When Your Rearing Kit Will Ship

Our Monarch Rearing Kits contains fourteen to sixteen first to third instar monarch larvae (caterpillars) and rearing instructions. The larvae arrive in small cups and must be transferred to milkweed plants or leaves to feed.

Kits are shipped via UPS Next Day Air for delivery Tuesday through Friday. We cannot guarantee a specific delivery date. However, we do our best to fill all of the orders each week. If for any reason, there is a chance your kit(s) will not be delivered the week you requested you will be notified via email (if provided) by Thursday of the requested week.  We will send you an email with tracking information when your order ships. 

We are not responsible for packages that are delivered to receiving departments, delayed in delivery to the intended recipient, or are left unattended at a residence. Please provide an appropriate delivery address and make arrangements for someone to accept your package.

We only ship larvae to areas within the United States, east of the continental divide due to USDA federal regulations. 

• Montana prohibits live monarchs to be shipped anywhere in the state.
• Connecticut no longer allows the release of butterflies with the exception of Educational institutions, Zoos, Nature Centers, and similar organizations.

You must have fresh milkweed for your caterpillars. Please make sure you have a fresh, uncontaminated source before your caterpillars are shipped. We are not responsible for caterpillar mortality due to inappropriate or contaminated food sources. Each caterpillar generally needs 18 inches of milkweed to pupate. Pupation will occur in about 10 days and adults will emerge 10-14 days after pupation. 

Where We Ship Rearing Kits

Monarch Watch's focus is Eastern population; the group of monarchs that breed in states east of the Rocky Mountains in summer and migrate to central Mexico annually in the fall.

• We only ship larvae to areas within the United States, east of the continental divide due to USDA federal regulations.
  • Montana prohibits live monarchs to be shipped anywhere in the state.
  • Connecticut no longer allows the release of butterflies with the exception of Educational institutions, Zoos, Nature Centers, and similar organizations.

The group of monarchs, cleverly dubbed the Western population, breed west of the Rocky Mountains and migrate to southern California (one of the major overwintering sites is Pacific Grove, CA) annually. The consensus among Monarch biologists (although the topic is still debated in certain circles) is that the two populations are genetically distinct. That is, they aren't known to interbreed. For information on tagging and rearing monarchs west of the Rockies please contact The Xerces Society or Monarch Alert.

Rearing in Canada

Due to the high shipping costs and the amount of paperwork involved (permits & customs), we do not ship caterpillars to Canada. However, if you check with the places listed below you should be able to find someone who can provide you with monarchs.