Pesticides are so ubiquitous in our society that people don't even think about the dangers to "good insects." (Our neighbor has since stopped the annual spraying. They didn't realize they were killing butterflies and other beneficial insects, too.) When we get emails and messages about caterpillars mysteriously dying, over 90% of the time, it's related to a pesticide issue.
Examples of stories we've heard:
How to tell if your caterpillars have been exposed to pesticides:
Ways to decrease pesticide-exposure risk:
]]>
In addition to being widely distributed, Polyphemus caterpillars are polyphagus, meaning they eat a wide variety of broad-leaved tree leaves. We've had the best luck with willow, chokecherry, and walnut in our desert environment; however, they're often called "oak silk moths" and will almost universally feed on oak. Your best bet is to offer several types of leaves that you have available from the extensive list of potential food plants to see which your caterpillars prefer.
You can container raise Polyphemus caterpillars all the way through to pupation, but we usually move them outside onto sleeved trees once they get to the fourth instar. By that point, they're bright green with orange or red tubercles, making them easy to spot on a leaf. They're also consuming significant amounts of food and producing large amounts of frass (poop), which makes container raising less than ideal. Their voracious appetites are reminiscent of Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar.
When they've reached maximum chonkiness (technical term), which depends on genetic and environmental factors, the caterpillars spin a silk cocoon. Initially, you'll still be able to see the green caterpillar inside, but eventually, the caterpillar will pupate within the cocoon. After pupation, some will eclose within several weeks, while others will diapause (overwinter) depending (mostly) on the light cycle to which they were exposed.
Our Pacific Northwest Polyphemus populations only have one brood per year, but some areas have two or even three. On the East Coast, the Ohio Valley seems to be the dividing line, with populations from Pennsylvania north only having one brood, while areas south of the valley have two. Some southern states have more than two broods per year, with Florida and Texas reporting adult moth sightings year-round.
Male and female Polyphemus moths are fairly easy to tell apart. Males (above, left) have much larger, feathery antennae, which they use to sense female pheromones from great distances. The females (above, right) have thinner antenna, but larger abdomens for carrying hundreds of eggs. Both sexes have only vestigial mouth parts and don't eat as adults. They live off their body fat reserves for about a week, long enough to mate and lay eggs.
]]>
With the on-going drought in the western U.S. and exceptionally high summer temperatures, 2021 proved to be one of the most challenging years so far for our butterfly farm. Western Tiger and Two-tailed swallowtails did moderately well, but we had near total brood losses of Anise and Oregon swallowtails, due to the extreme heat wave. Most of our moth species proved more resilient, although our smaller experimental broods of Western Eyed and Big Poplar sphinx moths also succumbed to heat-related issues. (Based on what we saw in the region, wild populations also suffered greatly.)
Through the pain of 2021, we learned a lot of valuable lessons. We look forward to doubling down and having a more successful 2022, regardless of what Mother Nature may throw at us. We're already planting seeds and getting set-ups ready for spring and summer rearing. We plan to re-establish the broods that were weakened in 2021. Some of these adjustments are to create different, more heat-resistant set-ups and others relate to providing host plants with higher moisture content leaves.
To kick off the year, egg pre-orders are available for Polyphemus silk moths, Ceanothus silk moths, and the lovely White-lined sphinx "hummingbird" moths. At this point, we're holding off on butterfly eggs, but may offer butterflies as freshly-hatched caterpillars, as numbers allow. Look for this possibility in June. We're hoping to offer butterfly egg presales again in 2023.
One success of 2021 was collecting seeds from a wider variety of nectar and host plants, which are now available.
]]>Oregon Swallowtail caterpillars are host plant specialists, feeding on wild tarragon, which used to be found all over the Umatilla River basin. Sometimes perceived as a weed, farmers and residential gardeners have slowly removed it from the region. As wild tarragon has disappeared from the Pendleton area, so have these gorgeous butterflies. Our goal is to bring them back. Our friends, Richard and Lynn Galloway, of Galloway Artisans, have kindly allowed us to create a farm annex on their property along Patawa Creek (adjacent to Grecian Heights Park).
In spring of 2020, we planted wild tarragon starts on their property. This year, the plants are big enough to begin sleeving caterpillars.
Here is an approximately one-week-old caterpillar who was recently moved into a sleeve.
