Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: Buying live butterfly caterpillars, 1 by tdogmom

tdogmom wrote:
Hi,
I am really bad about taking pictures of my 'set up.' :P I raise my caterpillars indoors so that they have the best chance of making it to adulthood. Here's a photo I took when I had a huge number of Monarchs last year (I have about 40 Monarch cats right now, 100 Painted Ladies, and numerous Gulf Frits). I basically put the caterpillars in these little 'bug cups' with fresh leaves which I refresh twice a day (more often when I don't work). I am fanatical about cleaning the frass and feeding so the cups are sent through the dishwasher. The bug cups are 8 or 9-ounce plastic cups with lids that have holes in the tops. I usually have a number of cats in each until they get larger (late instars) when I only have three in them. I put one square of Charmin Ultra toilet tissue over the top of the cup so that they can pupate on the tissue (or, for some butterflies who like to make the halter, I put in a broken chopstick that has been filed so there are no rough edges). I also sometimes throw in a piece of nylon netting stuff for those who like to pupate on that. I keep them all in the downstairs bathroom which is the butterfly nursery. :) This picture was taken, obviously, outdoors in front of the Asclepias curassavica plants by my teeny-tiny Butterfly Sanctuary in my backyard. :)