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Butterflies are the most beautiful insects, at the sight of which any person is touched, and a butterfly flying in the first rays of the spring sun causes wild delight in kids. Science knows several thousand species of butterflies, and they live in almost all warm corners of our planet. Recently, it has become fashionable to use fireworks from live butterflies at weddings or other celebrations. The beauties released into the sky or indoors surprise the guests much more than the already fed up pigeons. At the same time, everyone is visited by the question: "How did the tropical butterflies end up here?" It's simple. It is quite possible to grow the inhabitants of the distant tropics in a city apartment - this is a new line of business from the heading "Business Ideas 2014".
Growing tropical butterflies at home
The best option for growing butterflies is buying their pupae. At the moment, many Russian sites offer services for the sale of butterfly pupae. Most often, orders are accepted for an amount of $ 100 and above. Up to 20 dolls can be purchased for this amount. They are delivered in special foam boxes, sandwiched with cotton wool. Some firms offer free delivery, for example, through train conductors, and some charge up to $ 30 for delivery by rail or up to $ 50 for a passing flight. To whom it is convenient and profitable, everyone chooses according to the circumstances and location.
Before ordering dolls, you need to build housing for them. The insectarium itself can be built with your own hands. It must be equipped with a heater and humidifier. The air temperature should be at least 25 degrees, and the humidity should be about 70%. The house for butterflies should be spacious, therefore, to contain 10 butterflies, the structure must be at least 1 meter high and at least half a meter wide. The outer wall of the future house is best made of glass or transparent, safe plastic. The rest of the walls can be built from plywood or aluminum sheets. In the house, it is necessary to make slats, according to the principle of a perch in a hen house, only fix them under each other at a distance of at least 20 cm. Pupae will be suspended on these perches. In a corner of one of the dark walls, put several branchy sticks, on which the newly hatched beauty will dry the wings.
When buying dolls, firms give a guarantee of only 80% of what you get from butterfly dolls. By creating ideal living conditions for butterflies, you can ensure that they begin to breed in a new home.
Butterflies feed on some sweet fruits, honey, sugar syrup or fruit sweet nectars for baby food. But if the butterflies still deign to breed in their house, then you will have to have a rich supply of greens to feed their voracious caterpillars and even grow some tropical plants in greenhouse conditions.
It is interesting: read our other articles - "Business plan for breeding aquarium fish", "Achatina - a giant African snail" and "Fox Fennec - breeding and sale".
Butterflies as a business idea
Live butterflies can be offered as fireworks at parties for children and adults, or as an addition to a romantic bouquet for a couple in love, packing them in envelopes one or several pieces at a time. The price range is varied here, you can safely start from $ 20 per piece. With good and proper care, butterflies live on average up to 3 weeks, but even after their death they bring good profits to their owners. A properly dried butterfly is sent into a frame under glass and is sold starting at $ 10 apiece to all lovers of beauty.You can also master the technique of making panels from dried butterfly wings, which can be simply invaluable.
Growing exotic butterflies in an apartment is not troublesome and quite profitable. A beautiful insectarium with unusual tenants will always delight the owner and "stop the blood" for guests. With a large-scale breeding of butterflies, you can exhibit at exhibitions, and if there is good advertising, you can earn completely different money. 000 2014-03-31
Table of contents:
- Who buys butterflies?
- Breeding moths at home
- Necessary conditions
- Important!
- What to do if you failed to sell butterflies
Hardly anyone can resist the incredible beauty of butterflies. The graceful shapes and unsurpassed colors of the iridescent wings are simply amazing. Nowadays, these insects can be found in all countries of the world. Today science knows more than 200 thousand species of butterflies. Among them there are crumbs only a few millimeters long, and giants with a wingspan of up to 30 centimeters.
One cannot but take into account the fact that these beautiful creatures have long been not only an object of research, but a promising and highly profitable business. Breeding winged flowers is now a beauty that pays off.
Who buys butterflies?
The main consumers of these wonderful insects are various holiday agencies.
