Current EGGS and LARVAE
If you are a beginner and need information on rearing from small caterpillars, or hatching out pupae, please order the All Colour Paperback BUTTERFLIES. INSTRUCTIONS ARE NOT SENT WITH EACH SPECIES, you need to acquire basic skills and this book is a simple way of doing so.
Osier Willow cuttings Salix viminalis
Years ago we planted a stick that was floating down a river in Wiltshire. That was in 1954! It grew – rapidly – producing a wealth of leaves. We tried it as a foodplant and discovered that not only did British species do well on it, but exotic silkmoth larvae as well.
This stick was the daddy of hosts of willow thickets that we have established in Dorset,
Osier is Basket Willow, the flexible essential for basket weaving. It makes a wonderful woven hedge. It can form living sculptures. Winter or summer, Osier makes wonderful screens and windbreaks. Cover for wildlife and game. Osier is grown as a crop for energy production. In short it is a blessing to the environment, and very pleasant on the eye in landscaping schemes.
We are offering a bunch of 10 cuttings for you to try not only as probably the most universal foodplant for larvae, but a great addition to your garden and grounds.
Probably the easiest cuttings to strike and grow. You simply push them into the ground, during autumn or spring. Leaves will appear within the first fortnight if planted in spring, roots quickly follow. In the first year they will more than double in size. Next year, in normal drought free conditions, you will have a metre or more of growth and lots of foodplant. You may even be able to feed some in the first year.
You can store cuttings before planting, either in a polythene bag in the fridge, or standing in water. In water they often start to root. It is advisable to plant them before the roots actually burst out of the bark.
This plant is a complete success story – try it now while it is available.
Clouded Yellow Butterfly Colias crocea Larvae
A great favourite with entomologists and easy to rear on potted Clover. The larvae grow fast and will produce butterflies very quickly, particularly in warm conditions.
Pale Clouded Yellow Colias hyale
This rare migrant butterfly arrives in southern
Feed the larvae on Lucerne, Clovers, Trefoils and Vetches.
New Clouded Yellow Colias australis TEN LARVAE
Almost indistinguishable from the Pale Clouded Yellow hyale. This species was not recognised until 1947 when a Belgian entomologist, M. Berger, found that the larvae not only fed on Horseshoe Vetch Hippocrepis, but are totally different in appearance, having a brilliantly coloured pattern in black, yellow and green. Larvae will produce butterflies again this season. They will also feed on Crown Vetch Coronilla.
Please note the specialised foodplant: order only if you have it. This species is not suitable for classroom study.
Short-tailed Blue Everes argiades 10 larvae
Larvae supplied in spring after hibernation. Feed on potted Clovers, Vetches or Trefoils. Cover with netting for protection and to keep the larvae from wandering. In spring the larvae finish their development and pupate. Further generations are produced during the summer. It is a long time since we could offer Short-tailed Blue larvae, don't miss this opportunity.
Five Painted Lady larvae in Total Environment Pot
The five Painted Lady caterpillars live their whole life inside the see-through pot which contains all they need from birth to pupating. You need add no food. You don’t even clean them out and they look after themselves over weekends!
The larvae grow quite quickly in summer indoor conditions (never keep them in direct sunshine). The container is easily passed round a group without disturbance to the larvae.
During skin change the larvae do not move or eat This may last a day or two.
Don't be alarmed by this: it is a natural stage in their development.
When the larvae have finished eating, they suspend themselves from a silk pad spun on special absorbent paper in the lid. Here they cast their caterpillar skin. If you are lucky and look at the right moment you can see the actual moment of change from caterpillar to chrysalis.
Let the chrysalis harden for a couple of days, then hang the paper pinned inside a cage for the butterflies to emerge.
You can keep the butterflies for a few days in a cage with nectar flowers. Then, except in the colder months October to March, release them into the wild where they may breed naturally in your area.
The instructions are printed above - please note them for the arrival of the larvae which are not sent with further instructions. If you are sending larvae as a present, please remember the recipient will not have these instructions, unless you copy them to the recipient.
Available throught the year but not always instantly. There may be a delay of a couple of weeks if larvae are not currently at the size for sending. The next larvae are expected in spring
One pot of 5 Painted Lady caterpillars £12.95 Five pots of 5 Painted Lady caterpillars, for group study, £49.95
Painted Lady Vanessa cardui
The Painted Lady butterfly occurs in more continents of the world than any other butterfly. The larvae are easy to rear on Thistle (its preferred food plant), Stinging Nettle, Mallow, Burdock, Hollyhock and will often take other foodplants. An ideal species for schools.
Each larva lives solitarily from birth. It spins a protective silk cover, living at first off the leaf cuticle. When possible, keep the larvae on a growing foodplant, which enables the caterpillar to make its silk cover, and move on to fresh food when it requires. If kept on cut food, please ensure that the plant is kept fresh and changed before the quality of the food suffers. This of course applies to all species, but the method has to take into account the solitary habit of the larva, and its protective silk.
Depending on temperature, the larvae pupate in a little over a month. Butterflies emerge in 2-3 weeks. The cycle continues throughout summer and several broods are possible in a season.
The butterflies can be kept with nectar flowers for some days, and then released to breed in the wild.
Available throughout the year but not always instantly. There may be a delay of a couple of weeks if larvae are not at the right size for sending. The next larvae are expected in spring.
Ten Painted Lady larvae £12.95
20 Painted Lady larvae £20.95
FOR PUPAE PLEASE SEE PUPAE SECTION
Comma Butterfly Polygonia c-album 10 larvae
Fascinating larvae with curious half and half markings in black, brown and white, mimicking a bird dropping. The larvae feed on Stinging Nettle, Elm and Hop. They live singly. Fast growing.
£10.00
Queen of Spain Fritillary Issoria lathonia Larvae
The silver spangles on the underside of this Fritillary surpass all other species! A medium-sized Fritillary that is very easy to rear on Pansy. It is best to have potted food which is currently available from garden shops. Larvae will produce butterflies this year if kept warm indoors.
Provençal Fritillary Mellicta deione.
Larvae are immediately available, feeding on Toadflax Linaria and Snapdragon Antirrhinum. This species is found in a few localities in Southern France, and in a number of parts of Spain, particularly peripheral regions (being absent from central Spain). The butterflies are easily confused with its relative the Heath Fritillary. There are two broods each summer.
10 Larvae of Provençal Fritillary £10.50 NOW
Marsh Fritillary Eurodryas aurinia larvae
Marsh Fritillary post-hibernation larvae are available from February They feed low amongst the leaves of Devil’s Bit Scabioius, but will also eat Honeysuckle. After waking in the spring the larvae grow fast, pupating in April and emerging as butterflies in May.
10 larvae Marsh Fritillary £10.50
20 larvae Marsh Fritillary £18.00
Glanville Fritillary Melitaea cinxia
Feed on Narrow-leaved Plantain. Hibernated larvae that will produce butterflies in summer.
10 larvae Glanville Fritillary £10.50
20 larvae Glanville Fritillary £18.00