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Adopt a Butterfly at the Butterfly House

Remember that fish your kid begged for–but you get to clean the tank? Or the dog you have to walk? Or the gerbil…you get the idea. Kids LOVE pets, but they don’t always want to help with the smelly part of pet ownership. 

adopt a butterfly at the butterfly house

The Butterfly House has the perfect pet for you! 

You can now adopt butterflies at the Butterfly House in St. Louis. Ok, ok, you don’t get to keep the little guys, but do get to support the Butterfly House and their efforts to conserve butterflies in the wild. Which means you get all the fun of pet ownership without the mess. 

adopt a butterfly at the butterfly house

Release Butterflies at the Butterfly House

The best part of adopting a butterfly is doing a butterfly release! A staffer will put 10 newly hatched butterflies into a big mesh box for you to release into the conservatory.

The Butterfly House invited me to visit and photograph a release for free, but I couldn’t wait until Mitch had a day off school. So I borrowed my friend’s pre-schooler and headed over pronto! The release was so much fun, I’ll do it again with Mitch on my own dime–maybe this weekend or during his next half day.

Butterfly House entomologist Tad Yankoski helped us with the release. He had 10 blue morphos waiting for us in a mesh box and invited 3-year -old Hattie to unzip the bag. Then Tad shook the bag so Hattie could watch the butterflies fly away up close. An older kid can do the bag shaking–I think Hattie was just being shy.

butterfly house adopt a butterfly

The best part was when one of the butterfly’s landed on her leg!

RSVP for a Butterfly Adoption and Release

You’ll need to RSVP for a butterfly release–call 314-577-0888 to set up an appointment. The Butterfly House has to restock the conservatory with hundreds of freshly hatch butterfly every week, so there should be plenty to go around!

butterfly house adopt a butterfly fly

You can Adopt a Butterfly with a Release for $75 or just Adopt a Butterfly (no release) for $50.

butterfly house adopt a butterfly fly

When you Adopt a Butterfly you’ll get an adoption certificate, your name on the butterfly wall, a plush butterfly to keep and two tickets to return and visit your butterfly friends. 

You can now adopt butterflies at the Butterfly House in St. Louis.

The Butterfly House is one of my favorite places to visit with kids in St. Louis, and this adoption program just makes it even MORE special. Do it for a birthday or just do it for FUN!

Check out my review of Morpho Mardi Gras here and learn how to make a cool paper blue morpho here.