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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: June 25 2008 at 6:44am | IP Logged
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OK, don't laugh at my enormous ignorance about this  , please, but I am planning on doing one of these next school year. What is the best time of year for me to schedule this, living in a 4 season weather type state? I don't want to release butterflies to certain death... 
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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Sarah M
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Books- our butterflies are currently in chrysalides (cocoons)- we'll release them next week, after they emerge. We always have great success with butterflies from Insect Lore. The kids love it.
I believe that in order for butterflies to survive when you release them, temperatures need to be no lower than 55 degrees. I don't live in a 4-season-type-of-state. I'm near Seattle, so we have rainy, rainy, rainy, and not-so-rainy. Summer's the only good option here. I'll let someone else pipe in on seasonal rec's for you. Just keep in mind the 55 degree rule.
Good luck with it- butterflies are oh-so-fun! 
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Cheryl
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We're doing a garden here too. I ordered it in the spring to release them when temps were above 55 as Sarah said. They ended up taking a long time to ship, so we'll be releasing them in the summer. (At least I hope we'll be releasing THEM. My dd 2 took the garden off of our kitchen island and sat on it. So far one healthy butterfly has emerged, one is halfway out and I don't know if the others will make it.)
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Cheryl
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Bookswithtea
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Can this be done in late April/May, or is it going to be a summer only thing? We are usually above 55 by May, and I hate the idea of having to keep up with schoolwork after the second week of May (we take summers completely off from school).
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Mackfam
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Books - We've ordered caterpillars from Insect Lore and ummmm.... lovingly removed chrysalids from the fennel bush, butterfly bush, etc and brought them in to observe and emerge indoors.
We really enjoyed watching those little caterpillars eat and eat and poop and poop.
I thought I remembered that Insect Lore only shipped at certain times of the year to ensure the best rate of survival, but I just took a look at their website and can't find anything to that effect. ??? Maybe because the contiguous US is already warm enough for it not to be an issue when shipping live caterpillars??
I know you receive a Painted Lady caterpillar from Insect Lore, but we really loved reading The Travels of Monarch X when we had our butterflies. It is a neat story based on the actual travels of one Monarch butterfly. It's impressive!
Have fun with the butterflies.
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MaryM
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I don't know what species of butterfly you are looking to raise (assume it will be Painted Lady or Monarch), but you could check for approximate dates those butterflies start appearing in your area. Once they are arriving there naturally through migration you could consider it safe. There is a map here of Monarch migration with approximate times of first sightings. Couldn't find a simialr on for Painted Lady but know they general come late spring.
Check out the plants in your region that are host plants for your species of butterfly. The time of year when those are first present and the temps are over 55 like they suggest, you should be fine. I think in most climates May would be fine.
Painted Lady host plants: thistle, hollyhock, fiddleneck & malva
Monarch host plants: milkweed
If you raise monarchs (or even if you raised Painted Ladies) following the Journey North Monarch Migration would be something exciting to do along with it.
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: June 26 2008 at 7:14am | IP Logged
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You all are amazing. Have you found that its about a 3 week process for the development of the butterfly, like Insect Lore says?
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Blessings,
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Sarah M
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About 3 weeks is right on. We got ours on a Saturday, they all transformed into chrysalides the following weekend, and we're now waiting for them to emerge- but last time the whole process took about 3-4 weeks. Another thought- I think Insect Lore is pretty open to shipping caterpillers in the contiguous US almost any time of year, but if the temps outside are not over 55, then you have to keep the butterflies indoors for their entire life span (about 2-3 weeks, although we did have one with a broken wing once that we cared for and it lived for 8 weeks!). I don't like the idea of keeping them indoors for their entire life, or for my littles to watch their butterflies die, but if weather became an issue, and you wanted to do butterflies when it wasn't warm enough, it is an option you can consider.
One more thought- we have done the ants and also the ladybugs from Insect Lore. They both worked beautifully- I really think Insect Lore does a great job of shipping/packaging/providing help for the insect studies. We may get brave one of these days and try the tadpoles.
If you are into lapbooking, Homeschool Share has a free lapbook on butterflies here.
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: butterfly garden question
