How to feed a peacock butterfly at home. Feeding and care. What do butterflies eat at home

Charming, colorful butterflies make the world so much more beautiful, don't you think? Following their life cycle, you seem to be immersed in a magical atmosphere, which is why schools often conduct experiments on growing butterflies from caterpillars. Start feeding the little caterpillars lots of leaves and taking care of the pupae they make to protect themselves during their transformation into butterflies. When young butterflies emerge a few months later, they will need plenty of room to spread their wings and learn to fly. And, finally, adult butterflies can be released to enjoy the sun, fresh air and flowers. To learn how to grow, feed and provide first aid to butterflies, read on.

Steps

Part 1

Start with baby caterpillars. If you are growing caterpillars for the first time, you can start with a caterpillar kit. You can order a set online and choose from many types of butterflies. This kit contains everything you need to grow butterflies from caterpillars. If you want, you can instead find caterpillars in the neighborhood and provide them with everything they need to become healthy butterflies. It's a bit more difficult since you'll have to find food for them every day, but you'll have to learn a lot about the species in your area.

Keep the caterpillars in a 4 liter container covered with cheesecloth. From it, the caterpillars will not be able to crawl out and crawl away, but at the same time, it will provide them with a safe environment with holes for ventilation. You can attach the cheesecloth to the neck of the container with a rubber band to keep it in place. If you ordered a track kit, it will come with a container and a lid with ventilation holes.

• Do not put more than 2 or 3 caterpillars in one container. If they become butterflies, they will need ample space when they hatch from their pupae.
• The caterpillar tank should be cleaned every day, as the caterpillars release a lot of liquid. If you leave the liquid in the container, mold can grow, which is dangerous for the caterpillars. Line the container with paper towels - you can easily change them, which will make cleaning easier for you.
• Place long sticks in the container so that the caterpillars have something to crawl on. When you change paper napkins, be very careful not to hit the caterpillars. Wait for them to climb onto the sticks, then carefully lift them up as you change the paper. It would be very useful to have another container lined with paper so that you can simply change them back and forth.

1. Feed your caterpillars fresh leaves every day. This is not necessary if you are using a kit that comes with caterpillar food, but caterpillars you find in the woods will need fresh leaves every day. They are picky eaters and will only take the leaves of their host plant as food. Remember what kind of plant you found your caterpillars on and feed them fresh leaves with that in mind.

Part 2

Take care of the dolls. A chrysalis is a caterpillar that has entered the pupal phase; the phase in which it goes through the metamorphosis phase and becomes a butterfly. Usually the pupae are attached to a stick, as the butterfly must hang when it hatches. During this phase, you must keep the environment in the container clean and moist so that the pupae do not dry out. Use a spray bottle from time to time to spray the liquid inside the container.

• The pupal phase lasts several months and during this time you will not notice much change, but you can rest assured that the pupa is alive and will eventually hatch. If you caught a caterpillar in the fall, it should hatch by spring.

1. Make sure they are positioned correctly. If the pupae are not attached to a stick, or are hanging where the butterflies cannot spread their wings, you will need to move them to a better location. If the butterflies hatch too close to the bottom of the container, or in a tight spot where they can't hang and spread their wings, their wings will be malformed and they won't be able to fly.

   • If the doll is hanging from a stick that is too close to the bottom of the container, you can simply move the stick around to make it more comfortable. You can also tie the bottom of the stick to another stick to make it longer if needed. The pupa should be located closer to the top of the container, hanging from the bottom of the stick.
   • If the chrysalis is attached to the bottom of the container, you will need to attach it to a stick. Use a dab of slightly chilled hot glue to glue one end of the chrysalis to the bottom of the stick, then move the stick to a convenient location.

2. Watch as the butterflies hatch. After a few months, the pupae will become darker or lighter, a sign that it is time for the young butterflies to hatch. They only need a few seconds to hatch and begin spreading their wings. They will hang from the bottom of the stick and slowly wiggle their wings, giving them time to harden. We repeat that if they do not have enough space for this crucial process, their wings will never fully develop and they will not be able to fly.

   • When it seems to you that the butterflies are about to hatch, be sure to make sure that the environment inside the container is clean and moist.
   • If the butterfly falls to the bottom of the container - do not be alarmed! She must climb the stick herself and find a comfortable place to hang.

Part 3

1. Release the butterflies when they fly. When they start fluttering within the tank, it's time! Take the container outside and place it near their host plant. Open the container and release the butterflies into the wild. Enjoy contributing to the local ecosystem by helping the butterfly population to thrive.

   • Butterflies will have a better chance of surviving if you let them go free, rather than keep them locked up. If it's cold outside or you just want to watch them for a couple of days, then you can leave them for a while. Plant them in a very large container with a few sticks and feed them with a sugar solution - this is summarized in the next paragraph.

