How to Raise Caterpillars to Butterflies

Search gardens and woods for caterpillars from the middle to late summer. Check the bottoms of leaves and under foliage, as they like to hide while feeding. Watch for them on the ground, where they spend the day if they are night-time feeders. Capture the caterpillars by knocking them into a butterfly net when you find them in trees or shrubs. Identify the caterpillar to determine its preferred host plant.

Prepare a home for your caterpillars. Use a clean aquarium or large fruit jar to house them. Use a fine mesh wire for the lid or poke lots of holes in a sheet of aluminum foil to use as a cover. Line the bottom of the container with paper towels, as the primary activities of caterpillars are eating and defecating. Stand up some sturdy sticks in the cage to support their pupae.

Use an illustrated field guide to identify the various butterfly species in their mature and caterpillar stages. Match up the caterpillar with its preferred food source and favorable temperature range.

Place the caterpillars' home out of direct sunlight. Feed the caterpillars a steady diet of their favorite fresh leaves. Give them fresh leaves every few days or when the leaves in their home start to dry out. Leave the foliage attached to the stems so it will last longer. Put the new food supply in the cage and wait for the caterpillars to eat it before you remove the picked-clean branches and twigs.

Remove the caterpillars from their home and clean it regularly. Remove all the excrement, called frass, before it molds. Rinse out and dry their container before returning the caterpillars. Keep the caterpillars well-fed until they crawl toward the top of their cage to enter the transformational pupal stage by forming a protective covering around themselves called a chrysalis. Using water mister, the pupae over the winter as they metamorphose into butterflies.

Remove the pupae from their container, leaving them attached to their sticks. Do this in the spring before the butterflies emerge from their chrysalises. Hang or staple the sticks where the emerging butterflies will have plenty of room to stretch their wings. Keep a close eye on the chrysalis, when it turns dark or becomes transparent, the butterfly will soon emerge.