Butterfly Farm

Good day to all.

I plan to open a farm for breeding babohekas. That is, the entire tsykl. From egg to adult. Tell me where to start. How dolzna vygledit the farm itself, what should be the insectarium. What is the size of the room? what it feeds the caterpillars. Substitutes or only plants. What are the most popular butterflies and the easiest way to grow them? As such, there is not enough literature on the Internet.
Who has any thoughts? I myself am from Lithuania.

Eugene look at this topic, maybe something will come in handy.
http://molbiol.ru/forums/index.php?showtopic=355726&st=2350

Genadiy, I am very grateful to you for your help. In this topic, the links have already been reread far and wide.
I would very much like more scientific literature. That is, what kind of farm can be or should be. How and who to grow caterpillars. What artificial feeds can be used or only natural ones?


Dear entomologists, share your experience, experience and knowledge. I believe in human help.

It's an interesting idea

I think it's all very complicated. If they are grown on IPS, this is one thing, if on plants, then not in our climate or at very high costs. It is unlikely that you can easily do just "farm", this is a huge experience and often the secret of those who have been doing it for a long time. In all other cases, it will be "small-scale" cultivation.

What do you need to make a butterfly farm?

What do you need to make a butterfly farm?

And most importantly-why?

I'm a butterfly farmer. I grew 70 pieces of peacock's eye and ermine moth. Each species needs its own forage plant. For breeding, it is best to find and raise caterpillars, but they have an increased mortality rate, i.e. caterpillars should be protected "like the apple of your eye". If you want to find an adult female and a male, then keep in mind that wild butterflies are reluctant to mate at home!
For the maintenance and breeding itself, I needed a jar with holes in the lid. In these holes I inserted branches of a forage plant. You need a certain diameter of the hole-it should fit close to the trunk of the branch (caterpillars are very careless and easily fall into the water, drown and die). I also needed a container with a tight-fitting lid and small holes in it. Branches should not reach the height of the lid-you can crush the caterpillar by closing it, or it will escape through the hole. As a litter, I used a newspaper or a cellophane bag, but it should FIT SNUGLY to the bottom (caterpillars often clog under the litter, die there, or if it was before pupation, the pupa turns out to be deformed).
Sometimes I sprayed the leaves of the feed plant from the pulevizer, but make sure that the drops are not large and they do not fall on the eggs! During molting and pupation and the first ~10 minutes, insects are very vulnerable and soft! It is better not to touch them at these moments! Change the plant after everything is eaten.
Pupae are a different story. For them, I took a separate container and hung the pupae on lids or horizontally placed sticks located at a distance of 2-3 cm from the lid. The location of the pupae should also not be disorderly - they should not fit against the wall. Choose a container in which the butterfly can easily spread its wings without bumping into anything! In an insectarium with pupae, there should be constant humidity, because the butterfly will spread its wings only if it is wet. Also, do not freeze the pupae-it should be quite warm in the container. You also need to take into account that if a butterfly was born and fell from the pupa to the bottom, it could climb to the top and spread its wings. Cocoons should preferably be opened and checked for pupae inside
. Wild butterflies can also get sick-many of my pupae rotted, deformed, and did not regenerate. A butterfly can hatch, to put it mildly, not the most beautiful. With deformed antennae, wings, eyes, legs.
Pupae, butterflies and caterpillars must be kept separate from each other!
For butterflies, you need an insectarium, where they will be freely located-not one on one!
In butterflies, one of the most painful topics is feeding. Dilute sweet water with the proportions of 1/4 cup to 1 teaspoon of sugar and dip the cotton wool. Put a butterfly on this fleece. If it does not eat itself, then GENTLY take it by the base of the upper wings and use a needle/ toothpick to unfold its proboscis. Then dip it in cotton wool and plant a butterfly.
After reaching a certain age, the butterflies begin to mate. Do not touch either the female or the male at this time. After mating, the female will lay eggs and the life cycle will continue. Lay your eggs on a fresh forage plant and wait for the babies to hatch. When the forage plant dries, take a leaf with a clutch and transfer it to a fresh branch.

Well, I told you as much as I could, based on the experience of the peacock's eye

This post was edited by Insect88888888 - 07/08/2020 23: 49