The pigeons, which were previously released from the hands during the wedding celebration, were replaced by the so-called "fireworks from live tropical butterflies." The cost of one such butterfly fluctuates in the region of 1500-2000 rubles, but no one will order one butterfly, otherwise what kind of fireworks will you get?
When ordering, the moths are cooled a little (so that they do not have the desire to fly) and placed in a beautiful and colorful holiday box, decorated with ribbons and festive paper. After the box with the "surprise" is delivered to the solemn event, it is heated at the right time and the butterflies, which can not wait to fly, are released. Such a bewitching sight will not leave anyone indifferent, and the guests will certainly like it.
Butterflies are actively used by holiday agencies in big cities where this business is flourishing, but not every agency can boast of such an unusual and colorful service. As for the provincial, small towns, in most cases there is no gift of butterflies.
Also, only a few people know that to grow butterflies at home, you do not need to create an entire laboratory with various flasks and glass boxes. To do this, just read the further recommendations, and you can breed these beautiful creatures right at home, as well as build a good business on it.
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Breeding moths at home
The first thing that most likely comes to your mind is to find the largest and fattest caterpillar in the area, put it in a three-liter jar and wait to see what happens. But the disadvantage is that from this breeding you will only get a kind of butterfly, which will not please you with a special and bright color, because this is the way of breeding butterflies as an ordinary hobby, and we need a good and profitable business.
Therefore, you are more likely to be interested in tropical species of butterflies. They have just a wonderful appearance and are quite large in size. It is clear that it will not work to find them in the nearest forest, and therefore you can buy them either from the same practitioners for breeding butterflies of entrepreneurs, or you can order them on the Internet. Prices for pupae of tropical species are about 50-300 rubles apiece. Delivery is carried out by courier (directly to your home) or by mail.
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Necessary conditions
Your task is to provide insects with conditions as close as possible to the places where they live.Therefore, be patient, gather your will into a fist, and you can start breeding, and then a good business with a stable income.
At home, caterpillars, cocoons and moths are kept in special aquariums - insectaries. It is worth considering that different types of butterflies require different sizes of this aquarium. It is even interesting that large species of butterflies can die if the "living space" is too small for them, this is also worth paying attention to. Insectaries should be maintained at a high temperature and high humidity, as if in a tropical forest. To do this, you can use heaters and humidifiers, which are easy to find in any pet store.
It's a little more difficult to solve the feeding problem. You will need to fork out for a greenhouse, because you need to feed the insects with special tropical plants, and you will have to grow them yourself. Keep in mind that you will need a lot of so-called food, because caterpillars are real gluttons. And with feeding butterflies, things are easier, they are fed with natural honey, sweet fruits and sugar.
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Important!
Dry twigs must be placed in the container for growing butterflies. They are needed so that after its birth, the butterfly can hang upside down and dry its wings, this process usually lasts several hours. If this does not happen, your velvet girl (or many velvet girls) will never be able to fly, and you are unlikely to sell it to your customers.
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What to do if you failed to sell butterflies
And even if you did not manage to sell your butterflies on time, do not be discouraged, because they can be dried, decorated in a beautiful wooden frame and sold to real art connoisseurs. By the way, an interesting fact is that the price for such a small picture is about 2,000 rubles, and this is only a plus for your starting business.
Considering all of the above points, we can safely say that breeding butterflies at home is a good business with a taste of aesthetic pleasure.
We got a question from Tatiana: “How can you grow a butterfly at home? How long does she live in captivity? "
Cats, dogs, parrots, reptiles, fish, even spiders and cockroaches ... All these pets at home are no longer a rarity. But you want something new, unusual and beautiful! And butterflies will give you just such feelings. Because today you can admire them not only in nature, but also at home.
How to grow a butterfly at home
In fact, caring for a butterfly is not difficult. The main thing that is required from the owner of future beauty is patience. As you know, butterflies go through several stages in their development:
- eggs;
- caterpillars;
- pupae;
- butterflies.
