Caterpillar Suppliers

[Anne Kilmer]

RPTGRP wrote:
> 
> Looking to start a Monarch butterfly garden with my school age kids and looking
> for suppliers of caterpillar in California for stock. What should I expect to
> pay (excluding shipping)?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Rick

Milkweeds. Plant milkweeds and the monarchs are free. God sends them (or
nature, or the fairies if you like ... )
Your garden should also include larval hosts for a bunch of other
butterflies; don't put all your beggings in one basket. 
The children need to learn how nature works; not how we make it work by
throwing money at it. There isn't enough money to provide monarchs for
everyone. There can easily be enough milkweeds.
It would be well, also, for the children to plant milkweeds in their
home gardens. Then you can tweak nature, just a little, by sharing extra
monarchs if one child's garden is overwhelmed while another has no
caterpillars. 
The joy of sitting in a garden, watching a male monarch slot the
milkweeds and hover circling, sometimes for days, until the female finds
him and joins him ... object, patrimony. Oh, it's far greater than
opening a package and extracting store-bought bugs. 
If you're out of range, that's why you plant the other plants. You don't
want to establish a colony of monarchs where they don't want to be. 
We are having great success with this technique in 
Florida. 
Enjoy
Anne Kilmer 
South Florida