The Birds + The Bees = The Butterflies

So, do you remember that post I did a few days back about our very kewl and very, um, "frisky" butterflies? You know, the one about how much education we are getting by watching our new pets, the butterflies? Well, we are also learning that God planned for His living creation to, well, pro-create. And by pro-create, I mean reproduce. And by reproduce, I mean over-populate the Balentine household with thousands of butterflies.

Things were going so well, that is, until this morning when "pro-creation" hatched. You know another thing we learned? Apparently, butterflies lay up to 500 eggs at a time. Multiply that by 6 female butterflies. Ya gettin' the picture, yet?

Those itsy, bitsy, little black dots are baby caterpillars. This just a few of the 100's we found this morning around our habitat, in the habitat, parachuting away for the habitat (literally), crawling down the bookcase, and on to the floor. They were EVERYWHERE. That's when I also noticed about 1000 little unhatched, blue eggs all throughout in the mesh of the habitat. Yep, there were more to come! Needless to say, this little science project is OVER!!!!

Da hubby and I decided as much as we hate to let the butterflies go when the weather was chilly, and as much as we have enjoyed watching the 9 little guys fluttering around, that 7000 butterflies taking over our house would no longer be any fun.

We made the tough decision to let our butterflies go in the backyard. (I am the only one I know that worries and cries over butterflies!)We would have liked to have kept them, but it seems that they still have the hots for one another which, in turn means more eggs, which means more caterpillars, which means more butterflies, which means Sonya and family would soon be moving out of a house taken over by butterflies and caterpillars.

Fortunately, the weather is supposed to be a little warmer over the next few days so they have a good chance of survival. As for the baby caterpillars, hmm, they didn't fair as well. To be honest, it would probably go down in caterpillar history as a massacre. That's sound so horrible doesn't it? I couldn't seem to get the guys into a container to take outside with out killing a lot of them - they are tiny little dudes! We did manage to get a few out there.

They do seem to be happy now that they have a big backyard filled with aster flowers to eat up on. So far most are sticking around the backyard and taking advantage of all the little weed flower things we have back there. We even let our special needs butterfly, Ricky go in the garden where there are lots of low lying flowers for him to nurse on.

So now we are back to our family of 5 + 2 doggies. I suppose the moral of this fun little story would be that you never know what you've got until they have mated and had hundreds more. Then you realize you've got much more than you had ever planned for.

Enjoy our pics and please pardon the Halloween PJ's and techno-butterfly music!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The Birds and the Bees...and the Butterflies?

So. We have had much a do with birthdays over the past couple of weeks. Lots of fun, too much cake, and tons of birthday presents. Wow, I'm exhausted. Glad it's all said and done and now we can sit back and enjoy the gifts that were so graciously bestowed upon my kids. Did I mention that we have a new addition to the family? Oh, well, not a new addition, try 8 new additions to the Balentine blissful household.

Daylor is TOTALLY into science these days and as a gift from Mimi and Papaw, we received a butterfly habitat and 10 accompanying caterpillars. VERY KEWL. They were little buggers and everyday they continued to eat and grow and eat and grow. About 8 days later, they encapsulated themselves into chrysalis. Nearly a week after that, we had some lover-ly butterflies (a.k.a - "boo-flies" as Perri used to say when she was about 18 months old) fluttering around.

This had been a very interesting science experiment in many ways for D, because, first, we are learning about animal science right now in school and he has gotten the opportunity to see first hand the amazing change that a caterpillar makes into a butterfly. (Quick note - just a FYI - these caterpillars were nasty with a capital N. Pooped everywhere and looked like something that you would take on a fishing trip to catch the biggest bass in the lake with. BLICKA!) They did, however, turn into some purty boo-flies. Pretty nifty how God does that, huh?

Secondly, Daylor loves the responsibility of taking care of them. We are unable to release them because it gets too chilly at night here this time of year and they wouldn't survive. Sooooo, that means I now get to feed my family of 5, my 2 dogs, and Daylor's 8 butterflies. That makes 15 hungry mouths to feed. Move over Jon and Kate!!

We even have one "special needs" butterfly who can't fly because his wings are folded over, so I get the fun responsibility of making sure the goofy thing doesn't flip over on it's back as well as making sure it gets it's turn on the watermelon slice at least twice a day to eat. I know, go ahead and laugh. Every time I flip it back upright, I fuss at myself over the guilt trip I get for thinking about just letting it die. Hmmm, to flush or not to flush? Oh! There I go again!

And lastly, did you know that butterflies, well, let's say are "in heat." ALL THE TIME! Well, that has made for some interesting conversations around the dinner table. Things like, "Mommy, the butterflies are wiping each other's boodies again," and my personal favorite, "Hey, Mom, one of the butterfly's butt is eating another butterfly's butt." (Ahhh, my tactful Duglin.) And what is more fascinating is that when they mate they stay, umm, attached. For hours. Seriously. Hours. Wow. So not only are we getting great lessons in creation, science, and responsibility, we are also getting a little sex education, too.

Thanks, Mimi and Papaw. Really. (By the way, don't think I can't hear you laughing.)

The Fabulous Boo-Fly Habitat

The Chrysalis (EEEEEEEW!)

Our "Special Needs" Butterfly, Ricky

Don't worry. I'll spare you any mating pictures. For that, get your own butterflies!