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Tiger Swallowtail glaucus 10 larvae |
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Tiger Swallowtail Papilio glaucus North America
The Tiger Swallowtail is perhaps North America’s grandest swallowtail. As a curiosity, a small proportion of females emerge as melanics, not as beautiful as the typical female, but different! They can be bred in captivity and the larvae are as exotic as many of the tropical swallowtails, with the Papilio eye markings and bird dropping camouflage in the early instars. Try feeding them on Cherry or Lime, and they will probably take a wider variety of foodplants.
Larvae sent in June
Ten Tiger Swallowtail larvae £12.95
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Green-veined White napi larvae |
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Green-veined White Pieris napi
A delicate member of the White family, with variable markings and prominent underside veining. The larvae feed on many Cruficerae with a particular liking for Jack by the Hedge Alliaria, Horseradish Armoracia rusticana, Cresses and Mustards.
Very easy to breed. Several generations are possible in a season. The pupa hibernates. Keep the pupae cool or in the fridge until April. Lay them out to emerge in May and provide the adults with nectar flowers and stems of the foodplant on which to lay.
Harmless to garden plants (they prefer wild plants), this is a species you can breed to enhance the local countryside.
Ten larvae of Green-veined White £8.95 Sent in June/July
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Clouded Yellow Crocea Larvae |
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Clouded Yellow Butterfly Colias crocea Larvae
A great favourite with entomologists and extremely easy to rear on potted Clover. The larvae grow fast and will produce butterflies very quickly, particularly in warm conditions.
10 Clouded Yellow larvae £10.00 Sent July |
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Bath White daplidice larvae |
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Bath White Pontia daplidice
The larvae feed on Mignonette, a flower of chalk soil, but they also feed on various Mustard family Cruciferae. Some people have done well rearing them on the cauliflower - just let them loose on the raw heads!
This is a very rare migrant to Britain, found usually in the Mediterranean region. Baden Powel, a naturalist as well as pioneer, used the dappled pattern on the butterfy’s wings to disguise the plan of Mafeking when dispatched under siege!
Ten larvae of Bath White £10.00 August
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Painted Lady cardui 5 larvae in Pot on Diet |
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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 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 immediately
One pot of 5 Painted Lady caterpillars £10.95
Five pots of 5 Painted Lady caterpillars, for group study, £45.00
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Painted Lady cardui larvae |
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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 immediately
Ten Painted Lady larvae £9.95
20 Painted Lady larvae £15.95
FOR PUPAE PLEASE SEE CURRENT PUPAE SECTION
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Dark Green Fritillary aglaia larvae |
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Dark Green Fritillary Mesoacidalia aglaia
Post-hibernation larvae are immediately available. Foodplant: Violet. The larvae will grow fast, pupate and produce butterflies this year.
Available NOW
Dark Green Fritillary larvae 20 for £19.95 |
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Knapweed Fritillary Melitaea phoebe 10 larvae |
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Knapweed Fritillary Melitaea phoebe
Foodplant Knapweed Centaurea and usually Plantain Plantago. If kept warm the larvae will develop and produce butterflies this year. The butterfly has some resemblance to the Glanville Fritillary but more variable especially in the female. Origin Provence.
Ten larvae Knapweed Fritillary £10.00 Sent in July
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Purple Emperor Apatura iris 5 larvae |
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Purple Emperor Apatura iris
The foodplant, Sallow Salix caparea is best kept as a growing shrub, either potted or growing outside. The young larvae should be kept in a sleeve where they will hibernate, but with some extra warmth, some may be persuaded to feed up and produce butterflies this year. Orders will be supplied in strict rotation.
Orders will be supplied in summer with pre-hibernating larvae.
Purple Emperor larvae 5 for £25.00 Delivery usually August/September |
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Scotch Argus aethiops larvae |
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Scotch Argus Butterfly Erebia aethiops
Keep larvae on potted coarse grass and protect from things that might eat them. The pupa is formed late in the spring deep in the grass tussocks so keep them in a cage that will contain them when they stray.
Larvae ready immediately
Scotch Argus larvae 20 for £17.50 or 50 for £30.00
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Marbled White galathea 20 larvae |
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Marbled White Butterfly Melanargia galathea
A favourite from the chalk downlands of southern Britain. Pre-hibernation larvae which live on potted coarse grasses and produce butterflies next year. To hibernate these larvae you need potted grass, securely contained in a netting sleeve. Make sure you evict any spiders or other predatory creatures! Keep the pot outside in natural weather conditions.
In spring the larvae will stray when they are ready to find a secluded place in which to hang and change to pupae, so make sure they are in a secure cage.
Pre hibernation Summer larvae sent from August onwards
Marbled White larvae 20 for £12.95
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Small Copper phlaeas 10 larvae |
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Small Copper Butterfly Lycaena phlaeas
The larvae of this species are seldom offered. The larvae feed on common Dock and Sorrel. If kept warm they will pupate and produce butterflies again this year.
