Insect Lore Ladybug Land | Ladybug Growing Kit Habitat | Redeem Voucher For Live Ladybug Larvae

They were fascinated by the transformation process and learned about the life cycle of insects. We also incorporated this activity into our science curriculum, teaching the children about the different stages of development and the importance of patience and observation. It was a wonderful learning experience for them and I am proud to see their curiosity and interest grow through hands-on experiences like this.

My 5-year old daughter and I just released our adult ladybugs into our yard this morning. It was a wonderful experience, from start to finish! Our first batch of ladybug larvae didn't seem to be doing very well, so I called Customer Service and they quickly shipped out another batch of larvae, which was much appreciated. We ended up with approximately ten ladybugs growing to maturity and it was pretty fascinating. The dome lid sits very loosely on top of the Ladybug Land, so I put two pieces of scotch tape on each end so little fingers wouldn't knock it off by accident. The larvae and ladybugs would hardly move until I shone a light on them while observing, so if you want some action, this seems to wake them up. Then they scoot all over the place! Two of our ladybugs were having an "intimate moment" this morning as we went to release them, which was hilarious to explain to my daughter. She can hardly wait to see the new baby ladybugs that will be arriving in our yard! We will be definitely be ordering anther batch of larvae to start again, it's a very educational and fun project.

My son loved this. Fun, easy to care for the lady bugs and didn’t cost a lot

I was excited to purchase this for my kids to witness the life cycle of lady bugs. I also have an organic vegetable garden and was equally excited to release the adult lady bugs into it when they were adults. I never got to fully do either..... I found this kit when I was searching for "live lady bugs" to order as beneficial insects for my garden. I though this would be great. Based on the first two 5 star reviews from 2004 on this product I went ahead and ordered. - You have to pay $5 more to have the lady bug larvae shipped to you.... ( I wish this was in larger print on the product description page, not a big deal as I understand shipping live insects does cost money, just wish I had seen it before ordering) - Our first batch of larvae all arrived DOA. I emailed customer service and they told me to wait a week to make sure before contacting them back. They said sometimes the larvae do not move much and need time to acclimate. I wrote them back after a week as everything still was DOA. - The second batch arrived a few days later. The company does ship well and provided tracking and email confirmations which was nice. This time only half the contents of the shipping vial were DOA. You can clearly see the live ones moving around. I think the week wait was a little much. You should be able to discern viability in just 24-36 hrs. However, they do make you wait the required number of days. - We filled the dome food tray with the wet sponge and placed the larvae inside. Soon mold began to grow on the food sponge and larvae started dying. Within one week all the larvae were dead despite us cleaning out the mold and following the instructions to the letter! - It is a real heart breaking experience for the kids to watch the larvae not make it. We also don't like seeing that as well. I believe the habitat's design could be better improved upon. The larvae food, feeding, water sponge and air circulation seem to be the main factors that affected us. - I can only conclude that I would have been way better off just ordering larvae and putting them directly out in my garden. The kids could have visited the garden and we could have tried seeing them there. After spending $20 to end up with a cheap plastic habitat that will end up in the garbage and to watch 2 sets of lady bug larvae die, it was definitely not worth it! I think there are some major issues here..... I wish I could return this but by the time all of this has occurred it is now past the 30 return window. I hope this review helps and perhaps has saved some lady bug larvae lives..... Anything that involves live creatures should absolutely be well tested and continually monitored and updated as needed to ensure the best for the creatures and people involved. This is just not acceptable.

My 4yo and I really enjoyed this. Especially him! However, these things started to stink so badly, that we could smell them even without opening the top for feedings. It came with lots of larvae, and my son looked forward to feeding them and watching them. However, because of smell, we ended up putting them in the garage and ignoring them after they moved from the larvae stage to pupae. I want to add that I also began to notice that these things not only pooped, but they also peed. That is where the smell was coming from, I believe. They are in a pretty tight space for 10 bugs, and that smell was unbearable after a while, even with the feeding hole closed. Even my 4yo son was so grossed out he told me to let them go. We live in Colorado, and it was winter, so I didn't let them go, I kept them in the garage, but we didn't mess with them. Much to my surprise, while washing the car about a week ago, I saw several lady bugs hanging out in our garage. We were thrilled! They flew away, and being spring in Colorado, we just got another blizzard today, so they probably all died, but if you can take the smell, this is a very cool way for kids to learn about the cycle of life. The bugs they sent us were obviously very sturdy. However, I would recommend ordering from the company directly via phone, not online, as the reps are very knowledgable, and gave me lots of good tips. I was not prepared for how gross lady bugs look and smell before they mature. Those things were looked like aliens.