How To Look After Painted Lady Butterflies - The Life Cycle Of The Painted Lady

In this video we follow the life cycle of the Painted Lady butterfly, starting with young caterpillars and following them through pupation, metamorphosis, and emergence as an adult butterfly.
Ben Fitzcosta's Channel: / benfitzcosta
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Music from filmmusic.io:
"Carpe Diem", "Ascending the Vale", "Easy Jam", and "Almost Bliss" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)
#butterfly
#paintedlady
#metamorphosis

[@andrewwood8062]

Great video, very helpful. I've just had this kit though and now set up. 👍

[@swhite8381]

That last butterfly wasn’t about to leave that orange slice 😆

[@GregsWildlife]

Haha! No, and I don't blame it, I love oranges.

[@jettyplaysbs7430]

I love that there is 0 dislikes and I love butterflies :D :D :D

[@GregsWildlife]

It is nice when there's no dislikes. It keeps everything positive!

[@fernandaalexandre5108]

@jettyplaysbs umm sorry but... there’s 1 dilslike now :( you better check

[@jettyplaysbs7430]

@@fernandaalexandre5108 :(

[@jamesdigby6072]

Really pleased you did this. Great footage and thank you for staying up until 4AM!

[@GregsWildlife]

Ha ha! I was really annoyed I missed the pupation, so I was determined not to miss the emergence.

[@brookelerdahl7420]

My daughter and I loved your video!

[@GregsWildlife]

Thank you!

[@sharonshort9140]

I did as well! Love your video dude! 😃😃🦋

[@GregsWildlife]

Thanks! I appreciate that

[@ImansHomeschool]

Thank you very much for your videos. My children and I are fans of your channel after coming across your Frog Watch series. It was a huge help for us when we raised our froglets this Spring. And now that we are doing butterflies, this video has been so helpful in preparing us for what to expect at each stage with our caterpillars. We are using the exact same kit as you and we're currently at day 8. This evening 3 of our 5 caterpillers have hung themselves upside down ready to begin pupation. It's been 7 hours now (currently 1am here) and they still haven't started molting so I'm hoping we don't miss it! I'm so glad I came across this video as I'd never have thought to use a cotton-bud to clean up the webbing and waste around the chrysalides, I was worried about that part but you made it look easy - thank you!

[@GregsWildlife]

Thank you so much! I hope it all goes well! I think it's wonderful that keeping tadpoles or these butterfly kits are things that kids can enjoy and they are such a great way to get them interested in nature. I'm glad my videos have been useful :-)

[@gmanhi5]

Great video, me and my daughter have the same kit and missed the butterfly’s emerging, that time lapse was what we wanted to see, well shot and relaxing to watch. Thank you.

[@GregsWildlife]

Thanks! They seem to have a nasty habit of emerging in the early hours of the morning! But I'm glad you enjoyed the video :-)

[@relationships4girls]

Me too

[@adahgeorge9218]

I love this!!! It helped a lot my mom ordered some painted ladies and there coming soon!!

[@GregsWildlife]

Brilliant! Have fun :-)

[@richardgaspar4590]

I saw one of these on the meadow fleabane last summer, it was a beautiful site. We have lots of nettles near the fence for the peacock butterflies and red admirals, some orchard grass for the meadow browns and large skippers.

[@GregsWildlife]

I think the year that I filmed this video was a really good year for them. There were lots around. I didn't see so many this summer.

[@beverlyharris9859]

SENSATIONAL AWESOME BEAUTIFUL HEAVENLY AMAZING WONDERFUL ❤!

[@GregsWildlife]

Thank you so much!!

[@delagum1]

Beautiful vid, dreamscape ideas, thanks man, you’ve lifted my soul! Peace

[@GregsWildlife]

Thank you, that's very kind of you to say :-)

[@kirstenwright1433]

Especially loved the last 13 sec where you can see the butterfly eating orange juice with it's proboscis, Great video! Thanks

[@GregsWildlife]

Thanks! Yeah, I really liked getting that close up footage.

[@SandyKH]

Thanks for posting. Have been wanting to get that butterfly kit. You have convinced me!

[@GregsWildlife]

Glad I could help!

[@briannasmith1502]

Thanks for this! Ours are early in their chrysalis stage so this was super helpful in knowing what to do and expect!

[@GregsWildlife]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tailssonicbros2515]

Thanks for the video! We ordered some too. They are still growing, about to go to the lid.

