Butterfly pavilions are amazing places to visit. Sometimes called butterfly conservatories or insect zoos, these large enclosed environments are designed to be ideal habitats for butterflies. The one at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C., for example, is kept at 80° F, with a humidity level of 80%. It is the perfect tropical oasis for the 500 butterflies that live there.
It can be both fun and educational to visit a butterfly pavilion. But can you imagine how amazing it would be to have one in your own backyard?
Believe it or not, it’s completely possible to construct a butterfly pavilion. It can be as small or as large as you want. Small ones are easy to create out of repurposed material. Or, if you prefer to take on a larger project, you could build one from scratch. Either way, all you need is a frame and some fine screening. Once the shelter is finished and stocked with foodstuffs, it’s ready to host your butterfly eggs, larvae, and/or adult butterflies.
How to Create a Small Butterfly Pavilion
Mesh Pop-Up Cube or Hamper
The fastest, easiest way to “build” a small butterfly pavilion is to simply buy a mesh pop-up cube or laundry hamper. Just make sure that it has a zippered closure. That way, your pavilion is done and dusted in one easy step.
Tabletop Pavilion from Repurposed Items
If you’d like to get more crafty, a small tabletop butterfly pavilion is an easy afternoon project. It can also be quite economical if you use repurposed items.
First, you need a frame. Poke around your house and garage to see what might work. You could use things like a tomato cage, a wire birdhouse, or one of those shelving units that have pole frames. You could also patch together a frame out of a cardboard base and plastic tubing or embroidery hoops as shown in this piece at instructables.com.
You also need some fine screening or mesh fabric. The size of the mesh is an important consideration. If you collect butterfly eggs to hatch, you need superfine mesh to prevent tiny day-old larvae from crawling out. But if you intend to seek out caterpillars for your pavilion, the openings in your screening can be larger. If you’re keen to repurpose something, look for tulle (perhaps from a child’s princess costume or wedding decor), mosquito netting, or aluminum window screening.
Once you have your frame and your mesh fabric, you just need to figure out how to attach them. Alecia provides detailed instructions for creating a tomato cage pavilion at her Chicken Scratch NY blog. Even if you’re using a different type of frame, her instructions should prove helpful.
However you attach your screening to your frame, make sure you leave a way to reach into the pavilion. You’ll need to deposit butterfly eggs or larvae inside, provide fresh food daily, clean regularly, and release the butterflies once they’ve emerged from their chrysalides.
How to Build a Butterfly Pavilion
Whether you build a pavilion that fits on a countertop or one that is gazebo-sized, you need the same basic frame and screening as described above.
Basic woodworking skills are all you need to create a dollhouse-sized cage, like the one at Randy and Meg’s Garden Paradise blog. If you want to go bigger, it may be easiest to repurpose an actual gazebo, like Elizabeth Mann and her family did. Make no mistake: a gazebo-sized pavilion is an ambitious undertaking, particularly in terms of attaching the screening. The Mann family used 450 yards of thread to hand sew the screening into place! But if you’re up for the work, the end result would be incredible.
How to Maintain a Butterfly Pavilion
Of course, butterflies survive on their own in nature. But if they’re confined to a pavilion, they’ll need your help to stay healthy through all stages of their life cycle.
- Keep the pavilion out of direct sunlight and protected from wind.
- Provide fresh food plants daily. Butterflies deliberately choose which host plants to lay their eggs on. Once hatched, larvae don’t move around very much. They spend most of their time eating their host plants and storing energy for their upcoming metamorphosis. If you relocate butterfly eggs or larvae from a plant, you can trust that that plant is their preferred food source. That is the plant that you’ll need to stock in your pavilion. It’s a good idea to rinse it off before placing it in the enclosure.
- Clean the pavilion daily, removing frass (caterpillar poop) and disinfecting the “floor,” to help prevent disease.
- Before you discard any day-old leaves, check both sides to make sure no caterpillars are hanging on. If any are, use a paintbrush to gently move them to new leaves.
- Plan to release your butterflies once their wings are dry (about three hours after they emerge from their chrysalides). But make sure the weather is favourable for their release. Ideal weather conditions are sunny skies and temperatures of at least 15C.
Creating a butterfly pavilion for your backyard can be as simple as purchasing a covered mesh container. Or, if you prefer, it can be an easy–or complex!–DIY project. However you devise your pavilion, it’s worth it! Watching butterflies progress through their life cycle, and especially metamorphose, is educational and awe-inspiring. Pavilions also help maintain the butterfly population, giving them a safe, protected area to grow before they fly off to perpetuate their life cycle.
Leave a Reply