Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey my name is steve and i'm new to the forum. as of now i am currently keeping snakes. but i was always interested in butterflies for some strange reason ( sounds weird coming from a guy who keeps snakes ).

i wanna get some catepillers and grow them into butterflies and eventually keep the butterflies.

what i need is someone to helo me where i can find catepillars and tell me how to care for them and then how to care for them when they are butterflies.

i'm kinda looking for a catepillar that will grow into a butterfliy like the one on the top of the page ( the blue one ).

if anyone can help me i thank you in advance. also please e-mail me at wackadue2@aol.com or im me at wackadue2.

thanks
steve

Good luck on that one. That is a Morpho butterfly and while some species are being reared on butterfly farms in South and Central America, I have had absolutely no luck [so far] finding anyone in the US rearing Morphos. The Morpho caterpillars are also very beautiful.

Also, keep in mind that butterflies do not live long and supplying them with nectar you would need a very large indoor or outdoor setup with live, healthy plants/flowers (appropriate to mouthpart). As caterpillars you will need to provide the host plant that the species requirtes and this varies species to species.

As for getting any, monarchs & swallowtails are bou the only ones found readily b/c they are marketed to teachers and nature centers. As prairiedamncer pointed out the large beautiful exotics are harder to come by and providing the host plant to the larvae might be impossible. Do your research first (just as you did when you got your snakes For a start on info I would suggest getting "The Family Butterfly Book" by Rick Mikula. It is inexpensive and will get you going.

hope this helps!

lele