Since we started our butterfly house I have kept count of how many butterflies we have raised, including what species. The month of May was a huge success, as we raised and released three different species amounting to 66 total butterflies: 51 monarch butterflies (to-date total 150), 14 gulf fritillary butterflies (to-date total 17) and one giant swallowtail (to-date total 2).
It is both easy and gratifying to raise butterflies within an enclosure. I started off with a mesh enclosure, before changing it to a wooden butterfly house that my husband built. All you need is the caterpillar’s host plant, and a lot of it, so it can go through all of its instars. I added some sticks within our enclosure, so the caterpillars can use it for its chrysalis, or sometimes an area to rest, or molt. Just beware that not all caterpillars make it to that final stage, or hatch if they do make a chrysalis. Sometimes nature takes its course.
A few of my favorite photos from May of the butterflies that we raised.
