Butterfly's Habits and Keeping
Habits
Butterflies live primarily on nectar from flowers. Some also derive nourishment from pollen, tree sap, rotting fruit, dung, and dissolved minerals in wet sand or dirt. Butterflies play an important ecological role as pollinators.
As adults, butterflies are able to consume liquids only by means of their proboscis. They regularly feed on nectar and sip water from damp patches. This they do for water, for energy from sugars in nectar and for sodium and other minerals which are vital for their reproduction.
Several species of butterflies need more sodium than provided by the nectar they drink from flowers. As such, they are attracted to the sodium in salt As human sweat contains significant quantities of salt, they sometimes land on people.
Besides damp patches, some butterflies also visit dung, rotting fruit or carcasses to obtain the essential minerals that they need.
Butterflies sense the air for scents, wind and nectar using their antennae. The antennae come in various shapes and colours. The hesperids have a pointed angle or hook to the antennae.
Some butterflies, such as the Monarch butterfly, are migratory
General Care
Butterfly Diet
Butterfly caterpillars are very specific with their diet. They will eat only one family or one type of plant.
For example, Monarch caterpillars will eat only Milkweed. If all the milkweed in the world died, all the Monarchs would die.
Only 2 or 3 eggs out of 100 laid in the wild live to be an adult. Nature is full of predators, parasitoids, and diseases.
Sufficient Food
Your first step is to obtain a sufficient amount of pesticide free host plant or artificial diet for the butterflies you plan to raise. Some species of butterflies eat a vast quantity of leaf matter while they are growing caterpillars.
Pesticide or Insecticide and Dog/Cat FLEA Control
Insecticide will kill your caterpillars. In most cases, if you have purchased a plant which has been treated with pesticide, eight weeks after it has been treated, it will be safe to use. If you purchase a plant which has been 'organically' certified, it still could be fatal to your caterpillars. BT is acceptable for use on organically grown plants. If pesticide or insecticide is sprayed in the building where your eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises, or adults are located, it may kill them also. Dog and cat flea and tick control, such as Frontline, may also kill your caterpillars. Wash your hands thoroughly before you touch their rearing container.
Start and Stay Sterile
Start with sterile containers for your eggs or caterpillars. Butterflies contract dreadful diseases. If your rearing containers have been used in the past, sterilize them even if you did not have a disease problem with your last batch of caterpillars. Washing in the dishwasher is sufficient. If your container is too large for the dishwasher, use a 10% bleach and 90% water solution to soak your container. If your container is mesh, it can be washed in the washing machine. Always, always, wash your hands before feeding or tending to your caterpillars.
Eggs Keeping
When your eggs arrive, immediately place them with the host plant. If they are on a leaf, you can simply staple or pin the leaf with eggs to the living host plant. If you are rearing them from egg in a container with cut food, add fresh tender leaves every day. Butterfly and moth eggs will dehydrate quickly in a building. Air conditioning and heaters remove humidity from the air. Although it is important to keep butterfly eggs from dehydrating, it is also important to prevent them from sitting in an airtight container. They need air. A closed container without air flow is a perfect spot for mold and bacteria to grow. When your caterpillars emerge from their eggs, watch them! Their first meal is usually their eggshell.
It is extremely important to feed hatchlings tender new leaves. Older leaves are often too tough and baby caterpillars simply die from starvation because they cannot always eat older leaves.
Caterpillars Keeping
When your caterpillars emerge from eggs or your caterpillar shipment arrives, check it immediately! DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT move your caterpillars if they are not moving their back legs (prolegs) on their own. Caterpillars molt, or crawl out of their skin, about five times before becoming a chrysalis. If you move your caterpillars while they preparing to molt or in the process of molting, they will die. Their skin never grows. As they grow, they must leave their old smaller skin. To prepare for molting, they will suddenly stop eating and sit for a while in one spot. They are preparing to molt. They will lay a silk pad and lock thier backlegs (prolegs) into the silk mat. After about a day, they will split their skin at the head and simply slowly crawl out of thier old skin. In most cases, they will then turn around and eat their old skin.
When caterpillars prepare to molt, they draw thier heads out of their head capsules. When they start to molt, their head capsule pops off. Only when caterpillars pupate will their head capsules says attached to their old skins. In the photographs below, notice the size difference between the old head capsule and the new head capsule.
It is best to place the container in which your caterpillars arrive into the rearing container you have prepared. If you must move the caterpillars, tickle their rear ends. If they move their back legs, it is safe to gently pick them up and move them. Remember, stay sterile. Wash your hands throughly before touching your rearing cage or caterpillars!
Be sure to feed them enough to prevent them from running out of food. Cannabalism is not uncommon when they are hungry. Their cut food needs to be dry yet fresh, not wet with water on the surface of the leaves. If their cut food dries out quickly, make a 'vase' for it. Wrap the cut stem of their food in wet paper towels and wrap the paper towels in foil. Presto! This keeps the cut stems fresh and is easy to clean. Simply toss in the trash. A container of water often results in caterpillars floating in the water. Water pics, used by florists are also a great method to keep stems fresh. If you use water pics, be sure to sterilize them between containers of caterpillars.