[@GregsWildlife]

Fun times! I hope you get to watch them emerge.

[@laurenpitt2342]

Great video ☺️ I did this twice for my little boy last year and we loved it. We didn’t get to see a single butterfly emerge from its chrysalis, so I will have to show him your video when he gets home from school! Thank you

[@GregsWildlife]

Thanks! Yeah, the butterflies were very unhelpful and emerged in the early hours of the morning, I went without some sleep that night!

[@Submarine_2010]

For the past two years I got these for my birthday- that come as tiny worm things in those tubs, and then when they get chrysalises you out them in the box things and put the boxes in the net things until they turn into butterflies then you wait until they’ve developed their wings fully and then let them fly out

[@GregsWildlife]

It's the first time I've tried it. It was pretty cool. I'm sure I'll do it again.

[@jenniferrobbins3130]

Thank you for a great video. Our class is super excited to watch the lifecycle of the Painted Lady Butterfly!

[@GregsWildlife]

Thanks! It's really interesting to watch them develop. But be warned, when they start to change it happens fast! And probably over night, unfortunately.

[@Submarine_2010]

Great new video! I got that exact same thing for the past two years!

[@GregsWildlife]

Cool!

[@ItsDarkDrawz]

Thank you so much!!! I am about to get one of these, and I was worried it would die easily but you calmed me down and I feel more confident than ever!

[@GregsWildlife]

Great! I'm glad I could help. Best of luck to you!

[@delagum1]

There are some really good kits. Hard to go wrong since there are so much info on exotic pets. What I found out was what is the growth rate of the animal. This will help you in determining when to get a larger tank. Peace

[@ItsDarkDrawz]

@@delagum1 thx

[@brianjackson2131]

great vid a big big thank you,

[@GregsWildlife]

Thanks for watching 👍

[@tiffanygonzalez644]

Thank you so much for This video, it helped me guide my son with raising our ladies ❤

[@GregsWildlife]

Glad it was helpful!

[@cherylbriard]

My granddaughter and I loved your video!

[@GregsWildlife]

That's wonderful! Thank you so much :-)

[@catherinefeeney9612]

that's really interesting! I've never seen a butterfly emerge from it's chrysalis before witch made this that much better,anyway great video keep it up

[@GregsWildlife]

It happens so much faster than you might expect. I've seen a dragonfly emerge before, but that takes an hour or more for the entire thing, so this taking a couple of minutes was really surprising.

[@colorgal]

Thank you for this! So wonderful to watch the butterflies emerge. My 8 year old daughter is enjoying the process. We just transferred the chrysalis' to the container.

[@GregsWildlife]

That's great! It's such a wonderful process to watch. I think it's a great way to get kids into nature.

[@bugloverspiderlover8490]

We have a similar species of butterfly in my area,north Texas,the caterpillars look completely different,they are green and have small horns,the chrysalis are green as well. The adults look very similar.

[@GregsWildlife]

Sounds lovely!

[@bugloverspiderlover8490]

@@GregsWildlife yeah I actually took a few adults in as pets,their wings are all tattered and torn,so I decided to give them a good last few weeks.

[@jettyplaysbs7430]

U earned a new sub! :)

[@GregsWildlife]

Yay, thank you!

[@MrScaryPasta]

I’m actually growing caterpillars into butterflies right now. I’ve had lots of practice with three different species. Painted Lady, Small Cabbage Whites, and Gulf Fritillary. It’s really fun watching them grow. I’ve also grown a couple moth species too. Fall Army Moth, Sunflower Moths, Inch Moths, Cabbage Loopers. I love nature. Caterpillars are amazing.

[@GregsWildlife]

That sounds great! Do you find them wild and raise them at home?

[@MrScaryPasta]

@@GregsWildlife Yeah. I usually raise them from eggs. I keep them indoors and in a sterile environment. I also make sure to thoroughly inspect the larvae for any health issues. The moment i notice them getting too fat or swollen, I immediately separate them and inspect them. If I see tiny lumps, discolored skin, or worms inside em I toss em outside to let nature do it’s thing. Finding healthy caterpillars isn’t always easy though. But most of the time I’ve been very successful with raising them to full adulthood. It’s really fun watching them eat and grow with each day. It’s also fun to hold them too. Caterpillars are so beautiful and so fragile. Always treat them with lots of TLC.

[@hazeleye2213]

Amazing video thanks my caterpillas are currently at the stage of hanging on the top of the lid 🦋

[@GregsWildlife]

Fantastic! Hopefully, they'll emerge at a suitable time for you and you won't have to be sleep deprived like me! haha!