2. Feed the butterflies sugar solution. If you want to feed the butterflies because you can’t let them go in such a cold or you are interested in seeing how they eat, you can put a small sponge soaked in a solution of sugar and water (1 to 4) in a container. Butterflies will sit in the water with sugar and taste it with their paws.

   • Do not expose a bowl of sugar water outside or make a puddle, as the butterflies can get covered in it and become sticky as a result, making it difficult for them to fly.
   • You can also feed them sports drinks or juice instead of sugar water.

3. Save sick butterflies. If you see a butterfly that is slowly moving or stumbling, or has a broken wing, you can take action to save it! Always remember to handle the butterfly carefully if you try to give it one of these types of first aid:

   Set up a butterfly garden if you want to care for butterflies for a long time. If you decide to create a butterfly paradise in your garden, then this dilemma can be resolved by setting up a garden full of butterfly host plants and other plants that attract butterflies. Consider planting the following types of plants (and many more) to keep butterflies happy and healthy in your area.

So, you were presented with a butterfly, or you yourself decided to decorate your house with this unusual, but luxurious pet. The life expectancy of butterflies depends on the breed: there are butterflies that cannot withstand home keeping for even three days, and there are specimens that not only live for several weeks, but also successfully bred in captivity.

How to feed and keep butterflies? How to care for a butterfly? What do butterflies eat at home in winter and summer, and how to understand that they feel good? All these questions can be easily answered on the respective websites. Indoor butterflies do not require special care. The most important thing is to provide conditions more or less corresponding to their natural ones. For example, you should not expect night butterflies to flutter during the day; in natural conditions, they wake up in the evening, and, accordingly, will also behave at home.

Many domestic butterflies - for example, or are tropical inhabitants, which means that in the insectarium - the butterfly house should be warm - not lower than 22–25 ° C, and humid. Humidity in the insectarium is achieved by placing moistened sponges there, which must be covered with nets. The sponges must not be allowed to turn sour - they must be changed at least twice per knock. With a free content, you need to humidify the air: at least five times a day at a distance not closer than 25 cm from the butterfly, without directing the flow of water at it, you need to spray (two or three clicks) warm clean water from a spray bottle.

Of course, it is desirable to know in advance what butterflies eat in captivity. Proper and sufficient nutrition is the second most important factor in care, which will help to significantly extend the life of a winged pet. How and how to feed butterflies in winter at home? Butterflies should be offered food at least twice a day. It can be honey nectar (1 part) and boiled water (10 parts). You can dilute fruit baby food in the same ratio, for example, apricot or peach, pear puree and water. Ready nectar is poured into a small container, for example, a plastic bottle cap.

In summer, the question of how to feed a butterfly at home is much easier to solve. Slightly rotten fruits are treats for butterflies. The soft, brown pulp of a spoiled banana, apple, orange, the pulp of a watermelon that has darkened on the cut should be taken as far as possible from the edges and from the peel - insect repellents accumulate there, which are sprayed on the fruit during the ripening process.

At one time, you need to cook one serving of the food that the butterfly eats, preventing it from fermenting. Force-feeding, "dipping" the head into the nectar, is not necessary. If the butterfly "does not see" the food, then you need to either carefully catch it and move it to the feeder, slightly lowering the proboscis into the nectar, or bring a drop of nectar to it on a toothpick. If the butterfly is hungry, it will unfold its proboscis and eat.

Having sated, the butterfly can fly away from the feeder or stay next to it. Let the food rest for another half an hour, perhaps the butterfly will return after a short rest.

In the section on the question of How and how to feed an ordinary butterfly in winter at home, asked by the author Osokor the best answer is Butterflies need to be fed once a day. To do this, prepare "nectar" - pour 2 teaspoons of room temperature water into a cork from under mineral water, add sugar (or honey) about 1/5 teaspoon and mix thoroughly. Take a butterfly with folded wings by the breast with your fingers and plant it next to the cork. A hungry butterfly begins to drink quickly, but if it turns its proboscis and tries to escape from your hands, it means that it does not want to eat. Taste buds are located at the ends of the front legs of a butterfly: sometimes, in order for it to actively search for food, it is enough for it to touch the nectar with its front paw. If the butterfly has not unfolded its proboscis, you can try to carefully unfold it with a toothpick or a sharpened match and dip it into a drop of nectar. Some butterflies readily eat rotten fruit, banana or mango is best, but melon, orange, watermelon, and apple or other juicy fruits are also suitable. Peel them (use only the center), as many fruits are sprayed with insecticides and other chemicals for better storage. Mix the rotten pulp of the fruit with the "nectar" prepared in advance, and offer this mixture to the butterfly. Keep the butterfly during feeding should not be. When feeding, you can see how expressively the proboscis of a butterfly moves. The larger the butterfly, the more noticeable the movements of the proboscis. Feeding takes from 2 to 15 minutes. When the butterfly satisfies its hunger, it flies away from the feeder. Immediately after birth from a chrysalis, butterflies do not eat for about a day, so it is not necessary to force it. Some types of butterflies do not eat at all, due to the lack of a proboscis. Butterfly lives off the energy accumulated by the caterpillar
Live butterflies should be out of the reach of small children and animals!

