Caterpillar Kits

• The kit comes set up for you. The caterpillars arrive in the same container you rear them in. Includes:
• 4-5 Painted Lady Butterfly Larvae in a large rearing cup, on enough food to sustain them throughout their development
• An "accessory kit" containing a paintbrush for safe transport, and a feeding vial for the adults, and a replacement barrier for the lid
• Instructions are available online here
• Flight cages for your adult butterflies are sold separately, and are intended to be re-used from year to year. Our cages are entomological grade, the same we use: we do not offer disposable or cheaply made options that may endanger your animals. If you're looking for alternatives, check out our instruction section!

ORDER ONLINE

• The Kit #3 requires you to separate the caterpillars
• 12-15 Painted Lady Butterfly Larvae in a caterpillar cup
• All the food you will need in a separate food cup (refrigerate unused food)
• An "accessory kit" containing 30 individual 1oz vials for rearing each individual caterpillar, a paintbrush for safe transport, and a feeding vial for the adults
• Instructions are available online here 
• Flight cages for your adult butterflies are sold separately, and are intended to be re-used from year to year. Our cages are entomological grade, the same we use: we do not offer disposable or cheaply made options that may endanger your animals. If you're looking for alternatives, check out our instruction section!

ORDER ONLINE

• The Kit #4 requires you to separate the caterpillars
• 25-30 Painted Lady Butterfly Larvae in a caterpillar cup
• All the food you will need in a separate food cup (refrigerate unused food)
• An "accessory kit" containing 30 individual 1oz vials for rearing each individual caterpillar, a paintbrush for safe transport, and a feeding vial for the adults
• Instructions are available online here 
• Flight cages for your adult butterflies are sold separately, and are intended to be re-used from year to year. Our cages are entomological grade, the same we use: we do not offer disposable or cheaply made options that may endanger your animals. If you're looking for alternatives, check out our instruction section!

ORDER ONLINE

PDFs of our instructions for general care and releasing, as well as if you need to feed your butterflies, are online over on our instructions page. Head to the section called "Painted Lady Caterpillar Kits" and click the top button!

We will also provide a QR code in the box with your caterpillars! Full paper instructions can be provided by request.

The deadline for changing your order or cancelling it is 10 business days prior to your shipping or event date.*

Evenings, weekends, and stat or civic holidays are not acceptable for notification timelines. Note that if your cancellation occurs more than 24 hours after your order is placed, a refund cheque fee fo $9.00 will apply.

To cancel an order: please send us an email with the subject line “ATTN: CANCEL (your invoice)”

Failure to provide sufficient notice on any order may result in application of rehoming, resource, or rescheduling fees, or complete forefeit of payment.

This is because for Caterpillar Kits, the eggs for your caterpillars begin being laid 10 days prior to shipping. If your notice is less than 10 days, those larvae will now be without homes when they hatch. We cannot always find buyers for them.

 If your order has already shipped, or it is less than 1 business day in advance of your of your shipping date, we will not be able to recover them from the mail stream in time. 

Your butterfly rearing project will take 3-4 weeks to complete once they arrive to you. Exact length of time is based on local conditions: butterflies are very sensitive to environmental cues such as heat, humidity, air quality, smoke, etc. 

Shipping too costly? Get a few friends or colleagues together, and place a group order to combine your delivery fees into one. We can fit 10-12 caterpillar kits in a box before shipping rates go up:

• All items must be going to the same destination. 
• Rates don't change until the box becomes bigger than 12x12x12".  That's 10-12 caterpillar kits, but less if there are large items such as Red Wiggler Worms or Hatchlings Kits. 
• We cannot split the order up or invoice separate participants individually. All items in a combined or group shipment must appear on the same invoice. 

To place a group order:

• Choose a contact person. Usually this is the person receiving the box. They will be handling the communications with us and will be handling the order.
• All items on the order must be submitted together.
• You will receive one invoice that totals your bill.
• Our email payment system can accommodate multiple payments on one invoice, but we cannot invoice items separately.
• Existing orders can be revised only by the contact person who placed the order. We cannot approve changes by someone other than the official contact on the order. Please do not tell people they can phone us and add onto an order to get shipping discounts: we cannot authorize this.
  

Subsequent replacements and warranty claims must be reported through the original contact person on the group order.

 We have butterfly rearing kits available from late April to June, yearly.

• We start take preorders starting September 1 of the year prior. You can order online, email us, or call our office (780-462-1839). 
• Our schedule is based on historical weather patterns, migratory data of Painted lady butterflies, and may be affected in-season by current conditions

2025 Shipping Dates:

• Tuesday, April 22 (schools only)
• Monday, April 28 (schools only)
• Monday, May 5 (schools only)
• Monday, May 12
• Tuesday, May 20
• Thursday, May 22 (Edmonton Public School Board Only)
• Monday, May 26
• Monday, June 2
• Monday, June 9 (Teachers: this is too late for completion by end of most school years)

We do not offer pickup.

We ship weekdays only and the caterpillars can safely go 5 days in the box.

Your shipping date is not a delivery date.

The following rates are based on standard boxes and do not include oversize boxes* (greater than 12"x12"x12"):

Within Edmonton City Limits   $18.00
(local courier: delivery is same day as shipping)***
Within 40 KM of Edmonton        $20.00
(Purolator Express: allow minimum overnight for delivery, usually arrives within 2 days)

Calgary                                            $30.00

(Purolator Express: allow minimum overnight for delivery, usually arrives within 2 days)

Elsewhere in Alberta:                  $35.00
(Purolator Express: allow minimum overnight for delivery, usually arrives within 2 days)
MB, SK, BC                                       $45.00 
(Purolator Express: allow minimum overnight for delivery, usually arrives within 2-3 days)
Ontario, Quebec                           $55.00
(Purolator Express: allow minimum overnight for delivery, usually arrives within 2-4 days)
NS, NB, PEI:                                     $70.00
(Purolator Express: allow minimum overnight for delivery, usually arrives within 2-4 days)
NL**, Yukon, NWT, Nunavut:         $90+

(Buffalo Air, Air North, sometimes Purolator by special arrangement. Timeline will be quoted.)

**Any customers ordering live insects in Newfoundland and Labrador will be asked to provide the required provincial import permits for handling wildlife.

***Mechanical delays and natural disasters are rare but can cause occasional shipping delays beyond the recommended timelines listed above (examples: downed planes, flat tires, flood, fires)