Butterfly from my Caterpillar

The Fascinating Journey of Raising Caterpillars on My Terrace Garden

Introduction 3 years later, I grew 2 lemon plants from seeds, but till now they did not flower. So, my family members told me that perhaps these lemon plants are of no use. But, I feel so much happiness just only by seeing and observing them. Found a Caterpillar on my Terrace Garden One day I just roamed on my terrace and took my eyes a soothing view of my plants, flowers, and fruitings. Then I noticed 2 caterpillars on my lemon plant and I jumped out of happiness. Also saw a spider on that plant. So I decided to give these caterpillars a new home because they might be eaten by spiders, birds, or any other predators. God Gifts Wow! What a creature it is. I realized that god has made all these nature, birds, animals, and humans. He never made a thing which has no use or no purpose. So, we should not underestimate the power of nature like my lemon plant. It is not giving any fruit but it gives shelter and space for butterflies to lay eggs. Purify air and give life-saving oxygen and we can also even use the leaves of lemon for curing many diseases as well as in some recipes. I first time tried to raise a caterpillar in a glass jar. When I took this caterpillar it was smaller in size and brown in color some white spots are also there on its back. New Home for Caterpillar I kept it in a glass jar put some lemon leaves on it covered the lid of the jar with a very fine cloth and secured it with a rubber band. I gave new and soft leaves to the caterpillar in the morning and evening and cleaned the jar in 1 to 2 days. Clean the Jar To clean the jar is so simple I just do the jar opposite on a piece of paper and the poop and leaves come out. Then I put new leaves in the jar and the poop, and old leaves in a plant pot. After some days it will get decompose and give nutrients to the plant. Firstly I thought they did not like my leaves as they did not eat and are not active in the daytime but then I got to know that caterpillars eat at night and rest in the daytime. I also take the jar in the terrace garden daily in the evening and remove the cloth so that they can take that fresh air. I also remove them from the jar sometimes. Caterpillar roaming here and there in the jar and eating a lot. Changes in Caterpillar After a few days, it gets bigger in size then after 1 to 2 days it changes its color from brown to light green it looks beautiful after this it gets bigger and looks chubby and cute. Legs were shown sometimes it pops out its antenna. The caterpillar is getting bigger at this point I put a small stick in the jar. Pupa Formation At this time I put a stick in the jar. After some days the caterpillar is hung with that stick and tries to shrink out itself. When I saw it another day. Oh my god, it already made herself into a pupa. It’s light green in color and she covers her all over even her mouth is also covered. Pupa caught that stick with the help of 2 very thin thread-like structures. After 2 days of not cleaning the jar because I was afraid to not disturb the pupa now, it’s mandatory to clean it because old and new leaves are mixed out so the caterpillar also does not feel good so I decided to clean it slowly without instruction the place of the pupa. I removed the cloth and then First put the stick in which the pupa hangs. Then apply as usual process of putting opposite the jar on a sheet and clean the jar then put some new leaves, caterpillar, and pupa in the jar. It feels so good after cleaning it. Because I used to see them daily again and again all day. It’s a very therapeutic process for me. Also, it’s the first time I saw this transformation so this is also the reason behind my excitement. I used to watch her every time. It was my favorite thing to watch these magical creatures. It was so soothing to the eyes to watch these caterpillars to eat, change themselves, and do many more activities. Emerging of Butterfly Then for a few days, the caterpillar hung to that stick within that so no change. Then one morning when I saw the jar to see the pupa I was shocked because the color of the pupa turned black one night it also had some light white spots. It looks so unique and eye-catching. After 1 to 2 hours guess what i had noticed? Oh my god! The butterfly is out of that pupa and I never thought even in my dream that that simple light green pupa would give birth to that extremely beautiful butterfly. Its wings were black in color from the outside, and white spots were there. The inner part of the butterfly is a whole different it is more a whitish color, black lines are there and there are orange, light yellow, and blue colors as a highlighter. Oh my god, what a beauty it was. I felt so much happiness, calmness, and inner satisfaction by seeing this. No bundle of money and materialistic things can replace that inner happiness of mine. Learnings from Butterfly I got self-learnings from these amazingly beautiful creatures as we have all types of things around us like good things, bad things, and even worse things. Now it’s our choice which one we like to choose. Which type of things do our eyes want to see? Negative things around us or the caterpillars and butterflies. For this small bundle of…

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