Also read: Why pear doesn't bloom
You should know that pupae of moths turn into a mature individual in the ground: for them it will be necessary to cover the bottom with a layer of soil.
- Before the pupation process itself, the behavior of caterpillars changes: they stop eating, begin to behave restlessly.
- When the caterpillar hangs from the branch, you will notice how it begins to wind a cocoon around itself. When she is completely in the cocoon, you can start counting. You will soon have real live butterflies!
- Having got out of the chrysalis, the butterfly will hang on a branch for some time to spread its wings. If there are no branches nearby, and the butterfly does not spread its wings on them, it will not be able to fly.
- Feeding an adult butterfly is very simple: they eat honey or sugar (mixed with a little water), fresh fruit, and even fruit with rotten foulness.
Captive breeding
A couple of days after the "birth" of butterflies can be mated. But for mating you will need several generations of butterflies, because males hatch a little earlier than females (by a few days). Remember that on the fourth day of life, butterflies will no longer be able to reproduce.
For the mating itself, you will need a room, from three meters in height, for the free movement of butterflies, an insectarium. In the room, you need to create a high temperature - 28-30 degrees Celsius. Take care of sufficient humidity as well.
In addition to food for the butterflies themselves, there should be a fodder plant in the insectarium (many butterflies do not mate if it is not around).
You may also be interested in the article in which we talked about how to make a butterfly feeder. In addition, in this material we talked in more detail about what butterflies eat and how you can make a nutrient mixture for them.
How many butterflies live
At home, butterflies live longer - from one to three weeks. In nature, however, only a few days.
How to care for butterflies (video)
As you can imagine, butterflies at home are an excellent outlet for natures who appreciate beauty. You will get only pleasure and pleasant sensations from butterflies.
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21 August 2012
Oleg Markaryan
If we make a global rating of the most beautiful insects, then, undoubtedly, butterflies will secure the first place. Hardly anyone can resist the natural beauty of these incredible creatures. According to research by scientists, the first butterflies inhabited our planet back in the days of the dinosaurs - in the Jurassic period. Nowadays, these insects can be found on all continents, with the exception, perhaps, of Antarctica. Today we know over 200 thousand species of butterflies. Among them there are dwarfs several millimeters long, and real giants with a wingspan of up to 30 centimeters.
It is also curious that these bright and beautiful creatures have long ceased to be just an object of study by entomologists. Today, various wedding agencies and offices involved in organizing holidays and other significant events are happy to use butterflies as a living decoration for special events. And butterfly breeding is turning from an uncommon hobby into a promising and highly profitable business.
Who buys butterflies?
As mentioned above, the main consumers of these insects are a variety of holiday agencies. And their clients, in turn, are quite wealthy citizens of our country. After all, the cost of one butterfly sometimes reaches 1500-2000 rubles. And, of course, almost no one orders these beautiful insects in a single copy. If earlier (and even now) a couple of white doves were released during the wedding, today their place is gradually being taken by live tropical butterflies. The so-called salute from live butterflies. He is "preparing" as follows.
Slightly chilled and deprived of the desire to fly, butterflies are placed in a beautiful holiday box, decorated with gift paper and ribbons. The number of insects depends on the wishes and capabilities of the client.
The more butterflies in a box, the cheaper each one is. For example, a mini-salute of three tropical butterflies will cost the customer, on average, 3000 rubles. A huge "charge" of 50 insects will cost "only" 35,000 rubles. Of course, a lot depends on the type of butterflies. Some especially valuable breeds are estimated at 3000-4000 rubles per piece.
The box is closed and taken to the gala event. The temperature inside rises at the right time. The box opens, and bright multi-colored butterflies fly out of it in a beautiful stream. This spectacle, I must say, is very unusual and bewitching. Everyone is impressed - both the heroes of the occasion and their many guests.
They also practice another version of decorating the holiday with tropical butterflies. They are put in special envelopes, one in each. These envelopes are handed out to guests.At the right time, at the signal, everyone opens their envelopes, and dozens of beautiful butterflies fly out from there. Such a launch also gives rise to great excitement among the guests. Everyone is trying to keep track of the flight path of their own butterfly. And after the end of the event, guests often try to catch their butterfly and take it to their home, where it will delight the eye for several more weeks.
