The equipment I use for raising butterflies:

2 large enclosures
3 small enclosures
Aesclepias tuberosa "Butterfly weed" home-grown
Aesclepias syriaca "Common milkweed" home-grown
8 cups with lids that have a hole in the middle
Microscope
Miscellaneous (such as paper towels, cardboard box, etc.)

Milkweed
The summer before I began raising Monarchs, in preparation for the experiment, I planted Aesclepius syriaca (common milkweed) and Aesclepius tuberosa (butterfly weed) in my backyard.

Although I often don't actually see a Monarch butterfly in the yard, I go looking for eggs every morning. They begin to appear in May. When I find an egg or a tiny, newly-hatched caterpillar, I clip the leaf off the plant and carry it to one of my two enclosures 20 ft away.

Two Large Enclosures
One of my enclosures was actually marketed for reptiles, but it is, hands down, the best one out there for butterflies and it rapidly became my favorite. It is made of metal and has strong metal screen sides (center-right picture at top of page). I bought it at PetCo for about $50.

The other enclosure has three lightweight (not metal) mesh sides and one plastic side (I imagine this side is for viewing?). You can see it in the first picture at the top of this page. I worry about the plastic side concentrating too much heat in the enclosure, especially on very hot days. This enclosure is marketed as being specifically for butterflies, but has two drawbacks:

First, it is almost too lightweight to be functional. Twice the first week I had it, I came home to find that it was gone! Looking around in a panic, I found it had blown off the table and was lying on its side in the yard 50 feet away. I had to get a brick to put inside and anchor it down. This, of course, takes away from useable space inside.

Secondly, it opens with a long zipper that goes all the way up the side and across the top. The enclosure is so light and flimsy that when you begin to unzip it, the whole thing starts leaping around, twisting and turning with the simple force of the moving zipper. To manage this, you have to hold the enclosure down with one hand and zip or unzip with the other. This disturbs the caterpillars inside. Since caterpillars poop constantly and you want to keep your enclosures clean, you have to open and close it several times a day. Trying not to disturb its inhabitants becomes a frustrating endeavor after awhile with this enclosure.

Three Small Enclosures
Just last year, I bought three very small mesh enclosures, one to be used specifically for eggs, and the other two to quarantine any caterpillars that seem to be sick, so they can't infect the others. These three little ones are occupied most of the summer by a couple eggs or a quarantined caterpillar. They have proven to be very useful, although again I have to put a rock inside each one to hold it down.

Eight Cups with Center Hole in Lid
Another piece of equipment I use is plastic cups with lids that have holes in the middle for straws. I fill the cup with water, snap on the lid, and use the hole to poke in a leaf or stalk of milkweed. Being stuck in water helps the leaf to stay fresh and last longer. I have eight of these cups (below, left).

Microscope
I bought a microscope so I could test for OE, although I had misgivings about the "standard procedure" one is to use for testing. You are to take a newly emerged butterfly, hold it firmly with one hand and stick a piece of scotch tape against its abdomen with your other hand, thus capturing some of the cells. You can then look at the cells under a microscope and see if there are any OE bacteria present. I cannot imagine that this is a good thing to do to the fresh, soft abdomen of a newly-eclosed insect, but after debating with myself for a long time, I came down on the side of gathering data, while hoping I'm not doing too much harm.

That's pretty much it for equipment: two kinds of Aesclepius, two large enclosures, three small enclosures, eight cups, and a microscope. I also use a couple rolls of paper towels over the summer, to line the bottom of the enclosures. I learned early on that these creatures need rough surfaces to get traction. Smooth surfaces hinder their ability to get around. Paper towels work well.

BIG LESSON. A local drugstore operates a pop-up nursery in their parking lot for about a month every summer, and I was delighted to see how many native plants they had for sale, many marked as being attractive to butterflies. I bought six little tuberosa, brought them home, and since they were still small enough to fit into my enclosures and they were flowering (caterpillars love tuberosa flowers), I put two of them into an enclosure. Within 24 hours, I had five little caterpillars turn black and die. This was a huge lesson for me. Even if a plant's tag claims it is "native" or has never been exposed to pesticides, don't believe it. Don't take the chance. After this experience and those five little sad creatures that turned black, I only feed my caterpillars milkweed that I have grown in my own backyard.






Contact: MonarchsMidwest@gmail.com.Thoughts and comments welcome.