Additionally, we have Lomatium plants, also known as "Indian celery," interspersed with the wild tarragon. When these get big enough, we'll be able to use them for raising Anise Swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) and Cliff Swallowtail (Papilio indra) caterpillars.
]]>
Species |
Egg hatch time @ 70 F |
Food plants | "Walker" needs for pupation | Time to adulthood |
Oregon Swallowtail | 7 days | parsley family, tarragon | paper bag, pupation pod, or sticks inside habitat | 2-3 weeks after pupation, or overwinter |
Two-tailed Swallowtail | 7 days | chokecherry, ash | paper bag, pupation pod, or sticks inside habitat | usually overwinters |
Western Tiger Swallowtail | 7 days | willow, black cottonwood, maple, aspen, sycamore | paper bag, pupation pod, or sticks inside habitat | usually overwinters |
Anise Swallowtail | 7 days | parsley family | paper bag, pupation pod, or sticks inside habitat | 2-3 weeks after pupation, or overwinter |
Ceanothus silkmoth | 10-14 days | willow, chokecherry, ceanothus, and many others | paper bag with leaves | overwinters |
Polyphemus silkmoth | 10-14 days |
willow, birch, oak, apple, and others |
paper bag with leaves | overwinters if light cycle is correct |
White-lined Sphinx moth | 7 days | grape, virginia creeper, four o'clock, evening primrose, fireweed, and others | earth pupater: soil in the bottom of the container or a container with crumpled newspaper in a dark place | 2-3 weeks after pupation, or overwinters if light cycle is correct |
Five-spotted Sphinx moth | 7 days | nightshade family, including tomato and potato | earth pupater: soil in the bottom of the container or a container with crumpled newspaper in a dark place | 2-3 weeks after pupation, or overwinters if light cycle is correct |
Western-eyed Sphinx moths | 10-14 days | varieties of willow and black cottonwood | earth pupater: soil in the bottom of the container or a container with crumpled newspaper in a dark place | 2-3 weeks after pupation, or overwinters if light cycle is correct |
Big Poplar Sphinx |
10-14 days | willow and black cottonwood | earth pupater: soil in the bottom of the container or a container with crumpled newspaper in a dark place | overwinters |
Our new name, Sagebrush Butterflies, reflects our regional focus on Pacific Northwest eastern desert butterflies and moths. The species we raise and collect can almost all be found in sagebrush country. We've kept our iconic swallowtail-inspired logo to remain recognizable as everyone gets used to the new name.
We're also excited to introduce a new line of stainless steel pendants that will be replacing the nickel-free metal alloy line that we've been using since Catherine first started pulling wings out of Matthew's "tin o' mistakes." We're also working on more designs of double-sided locket-style pendants. All of these will be added to the website over the next month.
We hope you're as excited about these changes as we are. As always, we appreciate all the support we receive from customers and friends! May you all have a wonderful 2020!
]]>Rearing caterpillars is the most labor intensive part of raising butterflies -- providing enough food, as well as protecting them from predators and disease -- but approximating winter conditions can be equally tricky. As the days get shorter, we keep the pupae in a closed off cooler room of the house with a window cracked open. This serves dual purposes of exposing them to the natural decreasing daylight cycle of autumn and more natural humidity levels.
Once outside temperatures are consistently cold (around Thanksgiving), we move the pupae to the refrigerator until spring. Maintaining proper humidity in the refrigerator is critical, so we store them in sealed containers. This prevents the pupae from desiccating, or drying out. We also add some paper towel cushion, as it helps to collect residual moisture.
During the winter months while the pupae are stored in the refrigerator, there are still some maintenance pieces that require attention:
Here in Oregon, it requires about 90 days of cold treatment in the fridge before pupae will eclose (hatch) when removed. However, with some species, increasing daylight cycle in itself is enough to cause pupae to hatch. For this reason, the absolute latest for putting pupae into the fridge is the week of Winter Solstice. I get many emails each year asking what to do with moths and butterflies which have hatched in the middle of January because they were kept indoors. The pupae senses the increasing daylight cycle combined with a nice warm home and decides that it's spring. Unfortunately, there's little that can be done at this point.
Once days warm up and lengthen, we move pupae out of the fridge and back to a pop-up tent, exposing them to the natural light cycle again, along with warmer inside temperatures. This triggers their development into an adult. Misting pupae daily creates a more humid environment, as inside humidity is much lower than outdoors. (Some species, such as Two-Tailed Swallowtails only need to be misted every other day.)
