A jade green monarch chrysalis, a darkened one about to open and a newly emerged monarch butterfly hanging side by side from the rim of a basket

01

What raising butterflies involves

Egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly

A butterfly goes through four stages: egg, caterpillar (larva), chrysalis (pupa) and adult. You look after the middle two. Caterpillars eat only their own host plant, molt four or five times over about two weeks, then hang up and form a chrysalis. Seven to fourteen days later the adult emerges, pumps its wings full and needs a few hours to dry before it can fly. Most people raise a handful at a time through spring and summer, release every adult, and start again with the next eggs they find.

Molts: Four or five
As a caterpillar: About two weeks
In the chrysalis: 7 to 14 days

02

Your first batch, step by step

Tick these off as the batch grows

A monarch caterpillar with yellow, black and white stripes walking across a broad green milkweed leaf — A monarch caterpillar on milkweed

What you can raise in your first month

A cup of painted ladies

Five caterpillars from delivery to release in about three weeks, with nothing to feed until the butterflies emerge.

A photo record of one caterpillar

A picture a day at the same distance shows the molts and the size jump better than memory does.

A pot of dill or parsley

Sown from seed, it is big enough within a month to draw in egg-laying swallowtails and feed the caterpillars that follow.

A release morning

Pick a warm, dry, still day and let each butterfly climb onto a flower once its wings have hardened.

03

Which butterfly to raise first

Open one to see where to start. Each card can add that butterfly's line to the kit.

Painted LadiesThe classic first butterfly. Caterpillars are mailed in a cup with all the food they need, so there is no plant to find and no season to wait for. They are native across most of the US, which is why they are the species sold for release.

Start here

Order a cup of painted lady caterpillars with their food already in it, and set the sealed cup upright on a shelf out of direct sun the day it arrives. Check that the seller ships live caterpillars to your state before you pay.

MonarchsThe famous orange migrant, raised from eggs or small caterpillars found on milkweed, the only plant they eat. The season runs from late spring into early fall, and a growing caterpillar eats a surprising amount, so you need a steady milkweed supply and a strict cleaning habit.

Start here

Find the milkweed nearest you and turn the leaves over to look for a single cream-colored egg the size of a pinhead. Bring home two or three on their leaves, no more, and sow native milkweed so you have food for next year.

Monarch Joint Venture

SwallowtailsBlack swallowtails in the East and anise swallowtails in the West lay eggs on dill, parsley and fennel, so a pot of herbs is all the bait you need. The caterpillars are large, calm and striped. Late-summer chrysalises often wait until the following spring to open.

Start here

Sow a pot of dill and a pot of parsley on a sunny step. Black swallowtails find them on their own across the eastern and central states (anise swallowtails do the same with fennel in the West), and the striped green caterpillars are easy to spot.

Butterflies and Moths of North America

Before you raise monarchs

Project Monarch Health Free volunteer program that tests your monarchs for the OE parasite and explains how to keep it out

04

Choosing and setting up the habitat

Height

Butterflies hang below the empty chrysalis to stretch their wings. A 12 inch cube works for painted ladies. Monarchs and swallowtails need about 24 inches so there is room for cuttings standing in water and a clear drop under the roof.

Mesh

Look for fine, soft mesh. Newly hatched caterpillars are a tenth of an inch long and walk through coarse netting, and stiff mesh frays wings.

Opening

A zipper that runs down the side lets you clean the floor without disturbing anything hanging from the roof. A zipper in the top panel is the one to avoid.

Viewing panel

One clear vinyl side makes photos easier. More than one cuts airflow and lets condensation build, which invites mold.

Before every batch

Wash the habitat and any containers in one part household bleach to nine parts water, rinse until the smell is gone, and dry fully in the sun. This is the routine that keeps disease from carrying over.

A bright green swallowtail caterpillar with black bands and orange dots climbing the stem of a seed head under a blue sky — A swallowtail caterpillar on its host plant

05

How much time it takes

Plan on ten minutes a day while caterpillars are eating, plus a short walk to cut fresh leaves if you are feeding host plants. The chrysalis stage needs nothing but a daily look. The one firm commitment is being around on the day a butterfly emerges, because it should be released within a day or two. Butterflies usually emerge in the morning, so a habitat you pass at breakfast is in the right spot.

