Who wants pained lady butterflies for their chameleons?

pssh

Avid Member
Hey all!

I am considering breeding and selling painted lady butterfly caterpillars as an enrichment feeder for your chameleons (and other reptiles/insects) Obviously the more I can sell, the cheaper I can sell them for so I am wondering who would be interested? It's a tad expensive to start up, so I don't want to buy everything and breed them to find that no one wants them! I would be selling cups of 5-6 (maybe of 11-12 if it all goes well the first time around,) artificial Dry powdered food, artificial dry powdered nectar for the butterflies, host plant seeds for the butterflies, and possibly even eggs. I suppose I might be able to sell pre-made food and nectar if there is a demand for it, and maybe some small pop-up butterfly tents/cages if requested by others.
 
I would take some too. I have been contemplating getting some for a couple of years now and just never did it.
 
I dont think you could send to me as Im in Canada, but if you could I would buy them in winter. (I use wild caught ones in summer and the chameleons love them). I considered raising them myself but I just dont have the time for keeping yet another type of bug. I hope someone in canada starts offering these as a feeder!
 
I'll have to see if that would be possible without too many obsticles.

If anyone in Canada is seriously considering breeding them, I can help point them in the right direction. It's not incredibly hard, but it's fairly expensive to get it going.
 
Alrighty, well I'd like to know what kind of prices you guys would like to see. I was thinking something along the lines of this for the first few batches and see how it goes.

Cat cups
1 cup *- $13 ($13 a cup)
2 cups - $24 ($12 a cup)
3 cups - $32 ($11 a cup)
4 cups - $40 ($10 a cup)
5 cups - $45 ($9 a cup)

fair price? Too expensive? Tell me whatcha think!
 
5-6, although I suppose I could give the option to add 4-5 for a few extra dollars. The artificial food is not cheap!
 
I think they'd be a great feeder and i would be interested also. But your going to have to think about your price per feeder and make it affordable. Even if you sell the cups for 9.00 each and you incl. 13 cats per cup + 10 bux to ship em = $1.46 per feeder. Now thats basically hornworm prices. I think your going to have a hard time selling them at any higher price than that. Jmo
 
I would definitely buy some. They would be great for my picky eaters, like my Senegals that only eat flying insects at the moment.

One a side note, does anyone know if Tent caterpillars are toxic? I have heard yes and no.
 
Yeah, these butterflies are very expensive to keep up and breed. If I don't sell them at somewhat high prices, then I can't keep up with them and purchase better supplies. I believe mine would be cheaper than mulberryfarm's cups. Maybe I can go down 50-75 cents on each cup and have 10-12 a cup from the start, but it would take at least a month longer than my original plan. Winter is also approaching, so I have to keep these I doors (which takes up a LOT of room in order to breed them year round.

Painted ladies are not hornworms. Food is no where near as cheap or easy to access. These are exotic feeders, not regular feeders. 10-12 cats per cup for only $13 is almost the same price as if you were ordering bulk (100+ cats) and $9 per cup is waaaay cheaper than the bulk prices even. I'm offering a great deal. I can't go that much cheaper or I wouldn't be able to keep up with the food requirements of the cats.
 
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