Answer from 22 answers[guru]

Hey! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: How and how to feed an ordinary butterfly in winter at home

Answer from Ksyusha Rusinova[active]
I grew a butterfly from a caterpillar at home. She then turned into a butterfly for me ... In general, you can feed an orange, an apple, you can try, if you don’t want it, then nectar from a flower. You can also do this, from 100 percent, about 10 or 15 percent of honey and all the rest percent of water. You stir this honey with water for a long time and you get sweet water. Butterflies love this water.

Answer from chevron[newbie]
you can try vodka with honey or some water with sugar

Answer from sketch[newbie]
cut an apple or orange tangerine, water with sugar or honey,

Butterflies need to be fed once a day, preferably during daylight hours. To do this, prepare "nectar" - pour 25 - 30 ml of boiled water into a regular cup, add half a teaspoon of honey or half a teaspoon of sugar. Mix thoroughly. Pour the "nectar" into a saucer or a plastic cap from a mineral water after washing it. Larger butterflies prefer thicker, sweeter mixtures of water, honey, and sugar. Take a butterfly with wings folded up, fingers at the base of the wings and plant next to the saucer.

The hungry butterfly itself immediately unwinds its proboscis, lowers it into the nectar and begins to drink. But if she folds her proboscis and tries to escape from her hands, then she is not hungry. In addition to the proboscis, the butterfly also has taste buds on the tips of the front legs: sometimes, in order for it to actively search for food, it is enough for it to touch the nectar with its front paw. If the butterfly has not unfolded its proboscis, you can try to gently unfold it with a toothpick and dip the edge into the nectar. Some butterflies readily eat rotten fruit, banana or mango is best, but melon, orange, watermelon, apple, or other juicy fruits are also suitable. Keep the butterfly during feeding should not be. When feeding, you can see how expressively her proboscis moves. The larger the butterfly, the more noticeable the movements of the proboscis. Feeding takes 2 - 15 minutes.

For butterflies, conditions of detention are extremely important - temperature and light, which affect their activity. For a successful solemn release of live tropical butterflies, the following factors must be taken into account: for active flight, butterflies need an air temperature of +22 - 28 degrees, the warmer and lighter it is in the room, the more active the butterflies will be.

The biggest problem for tropical butterflies in the conditions of our apartments and houses is low air humidity, from which their wingtips can dry out very quickly and break off. The butterfly will live better and longer in humid conditions - during the day it can sometimes be sprayed from a spray bottle for watering flowers from a distance of 40-50 cm, and at night 3-4 pieces of wet cotton wool should be put on the bottom of the box where it will spend the night and tightly closed with a lid ( Butterflies need very little air to breathe.).

The butterfly should be kept away from chemicals, detergents, solvents, fuels and lubricants, and should not be allowed to be picked up by small children and pets. Basically, the butterfly sits comfortably on the curtains and occasionally flies, mainly to the light source.

Tropical butterflies should not be released outside, as our natural conditions are completely unsuitable for them to live.

How to feed butterflies

Butterflies feed on sugar syrup, juicy citrus fruits or crushed bananas. Butterflies need to be fed once a day. The easiest way to feed a butterfly is to make sugar syrup for it.

1. Mix one to two teaspoons in a glass of warm water and pour a small amount onto any surface or saucer.
2. Take the butterfly as shown in the picture and place the front paws on the treat.
3. If the butterfly has not spread its proboscis, take a toothpick and straighten it yourself so that it touches the food. If the proboscis remains in the food - the butterfly eats, if the proboscis is curled up - then the butterfly is not hungry and can be fed later.

How to care for tropical butterflies at home

The butterfly must be sprayed with water 2-5 times a day. Just make two or three puffs from a spray bottle over a butterfly from a distance of 20-30 centimeters. This will prevent the wings from drying out.

At night, put the butterfly in a box (for example, the size of a shoe box), in which put a piece of damp cotton wool or buy a butterfly house in our store.

General information

1. You can take a butterfly only by the body at the base of the wings;
2. The butterfly is active at temperatures above 20 degrees
3. You can release a butterfly to fly around the apartment. Butterflies love to sit on curtains;
4. Butterflies, like many insects, fly towards the light. If the butterfly flew into the chandelier, just turn off the light and take out the butterfly;
5. It is more convenient to feed a butterfly in a chilled room;
6. Butterflies live from a couple of days to a couple of weeks.

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