We try to remove pupae from cold storage about three weeks prior to when the species naturally fly well in the area. For example, in our region Ceanothus Silkmoths are typically at peak flight about the first week of June, so three weeks prior to that we remove that species from cold storage. This allows us to outbreed our reared female moths with wild males, keeping the genetics strong. Doing this with all of our moth and butterfly broods also protects wild populations. Should our stock be wild released by us or any of our customers in Oregon, the genetics of the broods are strong and will compliment, rather than hinder, the species in the wild.
Shipping pupae in the winter:
We ship a lot of pupae to customers in across the US. Shipping pupae in diapause is fine. We remove them from cold storage, pack them up, and mail them out. Pupae will stay in diapause, and just need to be put back into cold storage within a week of being removed. This works great, save rare cases where a package is excessively delayed.
Sometimes temperature during shipment can get down into the teens, or even below zero F. This is fine, and pupae will not be hurt. Pupae have built up antifreeze inside to survive the winter, and also those extreme temperatures that are found in nature. We store pupae at 38F in the fridge because it not only works well for the pupae over a long period of time, but it also works for other items in the fridge.
So now you've read through this and are wondering...is there a simpler way to overwinter? Here's the TLDR:
If a butterfly or moth pupae hasn't hatched within six weeks of pupation, it will typically overwinter. Store it in a tent inside your house with a natural light cycle, mist it every couple of days, and refrigerate it in a sealed container after Thanksgiving. Check the container monthly, remove moisture, seal back up and continue to refrigerate. Take the pupae out in spring and mist daily in same pop-up tent and they'll hatch out in 3-6 weeks.
Questions? Please email. We're happy to answer them as our schedule permits (some parts of the season are very busy so it may take an extra day or two to respond).
*There are exceptions, such as the Mourning Cloak, which overwinters as an adult butterfly. Some Mourning Cloaks spend 10 to 11 months as an adult butterfly.
]]>Yes, the butterflies are absolutely real. The source of the butterflies (and moths) in our products is a bit of a longer explanation. Jewelry tags state, "Ethically raised in the Pacific Northwest, and sustainably sourced from around the world." What exactly does that mean?
Pacific Northwest Species:
Butterflies are insects, and thus reproduce very well with females carrying hundreds of eggs. In all phases of their life cycle, butterflies are also food for a variety of predators, so very few of those initial eggs become actual butterflies. It's estimated that only 3% of the eggs laid survive to adulthood.
We operate a breeding and rearing program for many of the local species that we use. This is the easiest way to get many eggs, which we then rear into adult butterflies in protective sleeves on living host plants. It's also much more sustainable to these species over the long term. In this process, we collect several wild male butterflies each season and mate them with our reared females to maintain strong genetics within our broods. The result is hundreds of adult butterflies, while just a few are taken from the wild for our breeding program.
We also wild release approximately 10% of the butterflies we rear back into nature. This year we released many more than that of our local Two-tailed Swallowtails, with approximately 30 butterflies released out of 180 overwintered pupae. This ratio is much better than leaving things to nature and predators.
One species that we're working to bring back to Pendleton is the Oregon Swallowtail. Its host plant, wild tarragon, is seen as a weed and is absent within the city. However, this butterfly also finds the culinary herb French tarragon acceptable. The herb is becoming popular to plant in gardens throughout the area, and we continue to release this species with the hope of seeing them in our front yard in the coming years.
Taking all of that into account, we do harvest many of the butterflies that we raise for various uses. Some become framed specimens and jewelry to be enjoyed for their beauty years into the future. Others become part of private or museum collections to inform researchers and enthusiasts. Even in death, these specimens continue to give back through beauty and science.
Exotic and Non-Local Species:
We source dried butterfly specimens from suppliers around the world. Many are family-run businesses like ours, with a connection to the species they rear and an interest in preserving butterfly habitat into the future.
There are permit and documentation requirements that vary by species and country. These fees are meant to fund habitat preservation and to make sure wild populations are healthy. For example, Morpho butterflies from Peru require permits from the Peruvian government before shipping. Ordering birdwing butterflies from Indonesia is a bit of a longer process as they require CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) documentation. The species of birdwings we use are not endangered, but enough birdwing species are endangered that any shipment must be checked.
