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My kids still put leaves in one cup and the caterpillars ate them (apple and pear leaves). So quality is poor.The caterpillars arrived in 2 cups with food very promptly. Now, we are waiting for the butterflies which should happen in a few days. The butterflies will probably escape (which is ok since we are going to let them go).
One of the rods broke within a half hour when checking it out upon arrival. Kids loved this experiment. I would give this set more stars on educational level if it had more info or came with a nice picture book for the younger kids.If I could change my order, I would probably buy a smaller net that hangs. Same thing happened when our caterpillars turned into the chrysalises and were ready to go into the tent. We fixed it the same way so it's ok to use, but isn't perfect. We fixed it by cutting the broken part and making it an inch shorter (the rod bent, flattened, and the fiberglass split right next to the metal piece that joins parts of the frame).
We didn't even have the caterpillars yet. They had food provided at the bottom of the cup so they don't need to be fed. The rod on the other side broke. They were all alive and well, and all of them turned into chrysalides. The sides aren't tight so the entry door doesn't close snuggly.
Just as one reviewer already mentioned, the quality of the tent is very poor. I bought a couple of books about caterpillars and butterflies. We waited 2 weeks (that includes us sending a check.). They actually fed leaved to the caterpillars in one cup.They are very excited about sitting in a tent with the butterflies and imagine them on their noses etc.
The tent itself is high quality - it's built like a backpacking tent with fiberglass shock-corded poles and a bathtub bottom - if it wasn't breathable mesh, the kids could really use it for camping. All 10 of our caterpillars grew into perfect butterflies, and releasing them after the kids got into the tent with them was a really wonderful family time. This kit comes from a company called Insect Lore, which has been around since 1969 - so I guess they have the butterfly thing down by now. As it is, they still do use it in the backyard for playtime. If I could post pictures here, I would. A previous review noted that the poles were plastic and would break, it looks like the manufacturer has solved that issue with these new camping-quality supports.
My husband and I had just assembled the butterfly tent when trying to move it out of the house one of the support bars completely broke. My husband had to buy a plastic pipe around that size to fix it. Although this is a great idea for hatching butterflies perhaps the way to go is to buy a smaller pavillion that hangs.
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