Buyers Beware!

Swallowtail Farms is the "Original Butterfly Company" and has been in business for over 2 decades. We have produced over a million beautiful monarch and painted lady butterflies since 1993. Our experience, high standards and special methods including our Flight Proven™ Technology result in your butterflies:

Arriving as promised Will be vibrant and lively Flying in stunning beauty Prompt Customer Service Unique and high quality packaging

Unfortunately, not all butterfly breeders are on the up-and-up, hence our warning: Buyers Beware! We highly recommend that you ask the following questions as you shop around for a live butterfly supplier:

Do you have an A+ rating from the Better Business Burea? The BBB has given us an A+ rating based upon their independent review of our customer service and product quality. Believe it or not, most butterfly businesses have less than an A rating and there are several with an F rating. So, when shopping around, be sure to get a 3rd party opinion of the quality of the company's products and customer service. To look up a company, please click on the link to go to the BBB website.

What is your guarantee? We guarantee the butterflies to be alive and healthy or your money back. We also offer a special weather cancellation waiver for up to the value of 8 dozen butterflies. Additionally, if you are unable to use the butterflies at your event due to a late delivery, we will provide a guarantee of up to 50% of the cost of the butterflies including shipping. See HERE for further details of our guarantee and cancellation policy.

Do you ship overnight in insulated containers? Standard containers are not enough to protect butterflies from heat. It takes only 1-2 hours in a hot delivery van to kill most butterflies. At Swallowtail Farms, we developed the original system of shipping butterflies in cooled containers, now the industry standard.

Does each butterfly come in a release box? We are the ONLY company that provides individual boxes for Painted Lady butterflies in addition to Monarch butterflies. Many companies pack their butterflies in thin paper origami envelopes which often pop open during shipping which allows the butterflies to escape. Additionally, they are more difficult to hold and it is very easy to accidentally squish the butterfly.

Our standard release boxes are stylish and elegant, yet designed to keep the butterfly safe. They are rigid enough to protect the butterfly from handling so that you won't have to worry about a squished or escaped butterfly. For mass releases, butterflies are shipped in special glassine transfer envelopes which are designed for the protection of the butterfly. (Glassine envelopes work well for shipping & transferring, but are not appropriate for release.) Please be sure to check out all of our packaging options.

Will we receive adult butterflies or chrysalides? All of our butterflies are shipped as live-adult butterflies ready to fly. It takes work to hatch a butterfly, and hatching chrysalides in boxes results in a messy pupal shell and body fluid which your guests will see. About 10% fail to even emerge when chrysalides are shipped in boxes instead of butterflies.

How long have you been in business and how much experience do you have with growing butterflies? Swallowtail Farms, Inc. is an award winning company that has been around for over two decades and will continue to be there when you need us. Our success as a business depends on your satisfaction as a customer. We are a reliable and professional firm with several production centers across the country. We have developed mulitiple cutting-edge commercial breeding techniques, including our Flight Proven™ Technology, to ensure that you receive the highest quality butterflies available. Our rearing methods and resulting butterflies have also been certified by a well-respected insect pathologist to be of high standards and disease free. When you place an order with us for live butterflies, our many years of experience and dedication to high standards are your insurance for receiving lively, healthy, and beautiful monarch butterflies for release at your special event.