Chrysalis Kit

Observe the amazing metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a beautiful monach butterfly with this live Chysalis.

This butterfly hatching kit is perfect for the classroom or home education. Study mini beasts, the butterfly life cycle and metamorphosis with an insect that many children and adults enjoy.

Your butterfly will emerge from the chrysalis within 4-12 days depending on the temperatures in your room and during the transit.

The butterfly life cycle is a perfect example of full metamorphsis from egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis) and the adult butterfly. If you need curriculum based activities, we have put together chrysalis kit related lesson plans for every level.

It also makes a gorgeous gift for a special occassion such as a birthday, wedding, birthday, or house warming gift.

What you get

Chrysalis kit by Butterfly Adventures. Experience a gold dotted, emerald chrysalis turning into a gorgeous Monarch butterfly.

When will it be delivered?

BEFORE YOU ORDER: Please consider the weather. Will it be warm enough to release butterflies? They need 20C or warmer to actively fly. The best place to check ahead of time is here

Orchard Swallowtail Butterfly chrysalises will be sent only to the warmer areas where the temperatures reach 20C during the day between May 2023 and August 2023. This butterfly is larger than Monarch and takes longer (up to 4 weeks) to hatch. Please be patient, its worth it! The chrysalises itself can wiggle from side to side, so you know that its alive and well. Unlike Monarch, it does not show its wing pattern but get darker and softer just before hatching. For Queensland and Northern Territory customers only.

Our supplier will deliver everything via AusPost Overnight Express or overnight courier. This is because we are sending you delicate material and need to minimise the transit time as much as possible. This does not mean that we can dispatch your order immediately. While we will try to send your items as quickly as possible and as close as possible to your selected date, chrysalises have a very limited shelf life and we can keep only a few of them in stock. We are kindly asking you to please allow up to two weeks for delivery. We use AusPost and Toll for overnight delivery to minimise the time in transit.

Will I always get the same chrysalis?

We will try to send you the Monarch chrysalises when we can but, at different times of the year there are limitations in availability and we will send the species available at the time. So the butterfly hatching kit may come with chrysalises of very different textures shapes and colours: green or brown, smooth or slightly spiked and some can even wriggle! Please let us know, if you only want a Monarch but this could mean a longer wait.

Releasing or keeping your butterflies

Butterflies require 20 degrees celsius or higher to fly. They will be sleepy at lower temperatures. The mesh cube supplied is NOT suitable for keeping butterflies for longer than 1-2 days. If it is cold where you are, you have an option of making a larger enclosure yourself or buying one from our shop. The butterflies can be kept as pets in a larger enclosure for 3-4 weeks, you just need to feed them.

It is easy to feed butterflies. Soak a paper towel in sugary water (1-2 teaspoons of sugar per glass of water) and place it on top of the enclosure. Butterflies are attracted to light and always hang out at the top of the enclosure. This is where you place your paper towel. You can also put one at the bottom of the cage, just in case. Additionally, its a very good idea to mist the mesh of your enclosure with water to keep the butterflies hydrated.

What if things go wrong?

A birth of a butterfly, like a birth of any living creature is a rather delicate process. We wish we could say that there is 100% guarantee of success but that would be unrealistic. What we can guarantee, however, is that we will be there to answer your questions, support you and in a rare case of the birth going wrong to replace your chrysalis.