Butterfly culture technology

Butterflies are generally colorful, with many stripes, rich colors, and various flower spots on their wings and bodies, which have high ornamental value. according to the forecasts of relevant departments, artificial breeding of butterflies will become a new breeding project in the next few years. Butterfly commodity trade in the international market lasts for a long time, some treasures are priceless, artificial breeding of butterflies, the economic benefit is very remarkable.

Butterfly food habit

1. Larvae: the feeding objects of butterfly larvae vary from species to species. most larvae are addicted to leaves, some species, such as pollen butterflies and orange pink butterflies, and some species eat young pods or young fruits. For example, pod gray butterfly eats tender pods, gardenia gray butterfly eats young gardenia fruit. In addition, in the gray butterfly family, a few species of larvae are carnivorous, for example, scale gray butterfly is addicted to coffee scale, bamboo aphid gray butterfly feeds exclusively on bamboo aphid, this carnivorous species is a rare beneficial insect in butterflies.

2. Adults: most butterflies suck nectar. For those that suck nectar, they not only suck nectar, but also like to suck the nectar of certain plants, such as blue Phoenix butterflies sucking nectar of Liliaceae plants, cabbage pink butterflies suck nectar of plants of Cross Flower family, leopard butterflies suck nectar of Compositae plants, and so on. Some butterflies that do not suck nectar have bamboo eye butterflies that suck fig juice. Lilac butterflies feed on the sour pulp of diseased oak and poplar, and some butterflies suck the flesh of grapes, which are common in grape fields.

Butterfly growth cycle

1. Eggs: butterfly eggs are generally round or oval, with a waxy shell on the surface to prevent water evaporation, and a small hole at one end, which is the pathway for sperm to enter. The size of eggs varies greatly among different species of butterflies. Butterflies usually lay their eggs on the leaves of plants that the larvae like to eat, preparing food for the larvae.

2. Larvae: after hatching, the larvae mainly eat and eat a large number of plant leaves. The larvae are of various shapes, mostly fleshy worms and a few caterpillars. Butterflies harm agriculture mainly in the larval stage, with the growth of larvae, usually after several molting.

3. Pupa: the larva will become pupa when it matures. The larva will fix itself with a few strands of silk in the hidden place on the back of the plant leaf, and then pupate directly without cocoon.

4. Adults: after the pupa matures, it breaks its shell and comes out of the pupa, but it takes a certain amount of time to dry and harden its wings. At this time, the butterfly can not avoid its natural enemies, which is a dangerous period. After the wings are spread, the butterfly can fly, and the butterfly's front and rear wings do not flap synchronously, so the butterfly flies with great fluctuation and graceful posture. The so-called "dancing" comes from the butterfly's flight. Butterfly adults usually die before winter comes after mating and laying eggs, but some species migrate to the south to spend the winter.

Butterfly culture technology

1. The source of butterfly species: there are two main sources of butterfly species: one is to collect provenances in the field, such as eggs, larvae, pupae, adults and so on. The second is to buy rare high-quality butterfly species from butterfly breeding units and individuals. No matter it is self-collected or purchased, it should be compared with the butterfly color map and the butterfly key to identify its species and identify the true and false.

2. Feeding equipment: the general method of butterfly culture is similar to that of sericulture. The cage is made of wood strips with a length of 2 meters, a width of 1.5 meters and a height of 1.8 meters. It can be covered with 16-inch 18-mesh copper yarn, iron yarn or nylon cloth.

3. Spawning and hatching: wild butterflies must be paired or have mated and are laying eggs. Generally, female butterflies like to lay eggs on leaves, fruit surfaces, smooth branches or rough crevices. Indoor breeding should prepare suitable spawning places according to the different habits of all kinds of butterflies, such as folded paper, cereal grass, branches, gauze and so on. The egg period should pay attention to moisturizing, can be covered with wet gauze, too dry will reduce the hatching rate.

4. Larval feeding: most butterfly larvae feed on plant leaves, stems, flowers and fruits, which can be collected and fed, and those that can not be used can be bottled or wrapped in wet cotton balls to prevent wilting. The appropriate feeding density is 1 to 2 per 10 square centimeters. Some butterfly species that kill each other should be sparse or reared alone, and the larvae will pupate after 5 and 6 instars.

5, pupation management: before pupation, the feeding cage can be filled with some paper balls, straw, wood carved with grooves, etc. The objects full of pupae are placed on the wet soil to moisturize, and butterflies can emerge after a period of time.

6. Adult feeding: butterflies should be provided with sufficient food. Water, honey, syrup and milk are commonly used liquid feed. The concentration of sugar water or honey water is generally 1: 10%, which can be put into cups, plates and other containers or sucked with skimmed cotton or gauze and then fed in containers. In addition, different feeds can be prepared according to butterfly "taste", such as sucrose, glucose, dry yeast, casein, filter paper powder, cabbage leaves and so on.

7. Overwintering management

① eggs overwintering: butterflies overwintering in the form of eggs is the most common way for insects to winter, such as gray butterflies and line gray butterflies to mountain apricot as the host, overwintering eggs laid at the base of dormant buds, this is a smart way to kill two birds with one stone, the first is to well hide the eggs, and then the larvae hatched in spring can eat delicious buds almost in place.

② larvae overwintering: butterflies overwintering as larvae are also rare. Most butterflies stop eating and drill directly into the soil in winter, so that they can't freeze to death even if it snows. Silver bar butterfly and mountain bead butterfly are its representatives. Butterflies are good at making nests, and soon after they come out of the eggs, they tighten the ends of the leaves little by little with silk thread, and the leaves become a rolled-up tube and live in it. The larvae of snake-eyed butterflies emerge from their eggs at the beginning of winter, and then do not eat or drink, lying on the grass leaves to endure the cold until spring blossoms.

③ pupation overwintering: pupated butterflies can tolerate severe cold and can move without being found by predators. Phoenix butterflies are good representatives of overwintering as pupae.

④ adults overwintering: some southern butterflies survive the winter as adults, but their survival depends on the species. They tighten their wings and hide in the shelter and come out to enjoy sunbathing when the sun is shining. Some butterflies, such as monarch butterflies, spend the winter by migration.