One neighbor’s butterfly breeding hobby multiplies hundreds of Monarchs across Southwest Florida

Walking through the streets of a neighborhood during sundown will typically guarantee the sight of owners taking their pets for an evening walk. Many of these owners spend the afternoon taking care of their loving companions after a long day work. Unlike her neighbors in her neighborhood, however, Shannon Fibbe has — what some would call — a very unusual pet to take care of when arriving home.

Among a sea of neighboring communities stands Fibbe’s house, clearly distinguishable as the “butterfly house.” Fibbe tends her countless Monarch butterflies among the numerous Milkweed plants packed in her backyard.

“Oh my gosh, so exciting. We go out there almost daily,” Fibbe said.

Fibbe’s yard is filled with 3-feet-tall nets enclosures holding Milkweed plants, the Monarch butterfly’s food source, from shoulder to shoulder. The Chrysalises, the green bubbles that hold the caterpillars into butterflies during their transformation, hang on the brim inside the white and green nets that sit next closely next to each other.

As soon as the caterpillars become butterflies, Fibbe releases them. Soon after, she sees butterflies coming back to her house to lay their eggs — hundreds of them.

“They can lay between three and 400 eggs during that whole timeframe,” Fibbe said. “But in captivity, they recorded as many as 1,000 eggs laid in that short two-to-five-week period. It’s wild.”

Her two-year-old, butterfly-breading hobby quickly multiplied Monarch butterflies all over the Lindsford community. Now, the community is packed with these fluttering creatures flapping their wings through the lens flairs of the warm colored houses.

Fibbe said that her Lindsford Community neighbords loved her hobby, and she quickly became a mentor for her new neighbors in Babcock Ranch when she moved.

“So in Lindsford people thought it was always cool, and in my new neighborhood, my neighbors love it because they have nectar in their yard,” she said. “They said that since I moved in, and I bred butterflies they have seen so many more butterflies and they love it.”

Fibbe started this hobby in 2018 when a neighbor asked if anyone had Milkweed plants for her butterflies. Then, she borrowed a plant, bred one season’s worth, and got to work. Since then, Fibbe has continued to breed her Monarch butterflies in her miniature greenhouse.

“When my dad realized I started really getting into butterflies, he bought me a book. So, I have a book on them. A lot of time and money has gone into them,” she said. “It’s not so much work that I can’t handle it and I like that time that I have to be taking care of my plants and animals, so I enjoy it.”

With her season’s worth of Milkweed plants and having her monarch butterfly book handy, Fibbe’s hobby officially launched. Fast forward to 2021, Fibbe continues to breed dozens of these insects with her husband and daughters Penelope, 4 and Claire, 2.

Fibbe said it’s become a tradition to name each butterfly depending on how they look, or the transformation went. Howard, Jasmine, and Nala are all names among of their latest blooms

“Every time they emerge, we all go out as a family and we pick a name. Then, we let them fly away and release them,” she said.

Fibbe said her family has felt thrilled to see the caterpillar-to-butterfly transformation process countless times.

“They look under the leaves. And I’ll know something’s already out there because I’ve already looked. And they’ll say ‘Mommy! Mommy!’” she said. “My kids they think is really cool. And they love them.”

The process of breeding butterflies is complex in more ways than one. The hands-on task involves taking buying the right combination of plants, soils and atmosphere. Fibbe said the techniques are necessary to ensure that the caterpillars will have a healthy transformation due to their sensitive nature.

“I think it’s definitely maybe a little bit more complex than people would think,” she said. “They have a high a mortality rate. It’s not just as simple as ‘oh, I set a plan outside and mother nature does itself.’”

Not only can the process be tedious, but it can definitely be expensive.

“it’s decently expensive,” Fibbe said, “you have to buy the plant from a nursery and there are certain ones that are cheaper than others.”

Buying the specific type of plant, soil, gardening tools, and cage nets can accumulate a hefty price tag over time. Even then, the plants are not always reusable for the next batch of caterpillars. As a caterpillar, the Monarchs eat the Milkweed plants, leaving the plant bare from the root to the stem.

At the end of the day, though, Fibbe said that the work pays off. She said is overjoyed to see the glowing faces of her kids when they know their fluttering friend has left new eggs on their plants.

“They know the entire process, both of them, from start to finish for monarch Caterpillar because we do it over and over,” she said.

After all the work and effort in breeding the butterflies, Fibbe said she doesn’t have to think twice before deciding that she will name them.

“We spent all this time and energy, you know, a long time to care for them,” she said.

Fibbe has bred so many Monarch butterflies, that she has had to donate some, which she says is an actually it’s a blessing. Since Monarch Butterflies are on the endangered species list, Fibbe said she is delighted to contribute her own mark to the environment.

“So right now, monarchs are technically endangered. They’re protected under that right now. You know, I kind of want to do my part to help them.”

With so many butterflies, Fibbe partnered with Joyce Samsel, Founder and Project Manager at Florida Monarch Research and Educational Project in Cape Coral to donate the butterflies. Now, Fibbe’s butterflies flutter around the Shell Factory’s butterfly diplay.

“I called her and said, ‘I have way too many, I do not have enough food, my friends don’t have enough food,’” Fibbe said. “I think I gave her like between six and 12 [plants], I forget how many I gave her. She has thousands of plants. She can just pluck them and put them on a plant, it’s no deal to her.”

Fibbe does not plan on stopping anytime soon. In fact, she has reciprocated her knowledge to her new neighbors to continue growing the monarch breeding interest.

“In my new neighborhood I have lent my plant and enclosure to a few moms so their children could experience the process as well,” she said. “I also had one neighbor approach me about helping her plan her garden because she wanted to attract more butterflies.”