Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I'm working on a science project that involves butterflies and how temperature affects it's growth. So far, I can't find any eggs or larvaes to use--they're either too expansive because the company is half way around the world and the shipping costs a lot or it's not available.

Does anyone know any company/departments that have eggs or larvae that I can use for my science project? Or is there a substitute to use instead of butterflies, like flies? Oh, and I live in California.


Thanks for reading and please respond!!

You can contact this company in Redding and explain what your needs. They should be able to answer your questions and/or advise you on another insect to use.

Beneficial Insectary
9664 Tanqueray Ct.
Redding, CA 96003

Tel: 1-530-226-6300 or
1-800-477-3715
Fax: 1-530-226-6310 or
1-888-472-0708

E-mail: [email protected]
Billing: [email protected]

WHO'S WHO @ BENEFICIAL INSECTARY
Good luck with your project.

Matthew W. Mulanax, Ph.D.

Hi catfurpat13,

Unless you live at a very high elevation, you should be able to find snail eggs this time of year. Just ask any of your neighbors who have a garden to help you find some; snail eggs are laid in clusters, and you can find them just under the soil surface. These should be perfect for doing a controlled temperature experiment. Or, collect some "pet" snails and keep them for a couple of weeks, and you should have some eggs. There are lots of beetles that become active this time of year, but these are a little harder to find.

Lady bug and butterfly projects are great, but it's usually best to work with locally grown specimens and in California, you would start a project like this in early spring, and collect data for 2-3 months. Then your project is complete for the next science fair. In the San Francisco Bay Area, we have lots of aphids, leafhoppers, Anise swallowtail butterflies, and ladybugs that hatch from March-April.

Donna Hardy

Hi catfurpat13,

I thought of another free organism you could use for your temperature controlled experiment. Fruit flies. Just put a piece of damaged fruit out where the temperature gets up to at least 65 degrees F, inside or out, and you will have fruit flies in just a few days. You could impress the judges by doing your experiment with hundreds of test subjects. This is a great organism for doing science fair projects.

Donna Hardy