Butterflies are used not only for fireworks, but also as individual unusual gifts. Just imagine how your significant other or your friends give you a box containing a butterfly of unearthly beauty. Those who have already received such gifts say that the impression remains very strong. It is simply impossible to forget such a beautiful and non-standard gift.
Butterflies are actively used by holiday agencies in large cities of our country. But even there it is not so easy to find such an unusual service as a butterfly salute. As for the provincial cities, here this type of "decoration" of holidays and festive events is completely absent. This, in turn, opens up great prospects for aspiring entrepreneurs who are ready to connect their future activities with butterfly breeding. Few people know that to grow these beautiful creatures, you do not need to create a full-fledged laboratory. Everything can be done right at home.
Breeding butterflies at home
The easiest way is to find some fatty caterpillars somewhere in nature, bring them home, put them in a three-liter jar. Next, you need to wait until the caterpillar weaves a cocoon and turns into a pupa. After a while (from several days to several weeks) a butterfly will hatch from the pupa. That, in fact, is all. The only negative is that in this way you can only get local species of butterflies, which are unlikely to have fantastic colors. This means that you are unlikely to be able to profitably sell them to holiday agencies. This is the path of the common insect lover. We are interested in the path of an entrepreneur.
And for business, tropical breeds of butterflies are the best fit. They have a fantastic appearance and are quite large in size. You won't be able to find them in the nearest forest. Unless, of course, you are a resident of Brazil or New Zealand. There are three options left. The first is to purchase caterpillars from the same business butterfly breeding practitioners. The second is to independently go to the tropics and collect caterpillars there. After that, all that remains is to deliver the priceless cargo to your apartment. The third option for starting a business is optimal. You need to find and order a batch of dolls of the desired breed of butterflies via the Internet. Now finding firms selling dolls is not at all difficult. The cost of pupae of tropical breeds is from 50 to 300 rubles per piece. Delivery is carried out by mail or courier.
For the successful cultivation and further breeding of these insects, it is necessary to create conditions in your apartment that are as close as possible to those places where certain types of butterflies live. At home, caterpillars, cocoons and butterflies are kept in insectaries (insect aquariums). Different types of butterflies require different sizes of living space. You can read about this in numerous literature. Interestingly, even the caterpillars of many breeds require rather large containers for their cultivation. In small "enclosures" they can die. Since we are talking about tropical species, you must understand that the insectarium must be maintained at a high temperature and high humidity. Just like in a rainforest. This can be achieved with heaters and humidifiers, which are not difficult to find in any pet store.
It is much more difficult to solve the feeding problem. If you are breeding tropical butterflies, then the caterpillars will have to be fed with tropical plants.Some "butterfly farmers" are trying to replace them with other plants or even artificial mixtures. But this trick is not successful with all species. There is only one option left - to grow the necessary plants in a greenhouse. And some butterfly breeders do just that. Keep in mind that you will need a lot of food. After all, caterpillars are known to have a very good appetite. As for butterflies, it is a little easier to cope with their diet. They are fed with natural honey, sugar and sweet fruits.
Small dry twigs must be placed in the container for growing butterflies. They are necessary so that the butterfly, after its birth, can hang upside down and spread its wings. In this position, it dries the wings for several hours. If this does not happen, then she will never be able to fly. And you are unlikely to be able to sell such insects to your customers.
What to do with unsold butterflies?
Even if you didn't manage to sell all your butterflies on time, don't be upset. After all, even dried butterflies can be profitably sold to true connoisseurs of beauty and art. You just need to arrange them in a beautiful wooden frame, and an unusual volumetric picture is ready. It is curious that the cost of such a composition is made up of the prices for the butterfly itself and the frame. A small painting with one butterfly costs 2,000 rubles on average. Given this state of affairs, breeding butterflies can be called a very profitable and practically waste-free business.
