Insect Lore Mini Butterfly Bungalow

The Mini Butterfly Bungalow is a great way to start off with a butterfly growing nature kit. It's much less expensive than the full sized Butterfly Bungalow or Butterfly Garden models also from Insect Lore, which makes it ideal to try out for a younger child. The Mini Butterfly Bungalow comes with live caterpillars or a mail in coupon for live caterpillars, whichever you prefer. The Mini Butterfly Bungalow is a nice way to watch the beautiful "Painted Lady" butterflies grow.

The Mini Butterfly Bungalow kit from Insect Lore is a scaled down and much cheaper version of the Butterfly Bungalow kit. If you choose the kit without the live caterpillar larvae, you can mail in the enclosed coupon for a charge of $3 to cover the shipping and handling. When you have the larvae, you're ready to start.

The kit consists of an airy mesh tent with a zipper on the side by which you can access the insides. The caterpillar larvae arrive in a sealed container. You also get food in the package. You have to harvest the larvae within the container itself and wait for them to transform into chrysalides which attach themselves to the paper discs on the roof of the container.

At this stage, you have to carefully transfer the chrysalides into the mesh bungalow. This has to be done delicately so as to avoid the chrysalides from falling down. Then, you wait until the butterflies begin to emerge. You can feed them sugar water sprinkled on flowers.

The whole process is pretty streamlined as long as you follow the instructions to a tee. As these are live creatures you're dealing with, you got to be responsible and alert about changes in temperature etc. Sometimes, it may be possible that some of the larvae doesn't turn into butterflies due to some inherent defect. Most times, however, you shouldn't have a problem.

I liked the concept of the Mini Butterfly Bungalow very much. It's a lovely way to get your child interested in the mysteries of nature.