Introduction || How to raise butterfly
How to Raise ButterflyHow to raise butterfly. Unlike beginners, the serious collectors rarely catch butterflies with a lift net. Butterflies are collected in wild environment only when there is no possibility to raise them or when nobody saw them yet. More experienced collectors and scientists try to raise butterflies from caterpillar or even from ova. The perfect specimen can be obtained only with the indicated method. Additionally, it is useful for an observation of insect development. Raising caterpillars collected in wild environment, scientists may frequently discover flies and wasps which are parasitizing on the caterpillars of that butterfly species. Therefore, even if a caterpillar successfully pupated, you could get some tens of flies or wasps instead of butterfly. How to feed? Where to raise? How not to spoil butterfly appearing from pupa? Look for CaterpillarsYou, most likely, will find big caterpillars grown and well visible. Place found caterpillars in glass jars bigger than jars for ova. Cover must be also cloth. Caterpillars and feed (leaves of plant from which you collected caterpillars) exhale much water. Therefore, caterpillars will perish without ventilation. After that, you need to watch caterpillars every day, to remove the feed remainders and excrements, and to add new feed. If small caterpillars grew up to such the size that they began to disturb each other, separate them in additional jars. If you look at the jar and find caterpillar number less than you put before or even there is nothing, check agglutinated leaves, caterpillars might spin cocoon inside these leaves. Do not wonder, your object does not die, caterpillars may be inside cocoon during some days. Trap 2 for BeginnerPut sticks in jars where pupae are. The sticks allow young butterfly coming out of pupa to climb above the jar bottom. Butterfly gets off pupa with undeveloped wings, it needs to be above the bottom in order to stretch wings. Otherwise, the wings would be left undeveloped. When you have a wintry greenhouse, in which you can cultivate various plants, there is possibility to raise butterflies in winter. Caterpillars of peacock butterfly ( Nimphalis io L.), beautiful butterfly in the South Urals, are living on nettle leaves, and they even winter. Other big and beautiful butterfly of the South Urals – European swallowtail - (Papilio machaon L.) lives on Umbelliferae (Compositae): dill, carrot leaves, etc. |
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