Instead of 'goop', Painted Lady caterpillars normally eat plants! Many teachers, children, and others of us who enjoy butterflies have raised Painted Lady butterflies on artificial diet. It's a healthy and wonderful way to enjoy the miracle of metamorphosis when we don't have plants to feed the little hungry rascals.

There are many types of artificial diets for Painted Lady caterpillars. We use Stonefly diet when we're not using leaves for their food.

Raising caterpillars on plants requires a different type of container than we use with artificial diet. When rearing caterpillars on artificial diet, a small closed plastic container with a limited amount of airflow is necessary to prevent the artificial diet from dehydrating and becoming inedible.
When raising caterpillars on leaves or plants, you can use many different rearing containers. From home-made to expensive rearing containers, there are many options for their temporary home. A cardboard box with a hole cut in the lid or side and sheer material or net glued or taped over the hole makes a great rearing container. A rearing container needs to have air flow and good visability. Then just feed, watch, and enjoy!

Hatching from its egg, this caterpillar takes off to eat. It's diet can include more host plants than any other butterfly larva.

It not only can eat plants, it also eats artificial diet, goop that resembles peanut butter cookie dough.

Years of research has developed many recipes for artificial diet (called A D) for this species of butterfly.

Eggs and caterpillars as well as two of thier host plants are available now. You can order them from our website, call in an order 877-485-2458, or email edith@buyabutterfly.com.

Get a jump-start on spring with these fun butterflies.

Butterfly caterpillars are raised in cups, boxes, sleeves, and many other containers. The limit to the types of containers used for caterpillars is limited by our imagination than anything else.

We use two types of containers at the farm; a modified plastic storage tote and this screened rearing container.

No, the boys just were playing in them, we don't keep them in there!

Easy to clean, we fold these containers back into their compact size and wash them with a bit of bleach in the washer set on hand wash. Because nature has so many diseases for caterpillars, sterilizing containers after they are used can be essential for healthy butterflies and moths!

These 'hairy' things under my microscope surprised me when I saw them even though I knew what they were. I just didn't expect them to look like THIS under the microscope. What are they?

Not many butterfly gardeners live in the US where they are found.
When we grew these butterflies a couple of years ago, all the chrysalises hung by their silk girdle and not by a cremaster.

If you are in Florida and have an interest in raising these for fun, be sure to buy the right plant. They're in the most southern part of Florida. If we are able to produce some caterpillars this year, we will offer them through our newsletters, so purchase a potted plant to place them on to feed.

These are one reason farmers spray their crops. They aren't European or Cabbage White butterflies but they resemble them and eat mustard, pepper weed, and other plants in the mustard family

Thanks so much! Edith and Stephen (and Ester & Michelle)