www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

is there anything wrong with rearing catterpillars in captivity?

i have benn doing it since age 7 and have reared peacocks, red admirals and small tortoiseshells on nettles, and painted ladys and small tortoiseshells on thistles.

i usually get 2-5/50 crippled or deformed butterflys.

when they emerge from thier pupae i photograph them and release them, the pictures are usually brilliant.

Absolutely not. I've been breeding moths and butterflies for years. However the release of some species into the wild etc generates a fair amount of debate between those for and against.

I've also enjoyed many years of rearing butterflies and moths, following in the footsteps of Fred Frohawk! In fact, you'll see that many of my photos on the species pages are the result of captive-breeding!

The only caution I'd make is to not take anything from the wild that would be detrimental (or break the law!). If you're just starting off, then try the commoner (and easier) species - which it sounds like you're doing.

The "difficult territory" is with regard to protected species. Although livestock can be obtained for most species, this is typically a result of captive-bred rearing, rather than from wild-caught livestock. Suffice to say, I always vet my suppliers before venturing into that territory.

You should also always determine what you're going to do with the adults when they emerge, since you can't always just "let them go" (especially true of protected species). For example, I'm currently rearing Camberwell Beauty on sallows in my garden. The adults will be going back to the supplier.



Having said all that - I still think there's nothing quite like seeing these critters in the wild. Breeding them through, somehow, takes away some of the magic of seeing a new species (or stage!) for the first time.

Cheers,

- Pete

What captive breed butterfles and moths would you say it would be OK to release in to the wild.

Gruditch

That's a very good question! I think you need to look at the arguments against releases in general in order to determine which species are OK to release, where to release, and in what numbers. So anything that:

Disrupts conservation efforts by skewing numbers
Introduces potentially a weak strain
Introduces disease
Attracts a greater number of predators
etc.

... should be avoided. I personally think that releasing any of the commoner migrants (Red Admiral, Painted Lady) or the commoner and widespread species (Small White, Large White, Green-veined White, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell) would be OK.

Cheers,

- Pete