Hi All,

I am a single mom of three and new here to IdeaCafe. Truly fascinated by all the wonderful information I have found on this website !!! I am located about 45 minutes from Raleigh. I have noticed over the years, the decrease in butterfly sightings and I would like to see more of them. I am thinking of starting my own home-based business rearing monarch butterflies for release at special events/memorials and for educational purposes as well. I am educating myself and preparing to place my first order for butterfly eggs and/or caterpillars!! I am very excited and would appreciate your thoughts, ideas, feedback or if you think a business such as this would be a worthwhile venture.

Thanks So Much,
Cinda
jwms32@aol.com

I think it is a great idea. Monarch butterflies are on the WWF endangered species list, so if your project will help increase their populations, all the power to you. (I was a lapidopterist as a child.)

Monarchs are very special butterflies because of their migrations. In the fall butterflies that will make the migration to Mexico are born and rather than living for only five weeks, they will live for the many months it takes to fly south and back. I think this could put a kink into your works, because I would think that this would need to be taken into consideration.

You also have to be concerned about whether you are releasing Eastern or Western Monarchs so as to not endanger the populations of existing butterlifes by releasing a wrong species or by releasing a new species to an existing ecosystem.

Finally, repopulating butterfly species is typically done at the larva stage, so I don't know whether or not releasing these butterflies will actually even have a positive affect on the native populations.

In my humble opinion though, doing the research is going to be valuable if you wish to say to people, "releasing these butterflies at your ceremony will help populate an endangered species" and I do hope you find that you can say that.

Good luck with the project.


Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!