The size of the adult butterfly depends greatly upon the amount of food the caterpillar eats. If the caterpillar runs out of food often, the chrysalis and the resulting adult butterfly will be smaller than it could have been.
If mold starts to grow in their container, be sure to clean it carefully. Wet food, overcrowing, running out of food, temperature fluctuations of 15 degrees or so, and other stress factors can and usually will cause your caterpillars to succumb to disease. At the bottom of this page are photos of diseased caterpillars and other signs of trouble you may run into with your rearing. Don't dismay! Remember, these diseases come from the wild and are common in nature. Some of these diseases are purchased by farmers and gardeners for use in home gardens, crops, or forests. If your caterpillars become diseased, it doesn't mean you did something wrong. Be as careful as possible yet please do realize that disease is normal in nature.
Caterpillar droppings are called frass. When caterpillars run out of food, they will often eat frass. It is important to keep enough fresh food in thier container and to keep it clean and dry.
Pupating into a Chrysalis
After your caterpillars have eaten you out of house and home, they will wander for a while before starting to spin a silk pad for pupation. They will again lock their rear legs into the silk mat. Swallowtails and a few other species will also make a silk sling and hang in a 'C'. Monarchs, Painted Ladies, and others will hang in a 'J' shape. After a day, they will start to wiggle or move like an accordion. Their skin will again split behind their heads and they will wiggle for about three minutes. During this time, their skin will work toward thier back legs. When the skin is almost totally off, a pupating caterpillar will extend its cremaster around the skin and attach it to the silk pad. Since it is wiggling out of its old skin, it needs a new grip on the silk pad. After the cremaster is firmly attached, in most cases the old skin will fall off after more twisting and wiggling.
Learn how to tell when your caterpillar is about to pupate.
DO NOT touch the new chrysalis. The skin is so soft that a touch can cause it to rupture. After 24 hours, the chrysalis will harden enough to touch.
At this point, if you prefer, you can move the chrysalis to a different place for the butterfly to emerge. Spritz some water on the silk pad and use a small hook or pin to pull at the silk. DO NOT pull at the silk girdle on those species which pupate with the girdle. The girdle is strong enough to cut the chrysalis before breaking. Whereever you choose to reattach your chrysalis, be sure there is sufficient room below it for the butterfly to fully expand its wings. If its wings touch the bottom of a container, the wings will be crumpled or bent. If your chrysalis removes easily with silk intact, you can use a straight pin to attach it to a leaf or other object. If the silk did not remove with your chrysalis, you can use a hot glue gun to reattach it. BE CAREFUL, the glue can burn it. Allow the glue to cool enough to be comfortable to touch yet still tacky. Simply slip the same end of the chrysalis where it had attached itself into the glue. If your chrysalis is not near a living plant, be sure to spritz it with water once or twice a day. Again, heaters and air conditioning will dry out the air which also dehydrates the chrysalis, causing its death.
The day before your butterfly emerges, you can usually see the wings of the butterfly through the chrysalis skin. Never place the chrysalis in a window or direct sun. Strong sunlight can burn it. Protect your chrysalis from animals and insects. Roaches, spiders, ants, mice, squirels, and more will see a banquet when they find a chrysalis.Cats think an emerging butterfly is a fun toy.
Adult Keeping
Don't touch the freshly emerged butterfly until its wings are dried. A touch will rupture the wings and fluid will leak causing deformed wings. After its wings are dry, the butterfly will expel meconium. The color of meconium varies from species to species. Some species, like the Painted Lady, will expel reddish fluid. Others will expel a brown fluid. Meconium is the remains of its last meal. Some have incorrectly taught that the fluid is left from expanding its wings. This is not so. If you notice a freshly emerged Monarch with leaking wings, you will note that the leaking fluid is green, not brown.
It usually will not eat the first day. After the wings are hardened, about two hours, it is safe to move your butterfly. The best way to handle a butterfly is to grasp its wings as if the wings were a cigarette, between two fingers. If you grasp it between your finger and thumb, you will not hurt it. You will, however, tend to remove some of the scales where your finger and thumb meet even though you are not touching the inside of the wings. Butterflies can fly without wing scales. In fact, some species never have scales!
Clearwing butterflies are exactly that, clear wings without scales. The good news is that butterflies can fly with tattered and broken wings. If they could not, they would be lunch for various critters instead of flying away and leaving only a portion of their wings in disappointed mouths or beaks.
Feeding Adult Butterflies
Adult butterflies eat several things in the wild. These 'food' items include flower nectar,decaying fruit, tree sap, animal manure, and decaying animals. But in a conatined area these items are not always available or appropriate!
Gatorade is a great alternative to flower nectar. A piece of paper towel with Gatorade and a bit of banana, apple, watermelon, or other fruit provides a tasty lunch.
If your butterfly is over 24 hours old and won't eat, pick it up and place it on the food. If it still does not eat you can use a toothpick to gently uncurl its proboscis and lower it to touch its food. In most cases, the butterfly will start to drink and will continue to drink for several minutes.