On the US receiving side, there are additional steps required. We maintain a US Fish and Wildlife import/export license. Any shipment we receive from overseas goes through an inspection process at the port of entry before heading our way.
How are the Butterflies harvested?
Most of the life cycle is spent as a caterpillar, starting with a tiny creature that hatches from an egg the size of a pinhead. As immortalized in Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar, a caterpillar eats and eats (shedding its skin three to six times in the process) until it's big enough to spin up into a chrysalis or cocoon. After metamorphosis, most species of butterflies live for only a few weeks, with their sole purpose being to mate and produce the next generation.
This season we invested in a custom 10- x 10- x 7-foot high flight house for butterfly oviposition (egg-laying). The flight house is already working much better than previous egg collection methods. Female butterflies are laying more naturally, displaying fewer signs of stress, living longer, and providing many more eggs for rearing.
With all that said, we still need specimens for use in our business. A butterfly or moth that mates and otherwise lives out its natural lifespan will show obvious wear: tattered wings, missing scales, broken antennae, etc. Some are barely recognizable as their given species. The best, high-quality specimens are taken before this wear occurs. Pupae that eclose (hatch) out into adult butterflies are selected. Once the butterflies eclose, we wait for their wings to harden and inspect them to make sure they are acceptable specimen material. The butterfly is gently removed from the enclosure with wings folded back and put into a smooth glassine envelope to prevent wing damage or scale loss. We then put the envelope with the butterfly into the freezer. The butterfly becomes cold, falls asleep, and then freezes.
There is a fair amount of animal husbandry in our operations. We care very much about the species we work with, and are continually adjusting to decrease stress on our butterflies while rearing in ways that are efficient and ensure health through the entire life cycle.
Photo notes: Oregon swallowtails are featured in all photos except the flight tent. From the top: (1) Oregon swallowtail adult feeding on a diluted honey solution. (2) Oregon swallowtail adults mating. (3) Oregon swallowtail eggs laid on tarragon. (4) Oregon swallowtail caterpillar on tarragon. (5) Oregon swallowtail early stage pupae. (6) A view from inside our backyard flight tent.
]]>
Most people are fascinated by the metamorphosis that lepidoptera (that's the scientific order that includes butterflies and moths) go through -- the radical transformation from a chubby, sturdy-looking "worm" with tiny, but functional legs, into a delicate, graceful miracle of flight with willowy legs and antennae. Butterflies represent a living metaphor for transformations in our own lives.
But most people don't take that fascination to the level of a hobby, let alone a business. So why did we?
The first ten years of our marriage was relatively insect-free. Occasionally, Matthew would have cocoons hatching in the house and, as we added two curious little boys to our family, more "bugs" made their way into our home. While working as a high school science teacher, Matthew participated in an optics program at the University of Arizona in Tucson. For his individual project, he examined butterfly wings -- the incredible way their scales reflect different wavelengths on the color spectrum, appearing to have vivid colors when, in fact, they contain no pigment.
Around that time, a friend gave us some butterfly eggs for our pre-school age boys to raise through the life cycle. Those first tiny caterpillars didn't do very well on the food plant we gave them, but by then, the family was hooked. Matthew researched our local species, joined on-line lepidopterist groups, bought butterfly nets, pop-up tents, and vellum envelopes that won't damage delicate wings. He supplied local elementary teachers, the library, and children's museum with caterpillars, cocoons, and chrysalises so that other children could experience the "amazingness."
Meeting other amateur lepidopterists on-line and in-person, Matthew realized that many of them store their specimens in drawers, where they can't be easily seen and enjoyed. We had two framed butterfly collections that we'd purchased years before -- one at a chain boutique, another at a local farmers market. Both contained a variety of butterflies and moths, all a bit crammed into a lower quality frame, which didn't do justice to the beauty of the actual insects. Matthew set out to make frames worthy of their contents, acquiring a whole new set of skills along the way: pinning, woodworking, etc.
Along the way, some specimens didn't make it into a frame. Soon, Matthew had a recycled candy tin of wings too gorgeous to simply discard. That was when I decided to make them into jewelry. It was my turn to learn new skills and perfect methods of preserving the beauty of each wing.
As we began selling our creations at our town's farmers market, then at a local boutique and craft fairs, people's reactions have been the best part -- their joy at the beauty of the butterflies and moths and their curiosity about life cycles and that amazing metamorphosis. One question that comes up over and over is, "why butterflies?" And now you know.
]]>