Instructor:  Edith Smith

Course begins February 4 – March 1, 2013

Thousands of Monarch Pupae

Free for members (full/associate only)

$75  (US$) non-members

Please Register Here:  Registration

Disease in Butterfly/Lepidoptera Course

There are certain basics that butterfly farmers and butterfly breeders use to prevent disease when possible and eliminate disease in butterflies when it strikes.  This course takes you through those basics.

Information in this course applies to every operation of butterfly farming, from a table top rearing process (butterfly hobbyist and fun level) to large butterfly farms rearing thousands of butterflies each week.

Each week for three weeks, you will receive your course material for that week.  A course online mailing list, with insect pathologists on board, will provide means for classroom discussion.

Week One covers:

• Butterfly Breeding Stock
• Butterfly Egg Production
• Signs and Symptoms of Disease in Caterpillars
• Sanitation
• Disinfecting Butterfly Eggs
• And More….

Week Two covers:

• Disease Transmission
• Disease Triggers
• Butterfly Breeding Stock
• Caterpillar Rearing Environment
• Sanitizing Butterfly Eggs & Pupae
• Larvae Food
• Disease Disposal
• And More….

Week Three covers:

• Specific Diseases in Butterflies
• Disinfecting recipe and directions
• Stain recipe and directions
• OE
• Nosema
• How to determine if your butterfly stock has these diseases
• Bacteria
• Fungi
• And more

Week Four:

Your final exam will be emailed to you.  All participants who correctly return the vocabulary words, passes the weekly quizzes, and passes the final exam will be issued certification for completion of the course.  Any answer which is incorrect will be returned for correction.  The whole purpose is to learn!

If participants do not wish to take the quizzes and exams; no problem!  They are required only for a Certificate of Completion.

Technical assistance was provided and the course was edited by Ms. Amanda Lawrence and Leellen Solter PhD, Insect Pathologists.

Ms. Lawrence and Dr. Solter are two of the three insect pathologists who graciously agreed to be Consultants for the Association for Butterflies in 2006.  Dr. Dryon Boucias of the University of Florida has taken time to answer questions for subscribers of the free Butterfly Enthusiasts and Farmers List several times in the past. These three offered to answer questions which arise at any time during the year.  The Association for Butterflies ‘ (AFB’s) designated spokesperson gathers questions from members and sends these questions to one or more of these three professionals when disease discussion reaches a point where additional information is needed.

Please join us!

Past course participants have written:

* “I feel this course was well worth taking. I would tell other to sign up. It really gives you lots of things to think about and a better way to approach the things you see happening.”

* “This course is very helpful and worthwhile taking because it will give a lot of answers and will broaden one’s horizon. Additionally, it is most important to exchange information and to get a deeper understanding since it is a complex subject that, unless one is a scientist might be difficult to understand.”

* “I now understand disease better and how it is transmitted and ways to prevent and handle disease.”

* “Learning more about butterfly diseases such as NPV and Nosema was my main reason for taking this course. I learned a great deal, and have a more solid basis as to what to watch for, and how to contain an outbreak if it should occur again.”

Butterfly breeders/farmers face the challenge of fighting nature’s method of keeping butterflies from becoming extinct.  Nature MUST kill most butterflies before they become adults to keep a balance in nature.  In a farming operation, it is necessary to save most butterflies until they become adults.  Diseases wait outside our doors, inside butterflies (latent, not active), and in sprays in garden supply stores.