[@lynnhathaway3755]

This afternoon I saw a painted lady on my echinacea coneflowers. I'm very happy as I have planted coneflowers, joe pye weed, daisy's, native asters and other flowers for pollinators all over my property. I have seen many bees but this is the first summer that I have seen a butterfly.

[@GregsWildlife]

That's great! I haven't seen any painted ladies yet, in fact butterflies have been a bit scarce so far this year. But there's been some nice sunny weather recently, so hopefully, they'll all come out.

[@frankieplays149]

The only reason I searched this up on here is because, my class right now have painted lady chrysalis’ they just turned into them probably some Sunday and other Monday. They are so interesting

[@GregsWildlife]

Yeah, watching them go through their different life stages is fascinating.

[@solarpunkalana]

That's really cool! I want some now haha

[@GregsWildlife]

I've never done this before, but it's something I've been thinking about for a while. It was really great, apart from having to stay up until 4 am to watch the butterflies emerge!

[@jamesdigby6072]

Same

[@Kuwi-enjoyer]

I have 2 cups of caterpillars! There are humongous.

[@GregsWildlife]

They do get big compared to how they arrived!

[@Kuwi-enjoyer]

Now there are in there metamorphosis now

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Excellent! What a cool thing to do! Where did you get the kit from? At 12:44 I thought you'd shaved your arms and had your nails done for a mo, and then I thought that must be Mrs.H 😆😂👍 Great video Greg, and well done to Ben for letting you use a bit of his footage. 👍😎👍

[@GregsWildlife]

I got the kit from Insect Lore, it was a really nice bit of kit, and reusable so I can order some caterpillars if I wanted to. That was actually my daughter, I had a bit of a battle to get her permission to use that footage!

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

@@GregsWildlife I'm willing to bet there may have been a bit of bribery involved 😆👍

[@GregsWildlife]

She was too tough of a negotiator and I had to remove a section of video!

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

@@GregsWildlife 😆😅🤣

[@alyssahewlett4358]

Beautiful! Thank you for sharing! I was trying to figure out what kind of butterflies are here in Newfoundland Canada🇨🇦 I didn’t think they were monarchs

[@GregsWildlife]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ChristineHorpinjuk]

Great video! How long do they live for?

[@GregsWildlife]

They have quite a short lifespan, only around 2-4 weeks! How they manage the time to make such a large migration, I can't possibly imagine!

[@catchinghorses]

Did the chrysalises that formed on the bottom hatch okay? Got the kit for my nephew and he has one like that. Hoping for the best. Thank you!

[@GregsWildlife]

Yes, they were absolutely fine. They hatched out and immediately climbed up the lid to stretch out their wings.

[@YouTubemaster-sh6js]

Cute

[@GregsWildlife]

Yeah, they are beautiful butterflies :-)

[@HuskerdustEditz]

Thanks this was helpful I wanted a rhinoceros beetle or a antlion but my parents wouldn’t let me so I got painted ladies instead

[@GregsWildlife]

I'm glad the video was useful! The rhinoceros beetle and antlion sound fun though!

[@jamesrimes2870]

What should I do sir? I found a painted lady in my house, most of the trees are yellow now( I live Northern Europe ) It's eating honey water, should I release it , or should I let it stay as long as it can survive?

[@GregsWildlife]

I'm not entirely sure about the behaviour of Painted Ladies in your part of Europe, but they almost certainly will not survive in the winter conditions. Many painted ladies will migrate to Africa in Autumn, so it'd probably be best to let it go so it can make its journey.

[@joannasarvis107]

I have them right now but it is March and still cold. Can I let them out right now or keep them in my house for a while?

[@GregsWildlife]

You can keep them for a while as long as you're comfortable in caring for them.

[@deltalegacyone]

I have adult monarch butterflies

[@GregsWildlife]

Wow, that sounds great!

[@sincerely246]

Butterfly

[@relationships4girls]

Can you reuse the butterfly case with a the mecioum

[@GregsWildlife]

Yes, the butterfly habitat is reusable. It can be washed to get rid of all the stains.

[@Levithesimp9]

Does it take longer to hatch depending on weather

[@GregsWildlife]

I imagine it would. Things usually happen quicker in warmer weather.

[@lifeaccordingtotheo9643]

How many days from the time they emerge until it's recommended to release them?

