Owl Butterfly Caligo species 4 pupae

Owl Butterfly Caligo pupae South America

By any standards, these are huge butterflies, with impressive colouring and markings, both on the upperside and with the owl-like underside. The pupae will be unspecified species but will all produce magnificent and breath-taking butterflies.

Owl Butterflies fly at dusk and dawn in particular, so they like low light conditions.

The pupae are massive, pretty well as big as any other in the world. They are naturally formed on Banana trees, which are the foodplant of the larvae, and they resemble the spent and decaying banana fronds around the trunk. Hang the pupae in an emerging cage, out of the sun, but in warm and moist conditions. A greenhouse is ideal. Let the butterflies feed on dishes of rotting fruit and do include banana, which they really love.

Provide warmth and humidity that the pupae normally experience in the tropics and sub tropics. About 30°C is ideal, and humidity above 70%. The butterflies like a warm greenhouse containing nectar plants, and this is the best place also for the emerging cage for the pupae. Shade the cage from direct sun which is too harsh.

It’s a good idea to suspend the pupae. To do this, use a stick or wooden rod held horizontally. Apply a very thin line of contact adhesive eg Evostick along the rod. Lay the rod on a table and, when it is tacky but not yet set hard, touch the tails of the pupae on the line of glue. Warning: excess glue actually kills the pupa, so use just a very thin line. When the glue has set you can pick up the stick, with all the pupae hanging vertically from it.

If you don’t wish to suspend the pupae they can be laid on corrugated card. The surface must remain clean and rough. For hygiene the corrugated card needs to be replaced every few days.