The Joys and Perils of Rearing Butterflies

For a number of years, Robb and I have been collecting the anise swallowtail caterpillars we find on our garden fennel and rearing them in a tank. We do this to protect them from predation, and to bring a little bit of magic into our lives. For the past few years, we've kept the tank outside. We have a really tiny house, and a box full of caterpillars takes up an awful lot of space. This may be a beneficial choice. There's some indication that monarch butterflies raised indoors by commercial hatcheries lose their ability to migrate, which means that those butterflies one buys to release at weddings or for school events may be doomed from the start. The anise swallowtails we raise aren't migratory, but perhaps raising them outside may be better for them in ways we can't understand. Or maybe I'm just fooling myself that there's any value in interfering in the natural order. Maybe I should leave well enough alone