Butterfly Farming in the East Usambara Mountains - Eastern Arc ...

4) The Butterfly Farming Routine
This section describes the butterfly farming system that I have developed over the past year and a
half. There are many different techniques for farming butterflies, but I believe that the following
routine is the best for the East Usambara Mountains.
4.1 Morning activities
• Collecting seeds and seedlings of host plant species that are needed in the nursery. This
task requires a lot of work during the initial few months of preparation for butterfly
farming. After a large and healthy nursery is established, this task become unnecessary,
except to replace plants that have grown too big every few years.
• Watering – If the weather is dry watering might be needed every other morning. If wet
watering may not be necessary.
• Weeding – Conducted if needed.
• Fertilizing – Conducted every month or so.
• Changing Fake Flowers – Butterflies that are nectar feeders often do not like alcohol so it
is important to change fake flowers every day so that the sugar water does not ferment.
• Changing Fruit Pieces – Mango is a very good fruit for most butterfly species that enjoy
fermenting fruit. However, the fruit pieces should be changed if they are dry or
particularly sour.
• Checking the Egg Containers – Containers that are used to gather eggs should be checked
every morning for newly hatched larvae. These larvae should then be placed on young
leaves of their appropriate food plants in the larvae-rearing cage using a small paintbrush.
• Checking the Pupae Cage – The small net box used to hold either pinned or glued pupae
should be checked every morning for newly emerged butterflies. Newly emerged
butterflies should be allowed to dry their wings for at least 2 hours before they are
handled.
• Hanging New Pupae - The larvae cage should be checked every morning for newly
formed pupae. Pupae should be 24 hours old before they are handled to allow sufficient
time for their skin to dry. Dry pupae should be glued to a stick or pinned to a board and
placed in a net box.
• Catching Female Butterflies – Female butterflies of most species are most visible at
flowers and in sunny areas, in the morning between 8 and 11 AM. This is the period of
day when they are loading up on nectar or fruit sources before they enter the forest to
begin to lay eggs. This task is the most time consuming in the early phases of farming,
and is frequently a futile effort. Fortunately, it becomes unnecessary after captive
populations are established from 3 to 6 females of each species.
4.2 Mid-day activities
• Catching Male Butterflies – Male butterflies are needed to maintain genetic diversity in
the captive populations. For the first generation, which is usually small, it is beneficial
to replace all the males in the captive populations with wild caught males. Male
butterflies are very active around mid-day, patrolling along the forest edge or on hilltops
waiting for female butterflies to pass through their opening.
4.3 Evening activities
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