10 Small Copper larvae £10.00 July onwards
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Large Copper dispar batavus 10 larvae |
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Large Copper Butterfly Lycaena dispar batavus Larvae
This is the large and richly coloured Large Copper which originated from Freisland in Holland and closely resembles the extinct British Large Copper. Common Dock is an acceptable foodplant, though if you have their natural foodplant Great Water Dock, that is even better. They can be reared in plastic boxes on fresh foodplant that is changed daily, but they do best, and are less trouble if you can pot up young fresh plants and keep the larvae on these, either in cages or covered with a sleeve. The larvae grow fast. Pupae are formed on the stems or sides of the cage. The first sight of the newly emerged butterflies is absolutely breath-taking! July larvae may produce another partial brood if kept warm. Otherwise they go into hibernation.
Sent in June/July
10 Large Copper larvae £12.95
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Common Blue icarus 10 Larvae |
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The Common Blue Polyommatus icarus
This Blue is probably the most wide-spread of all the Blues. The bright sky-blue of the male is familiar to most people. The larvae feed on Birdsfoot Trefoil, Medick, Rest Harrow and other Leguminosae. Larvae are expected in July/August.
Ten Common Blue Larvae £9.95 August |
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White-letter Hairstreak Strymonidia w-album 15 eggs |
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White-letter Hairstreak Strymonidia w-album
Very seldom available as livestock. We will have eggs for supply in late summer, into winter. Store the eggs refrigerated until buds open in spring. The larvae feed on Elm and Wych Elm. Ideally sleeve outside, or pot foodplant to feed sleeved larvae indoors or outside.
Over-wintering eggs sent September onwards
15 eggs White-letter Hairstreak £18.50
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Deathshead Hawk Atropos 1 Pack Eggs/Larvae |
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Deathshead Hawkmoth Acheronia atropos
Everyone’s favourite. An extreme rarity, migrating to Britain from Africa. Occasionally the larvae are found in potato fields but that’s if you are lucky and these days with modern machinery the chances of larvae being found are even more remote. The larvae feed on many plants in the potato family, Solanaceae, but you don’t have to have these to keep the larvae, they do well on Privet. The duration of the egg stage is just a few days, and the larvae grow probably twice as fast as our native hawkmoth larvae, completing their life cycle in as little as 4-6 weeks in summer temperatures. These larvae will produce another generation of moths within weeks of pupation, but you can keep them cool in the winter months, and have them emerge in spring. The moth is just amazing to have alive on your hand! It is furry, and squeaks – almost like handling a little mammal. It also humps its back and displays the blue markings on the body, as well as the famous skull and crossbones on the thorax. The moth needs to feed, not from flowers but from a pad soaked in weak honey or sugar solution. Moths have been found inside beehives, attracted by the sweet smell of honey.
Eggs ready August
Deathshead Hawkmoth 15 eggs or 10 larvae according to availability £10.95
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Poplar Hawk populi 10 larvae |
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Poplar Hawkmoth Laothoe populi
Fast growing, the larvae feed on most Willows and Poplars. They do well in sleeves or caged. This is one of the few hawkmoths that produce two broods of moths in the year. The larvae become very fat and vary in both the ground colour, in shades of green or blue/green, and in their markings which often include red spots as well as the oblique stripes down the sides. The larvae need to burrow into peat for pupation.
Ready NOW
10 larvae Poplar Hawk eggs £10.00
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Eyed Hawk ocellata eggs/larvae |
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Eyed Hawk Smerinthus ocellata
Fascinatingly camouflaged larvae which exactly match their leafy background. Easy to breed. The larvae feed on Willow, Laurel and Apple. At pupation time, provide a container of peat to a depth of about 10cm, with a lid. The larvae burrow to pupate. The moths, with vivid eye-spots, emerge the following spring.
10 Eyed Hawk larvae £6.95 next eggs due in late August
Double Pack £10.00
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Privet Hawk Sphinx ligustri eggs/larvae |
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Privet Hawkmoth Sphinx ligustri larvae
A real favourite! These are quite one of Britain’s largest and grandest caterpillars. They are easy to rear on Privet, Lilac or Ash. The large pupae are formed underground. Store the pupae for emergence next summer.
Egg supply depends on successful breeding of moths that are currently emerging.
15 eggs or 10 larvae according to availability Privet Hawk, £10.00
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Spurge Hawk H euphorbiae larvae |
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Spurge Hawk Hyles euphorbiae
The dormant pupae are kept cool for the winter. Adults emerge in June/July. Provide nectar flowers and potted Spurge plants for egg-laying. The best Spurges are Cypress Spurge (cyparissias), Wood Spurge, Sea Spurge, and the annual Sun or Petty Spurges are all suitable. Eggs are laid in clutches near the tips. The young larvae are black and cluster. Soon they take on amazing spots and stripes of yellow, red, white and green. Some of the most colourful larvae in the world.
Larvae available shortly- just a few!
Ten larvae Spurge Hawk £12.95
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