and tax. This way, for half the cost you also get an extra butterfly "house" which also works well for housing grasshoppers and crickets etc. Also, the kit guarantees that at least 3 of the 5 larvae will hatch into live butterflies. This is exceedingly important when dealing with a 3 year old's expectations. The butterfly "house" could be a little more durable and the zipper sometimes sticks, which is why I gave it only 4 stars. Otherwise, it is a 5 star product in my opinion.