Over-wintering pupa
Someone asked about how I keep my pupa over the winter. I used to have an enclosure that I could raise caterpillars in and let them pupate also. It started falling apart and I don’t have a new one yet. I don’t really raise that many anymore anyway, so I don’t have that many to overwinter.
The ones I do have I keep in canning jars, and use mosquito netting to allow air circulation but to keep predators out. They’ve usually pupated on sticks which I can then break to fit into the jar. And I keep the jar outside, usually close to the house.
Here is a picture of one jar from the top:
Here is just the lid and the netting:
The netting is the kind with only really small holes. Some parasitic wasps are very small and it has to be able to keep them out. Here’s a close up the netting, my camera doesn’t do close ups of tiny things though, so it may not be that helpful:
on April 17th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
Hi! Thanks for this post! My kids and I have been raising butterflies indoors for several years but to date we have not managed to get any to survive diapause. The first time we tried I was very ignorant and kept the Black Swallowtail chrysalis indoors without giving it any moisture. Nothing ever happened – I guess it dried out now that I know more about it. The second time we had 10-15 Black Swallowtail chrysalises and we put them outside so they would be exposed to the natural elements (and natural rain/moisture). They did great for about 1-2 months until some predator (mouse?, lizard?) found them then they disappeared very quickly – before I had time to figure it out and save some. I have enjoyed reading many of your posts and thank you for the great info and pictures! We have a young website devoted to raising butterflies indoors at http://www.joyfulbutterfly.com. It is a hobby we all love and really enjoy sharing with others. I know you realize that anybody bit by the butterfly metamorphosis does not let it go easily! Thanks Again!