Butterfly Projects

We've been building (and improving on) our butterfly rearing cage for decades. Many of our customers are interested in butterfly projects, are familiar with our butterfly rearing cage and many have been lucky enough to be on hand at the nursery for some metamorphosis magic . . . either caterpillars becoming chrysalides or chrysalides becoming butterflies!

With our latest improvement (a collapsible top
with a removable, Velcro trimmed net cover),
we believe the design now provides the utmost in function, simplicity and durability. Advantages to the new design
include a cover that can easily be removed for cleaning or replacement and a cage that can now be easily stored or mailed (the new design also weighs less).

Butterfly/Caterpillar Rearing Cage

Need a gift for a teacher or young naturalist? . . . Give them a Native Nurseries Butterfly/Caterpillar Rearing Cage!

A customer recently brought us a dozen or so
Monarch caterpillars. She didn't have enough
milkweed to feed them all. The picture to the left
shows their beautiful gold-trimmed chrysalides.

A couple weeks later they started emerging . . .
five the first morning! Over the next few days
we released them all to enjoy the many
blooming nectar plants in our
perennial, annual and wildflower displays.

The coffee lid technique holds cuttings and keeps
caterpillars out of the water
-cuttings are inserted through the lid
and held upright.

As you can see from the drawing
and the picture above,
the caterpillars form chrysalides in the top of the
cage. One advantage to our butterfly cage is the
entire dome top lifts off allowing for easy cleaning
and feeding without disturbing or harming
the chrysalides.

Note: this drawing is of our previous butterfly cage.
The other two drawings on this page
are of the new design.

Click here for more details.

Removable support wires and velcro trim
make the new design of the
Native Nurseries Butterfly/Caterpillar cage easier to use, store and ship.