An orange and black butterfly pushing head first out of a split, papery chrysalis that hangs under a leaf against a blue sky — Emergence day

Caterpillars eating: Ten minutes a day
Chrysalis stage: A daily look
Emergence day: Be around

06

Rules and responsible release

Shipping is regulated.

The USDA controls moving live butterflies across state lines, and approves only certain species for certain states. Reputable sellers will not ship where it is not allowed. Hawaii does not allow live butterfly shipments from the mainland.

Release only what belongs where you live.

Butterflies found locally go back where you found them. Never release a species that does not occur in your area, and never release butterflies bought from another country.

Monarchs have extra rules.

California requires a state permit to handle wild monarchs, and the monarch has been proposed for federal listing as a threatened species, so check current US Fish and Wildlife Service and state guidance before you collect any.

Keep it small.

Conservation groups ask hobbyists to raise a few monarchs at a time from local wild eggs, kept individually and outdoors or by an open window, and not to buy or breed them. Crowded rearing spreads a parasite called OE that weakens the butterflies you release.

Do not release a sick butterfly.

One that emerges with crumpled wings or cannot fly after a day will not survive outdoors. It can live out its two to four weeks in the habitat on fruit and flowers.

A black swallowtail butterfly with open wings resting on an outstretched hand in a sunny backyard — A black swallowtail, wings dry

Who sets the rules

07

What trips beginners up

Losses are normal.

In the wild fewer than one egg in ten reaches adulthood. Indoors the odds are far better, but some caterpillars still die, often from parasitic flies or wasps that got to them before you did.

Pesticide on plants.

Nursery plants and store-bought herbs are often treated with insecticides that stay in the leaves for months. Feed only leaves you grew from seed or collected from an unsprayed spot.

Too many at once.

Twenty caterpillars eat faster than you can cut leaves and foul a habitat in a day. Five is plenty for a first batch.

Helping too much.

A caterpillar that sits still for a day is molting, not dying, and a butterfly struggling out of its chrysalis should not be pulled free. Hands off is nearly always right.

Drowning.

Small caterpillars walk down stems into open water. Cuttings go in capped tubes or a jar with the mouth plugged, never an open glass.

A fallen chrysalis is not lost.

Lay it on a paper towel at the foot of a mesh wall, or tie a thread around the black stem at its top and hang it from the roof.

08

Where to learn more

University-run monarch programs publish the most reliable free rearing instructions, and their advice on cleaning and crowding applies to every species. A species database with range maps tells you which butterflies and host plants occur in your county, a photo identification app sorts out the caterpillars you find, and a local butterfly club is the fastest way to learn where the milkweed and the swallowtails are.

Free places to learn and identify

09

How the kit is put together

The habitat is the only thing every route needs, and it lasts for years. After that the cost depends on the butterfly. Painted ladies mean buying caterpillars each time. Monarchs and swallowtails cost a packet of seed, since the caterpillars come from your own plants or a nearby patch. Pick your butterfly below and the kit adds that route's line. The capped water tubes keep cuttings and nectar flowers fresh, and the book earns its place the first time something happens that the steps above do not cover. Many boxed butterfly kits bundle a small habitat with a caterpillar voucher, which is fine, but buying the habitat separately lets you choose one tall enough for any species.

A painted lady butterfly with open orange, black and white-spotted wings resting on a pink flower — A painted lady on a garden flower

10

Set up the habitat

Compare the options on each line, then set your tiers and check out from the cart. Clicking a card selects it there, and clicking the selected card again takes that line out. The three butterfly lines stay out of the kit until you switch that butterfly on.

Mesh butterfly habitat

essential · Core equipment

Keeps caterpillars in and predators out while letting air through, and gives chrysalises a roof to hang from and butterflies room to dry their wings.

budget

Foldable Butterfly Habitat, 24" Butterfly Cage for Caterpillars, Create Farm, Enclosure for Breeding Soldier Fly, Ladybug, Dragonfly, or Housefly for Chicken and Reptile Feed, Green

4.4(433)

$9.95

Butterfly Raising

What raising butterflies involves

Your first batch, step by step

Which butterfly to raise first

Choosing and setting up the habitat

How much time it takes

Rules and responsible release

What trips beginners up

Where to learn more

How the kit is put together

Set up the habitat

Mesh butterfly habitat

Floral water tubes

Butterfly raising guide book

Live painted lady caterpillars

Native milkweed seeds

Dill, parsley and fennel seeds

Handheld magnifying glass