[@GregsWildlife]

I didn't keep them vey long, I think it was only one day. I didn't like seeing them try to fly around in the habitat and crash into the sides.

[@JenniferWilliams-bb7hi]

What happens if you poke a caterpillar with a stick and in the process mess up what looked to be its cocoon or the beginning of it? Will it make a new one or did I destroy it's chances of survival?

[@JenniferWilliams-bb7hi]

I poked gently to see if it was ok

[@GregsWildlife]

If you damage its cocoon, then unfortunately it will probably die. The cocoon is part of its body, not just a structure it builds around itself. But of course, nothing is guaranteed, insects are remarkably resilient and it's possible it can repair the damage.

[@UkAmphibians]

Where did you get these from we would love to raise some 🐸💚🐸

[@GregsWildlife]

I got them from InsectLore.co.uk They do several different insect kits as well as the butterflies, like stick insects and ladybirds.

[@UkAmphibians]

@@GregsWildlife brilliant thanks greg 🐸💚🐸

[@reremcmillan]

I love it I want one but I have cats

[@GregsWildlife]

Yeah, I can imagine a cat being very interested in a fluttering butterfly!

[@helpthespirits3168]

Hi love you

[@GregsWildlife]

Aw, thanks :-)

[@Miranda2404]

I am raising the painted lady in my class school i touched the butterfly ! :)

[@GregsWildlife]

That sounds like a great thing to do at school.

[@chriscooper9670]

One butterfly emerged last night two more this morning the other imminently. I have 1 more that's still a tiny caterpillar less than 2cm he's never grown but appears to be eating, sleeping and pottering around. Took him out of the tub they came in and put him in a clean jar with some of the food he came with and some nettle and thistle leaves. Didn't have the heart to throw him away he appears to be loving life. Shame I cannot add a couple of photos do you have a facebook page?

[@GregsWildlife]

That's interesting that one is still small, but if it's eating I guess it should grow eventually, but I don't know. I do have a Facebook page, although I don't use it much, just to notify of new videos. If you check the description of any of my videos it will have the links to all my social media pages.

[@chriscooper9670]

@@GregsWildlife Okay thanks just wanted share a couple of photos of the little fella :)

[@delagum1]

Hey Chris, I had the same thing happen to me. They’re just late bloomers! After about a week, after everybody else turned into butterflies, he finally did! Peace

[@meganmoore7008]

We are about to release our Painted Lady Butterflies, but I’m afraid a bird will eat them! Any advice on the release such as location to avoid this (especially in front of the kids), etc? Or is it just going to have to be here you go…best of luck!

[@GregsWildlife]

You should be okay, the birds will probably stay away since you and your kids will be there. But unfortunately, I don't think there's much you can do! Just release them close to some flowers, but if they're anything like mine, they'll just fly away over your house/garden wall pretty much instantly! I did have that one butterfly that didn't want to leave the orange segment, that one did hang around the garden for a while. Good luck!

[@meganmoore7008]

Thank you!

[@meganmoore7008]

We released our Painted Lady Butterflies today! 3 looked strong and ready to go and off they went! 2 of them would not go. They seem to have difficulty flying. They would flap their wings, go upward a bit, and back down. I kept them until I know what to do. Are they unable to fly? I haven’t really seen these two fly around recently. Do I release them even though they can’t seem to properly fly? It seems it’s not a great idea to keep them either. Let me know what you suggest in this situation.

[@GregsWildlife]

Hmm, it's tricky. You could keep them if you're confident you're able to provide enough food for them. Personally, I didn't enjoy seeing them flap around inside the habitat, so I released them soon after they emerged. Probably the best thing to do is to release them and let nature take it's course, as harsh as that sounds.

[@SMG7_the_Grape13]

MY CALIPITERS ARE BECOMING CRYSTALIST AND ITS A PAINTED LADY

[@GregsWildlife]

Great! Fun times :-)

[@delagum1]

How can you hate butterflies and praying mantises. I am releasing a batch of painted butterflies in the am. Should be great for photo op. This time around I would like to start at the egg stage. Wish me luck! Peace

[@GregsWildlife]

Good luck!

[@startdayjosephaustria7663]

Please Bennit's Butterfly Farm Philippines New Butterfly Monarch Butterfly From U.S.A. & Mexico Flight To Philippines, Ainse Swallowtail Butterfly From U.S.A. Flight To Philippines & Painted Lady Butterfly From U.S.A. Flight To Philippines. Today Is Coming. Yes!