Ladybug Land

We got to grow some ladybugs this summer, and it was a very interesting process.

 

At the end of April, I won a raffle at the elementary school's Dinner & A Book Night. The raffle was for a book called "The Grouchy Ladybug" and a Ladybug Land kit for raising ladybugs. I was ecstatic that I won anything! And the boys were very curious about the Ladybug Land and looked forward to raising the insects.

 

In the middle of May, I contacted the company Insect Lore and they shipped the ladybug larvae directly to our home. We received the package the last week of school. The larvae were inside a plastic tube. I opened the end of the tube and the lid of the Ladybug Land, and placed the larvae inside.

 

The larvae looked weird--they were small and black and had very long tails. We gave them water every other day through the lid by dripping a few drops onto a spongy section inside. After about a week, they started attaching themselves to the walls inside the Ladybug Land and entered the pupa stage.

 

They were in that stage for several days before they started emerging as adults. They came out of their black exoskeletons as light pink ladybugs with lots of spots. It was fun to see them all emerge over the span of a few days. We fed them soaked raisins and continued to drop some water into their land. After about a week into their adult state, we decided it was time to set them free.

We took them outside one bright June morning, and opened the plastic lid of the land near an area close to lots of grass and plants so they could find aphids to feed on and continue to live.

They hadn't been able to fly around inside the enclosed space, so it took them a little while to figure out how to leave.

It was so fun and interesting watching the ladybugs grow, and the boys checked on them multiple times a day while they were growing to check out what was going on in the see-through container. When it was time to release them, and they weren't flying off, the boys tried to show them how to crawl out of the container into the natural surroundings. It was all very hands-on!!!

I've never grown insects before or watched them change in their life cycle. I'm not a science-lover, but this was a fun project for all of us! I'm so glad we won that raffle!