larval disease in butterfly house

[Semjase]

>Subject: larval disease in butterfly house
>From: jrg13 at psu.edu (John Grehan)
>Date: 3/24/99 9:36 AM Pacific Standard Time
>Message-id: <v01540b01b31e762f5537@[192.168.1.4]>
>
>A colleague of mine, Bob Snetsinger, is starting a butterfly
>house. Recently some larvae died from what is presumably
>a bacterial or viral disease (they turned black).
>
>I would be grateful for any information or information sources on
>dealing with this kind of problem in a glass house situation. Are
>there recommended methods for sterilizing the glass-house after
>infections of this kind, or for reducing the likelyhood of their
>occuring.
>
>John Grehan

How Big is it?  Usually a cup of bleach and a cup of laundry detergent to a
bucket of water is   enough to sterilize a facility.  The problem is with
recontamination as the infective agent gets on everything including yourself. 
It would be best to do the larval husbandry in a facility separate from the
flight house since it would make things easier to control.  Keep various
cultures separate also

Do a search on such subjects as insect viruses, nuclear polyhedrosis and
Bacillus thuriengensis to fill yourself in on the nature of these infective
organisms.

S.