[Essential Guide] 3rd Grade: Read This If You're Struggling with Cabbage White Butterfly Rearing!

Hello!
I'm Yuki, a teacher in my 40s with 20 years of experience, currently raising a 2nd-grade son.

My article on cabbage white butterfliesseems to be getting a lot of traffic, so I've created a short version summarizing only the information needed at this time of year.

This is for those who want to quickly know only about caring for 3rd-grade cabbage white butterflies! Here you go.

Get some eggs! If you really can't find any, you can make them lay some.

Rearing cabbage white butterflies starts with the challenge of getting eggs. If your school has cruciferous plants, they might come and lay eggs there, but it's too late to plant them now!
In that case, catch a few cabbage white butterflies flying around and put them in a rearing case with some cabbage leaves.It's even better if you include some cotton or paper towels soaked in sugar water. (It's okay if you don't.)
There are ways to tell males from females by how they fly, but it's difficult for amateurs, so rely on numbers.If you catch a few, you're bound to have some females.
If you wait two or three days, they will very likely lay eggs on the cabbage leaves. (Sometimes as early as the next day!)
Keeping the leaves fresh increases the chances of them laying eggs!
With this, you can definitely get some eggs.

Devised by a teacher with 20 years of experience! A foolproof 'no-care' rearing technique

Textbooks have rearing methods, but my foolproof way is simple: just put the leaves with the eggs or larvae you've collected into a 500mL plastic bottle cut in half, and place that inside a larger rearing case.
You don't need to do anything for two or three days.
You don't even need to put them in a rearing case at first.
When the leaves with the larvae start to wilt, place fresh replacement leaves in the same bottle.
The larvae will then move to the new leaves on their own and start eating.
Once all the larvae have moved, discard the old leaves.
This way, you can raise them to the end without touching them and accidentally weakening them.
However, please follow this one rule.
Use pesticide-free cabbage leaves!
Even if you wash store-bought cabbage well, it cannot be used as food for cabbage white butterfly larvae. They will weaken and die.

From larvae to pupae! It's important to prevent 'escapes'

In about two weeks, the larvae will become pupae, so please put them in a rearing case just before that happens. Right before they pupate, the larvae will leave their food and wander around looking for a place to pupate.
(I've had them escape several times, finding pupae on the classroom wall, or arriving at the classroom one morning to find a butterfly fluttering around the room, wondering where it came from (laughs))

To prevent that, once you feel they have grown large enough,put them in the rearing case along with the cabbage leaves.If you do that, they should pupate on the underside of the rearing case lid.

Once all the larvae have pupated, you don't need the leaves, so clear them out. They often pupate on the underside of the lid, but if they pupate on a leaf, before the leaf rots,cut out just the area around the pupa and tape it to the classroom walland you might be able to see them emerge during class!

Finally, the moving moment! Let's watch from emergence to mating

About a week later, when the butterfly emerges from the pupa, if you put it back in the rearing case with new cabbage leaves,you might be able to see the next cycle.It's also nice to release them outside from the window.
If you keep them in the classroom, give the butterflies sugar water (1 part sugar to 7 parts water, change daily) or honey diluted with water.It's safe to soak cotton or paper towels in sugar water so it doesn't spillIf you put a few together, they will usually mate. I've had students panic and report, 'Teacher, help!! The butterflies are tangled up!' and when I went to look, it was mating.
Once mating is over, they will lay eggs on the cabbage leaves, and you can use those eggs to

observe the next cycle with the children again.

Conclusion

I've summarized only the care parts needed during this time of year (around May to June) for 3rd graders.
If you are a teacher with extra energy, or if you are thinking of preparing something for next year's 3rd graders, please be sure to read the full version.
When cabbage white butterflies are raised successfully, the children are truly overjoyed.
'Teacher! It turned into a butterfly!!'
The moment that voice echoes through the classroom is something I never tire of seeing.
I hope you have a wonderful observation in your class too (*ˊ˘ˋ*)♡

Reference sites

• [How to raise cabbage white butterfly larvae] Explaining necessary goods and points of caution

• Hobby Swallowtail Pavilion - Cabbage White Butterfly Larvae