Back to Milkweed Farm Home Milkweed Seed Catalog
Well, obviously the first thing you'll need is a place to keep your butterflies. If you have lots of money, the easiest thing to do is just buy a large reptile cage. The kind with mesh walls works nicely.
If you're on a tighter budget, you can build it yourself. In order to get the butterflies to mate with each other, the cage must be large enough to allow free flight. We recommend that it be at least 3' x 3' x 3'. The easiest design is to just build a square frame with 2x2's and then stretch fiberglass window screen around it.
Don't cover the top of the cage with screen. This will encourage the butterflies to just hang there upside down all day! They mate more if they are forced to fly around. We recommend clear plexiglass for the top, which also allows in lots of light.
Monarchs need lots of light, or they won't breed. We recommend that you place at least four 48'' full-spectrum flourescent bulbs right on top of the cage. Put them on a timer so that the butterflies get about 17 hours of light each day.
Monarchs need appropriate temperature, or they won't breed (I know, I know, this is starting to sound difficult). Make sure the temperature in the cage during the "lighted" hours stays between 70 and 85° F.
Monarch butterflies need to eat. In nature, they drink nectar from flowers. We've found two easy substitutes for this. You can use apple juice or, alternatively, you can buy hummingbird feeder nectar at any pet store, or at Walmart.
Feeding is easy. Just put a small sponge in a small saucer and pour the liquid on it. Be sure to change the food every day, since it will ferment quite rapidly. If your butterflies are particularly stupid and can't figure out where the food is, just hold the butterfly with its wings together and hold it with its feet touching the wet sponge for several seconds. It should unroll its tongue and start chowing.
Monarchs will ONLY lay eggs on milkweed. Be sure to keep a couple of milkweed plants in the cage for the females to lay their eggs on. The eggs will hatch in about 4 days.
There are many parasites and diseases that can affect monarch butterflies. We are not experts in this area, but the folks at Monarch Watch are. Their website is a great source for up-to-date information on monarch care. http://www.monarchwatch.org .