Painted Ladies in Our Tropical Butterfly House

Our typical pupae shipments do not include Painted Lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui) although a lot of people ask if we have them because they are most often the species of butterfly used in classroom butterfly kits. Occasionally however, Painted Lady butterflies end up in our Tropical Butterfly House. Here is one story of how they found their way in!

Last October, Horticulture volunteer Deirdre called us because her second graders and another second grade class had just completed their butterfly unit at Parkwood Elementary School. Their studies concluded with over 40 Painted Lady butterflies in flight cages. Although it is true that you can care for butterflies in the flight cage from a typical emergence kit, there is not very much room for them to fly. As a result, many people opt to release their butterflies outdoors making sure sure the species is not invasive to the region before doing so. As a volunteer at Pacific Science Center, Deirdre knew that October weather in Seattle would not be optimal for such a release. The Parkwood Elementary Painted Lady butterflies were in need of a good home, so she got in touch with the Animal Care department. We arranged a release for the classroom’s butterflies into our Tropical Butterfly House.

Deirdre dropped them off herself, and with the assistance of Animal Caretakers Lauren and Katie, released each and every one into the house. Her students had each raised a butterfly, from caterpillar to pupa to butterfly, so Deirdre knew how attached they had become to their butterflies; each butterfly had a name. In order to celebrate their release, and give the kids a chance to say goodbye, Deirdre asked us to take pictures of their first moments in our Tropical Butterfly House.

When Deirdre showed her class the pictures from their release, they were so excited:

“That’s Turbo there! On that fruit!” one kid exclaimed.

“And that’s Kate! I recognize her!” shouted another.

The Painted Ladies from Parkwood Elementary School spent the rest of their lives in our Tropical Butterfly House and some of the kids even got a chance to come visit them!

If you ever end up with Painted Lady butterflies (or other species) in the winter, call us a week before you would like to drop them off and they could live in our Tropical Butterfly House too. Another solution: wait to start your butterfly kit when the weather is warm and dry, so that you can release your Painted Ladies into the wild!


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Butterfly Surprise

Anyone who works with live animals gets used to occasional surprises. When a nursing home chose to use painted lady butterflies as a centerpiece for a Mother’s day party, they thought they had chosen a nice time of year, when the butterflies, a species native to the area, would have warm weather and ample flowers to feast on once the event was over. But surprise! Spring is starting very late this year, and the butterflies did not show much interest in flying out on a cold, grey day.




One of the nursing home employees remembered that Pacific Science Center has a butterfly house. Although we normally feature more tropical species, the hardy painted lady is perfectly happy in our exhibits.


Life Sciences Manger Sarah Moore got a surprise when she went to pick up the butterflies. Their carrying cases were nearly as pretty as they were. The butterflies were happy to feel the warm air and quickly found flowers to drink nectar from. We hope they like it here.


Pacific Science Center encourages anyone thinking of raising or buying butterflies to plan in advance for the whole life cycle of these animals. Butterflies often surprise us by emerging from the chrysalis earlier or later than expected. The weather is also not as cooperative as we might hope and a butterfly emerging in your house on a rainy day can pose a real dilemma!


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