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Australasia`s Premier Butterfly House

The butterflies are imported as pupae from butterfly farms all around the world, but primarily from Asia and Central America. The Butterfly House is temperature controlled to approximately 28 degrees C and with a high humidity so as to replicate the conditions of the butterflies’ natural environment.

Inside the tropical butterfly house, as well as the butterflies, you’ll see various turtles, quails, finches, a blue tongue lizard and water dragons as well as a variety of fish in the ponds.

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Encountersbutter Flies

Butterfly Releases

Weekdays
12.45pm

Weekends and holidays
daily 12.45pm and 3.30pm


Butterflies in the House
click on the Common Name to see an image of your favourite butterfly

SCIENTIFIC NAME

Attacus atlas
Cethosia biblis
Morpho peleides
Caligo memnon
Danaus chrysippus
Papilio polytes
Dryas Julia
Parthenos sylvia
Ideopsis gaura - Seasonal
Papilio demoleus
Papilio lowi
Graphium agamemnon
Papilio rumanzovia
Hypolymnus bolina
Papilio polymnestor - Seasonal
Papilio memnon
Heliconius charitonius - Seasonal
Parides arcus - Seasonal
Heliconius melpomene - Seasonal
Triodes rhadamantus
Papilio peranthus - Seasonal
Papilio dardanus - Seasonal
Dolischalia bisaltide
butterfly`s 2

Not just Butterflies in the House - Reptiles
View our Reptile Gallery Here.

Common Name

Long necked turtle
Red eared turtle
Reeves turtle
Eastern water dragon
Eastern blue tongue skink
Inland bearded dragon*
Scientific Name

Chelodina longicollis
Tachemys scripta elegans
Chinemys reevesii
Physignathus lesuerii
Tiliqua scincoides scincoides - Our Trev
Pogona vittaceps










* You’ll find Jepps in the area next to the alligators

Did you Know! Water dragons show territorial behavior by
waving their arm…a slow wave displaysJepps Bearded Dragon submission with a
fast arm wave displaying dominance.

Butterfly House Birds
Common Name

Red headed parrot finch
Red cheeked Cordon bleu
Turquoisine parakeet
Chinese painted quail
Scientific Name

Erythrura psittacea
Uraeginthus bengalus
Neophema pulchella
Coturnix chinensis








We often get asked about some of the tropical plants in the Butterfly House.
We look to incorporate flowering plants that offer pollen or nectar –
an important food source for the butterflies. Some typical examples being:

Common Name

Scarlet Passion Flower
Mexican hydrangea
Javanese hydrangea
Scientific Name

Passiflora auriculata
Cleridendron bungei
Medinella magnifica


Create Your Own Butterfly Garden

Why not bring the butterflies back to your garden by creating a habitat they will love!

Puriri Moth Butterflies are fabulous and very important in your garden as they carry the pollen from flower to flower, along with the bees. Pollination is how plants produce fruit or set seeds. Get the kids involved in designing your very own butterfly garden!

Find a sunny spot and start planting flowers that we know butterflies like to hang out around. Remember you need flowers that attract the butterfly as well as a host plant that they will lay their eggs on. Some plants you could use include: Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii), lavender, marigolds, snapdragons, Sweet William, sunflowers, verbena and swan plant.

Check out this great poster at the www.monarch.org.nz website, which tells you all the plants you need to successfully attract and keep butterflies in your garden: Monarch Poster

Did You Know?

The Monarch butterfly is not a native NZ butterfly, but it is probably our most well known. New Zealand Butterflys Endemic species (only found in New Zealand) are those that are unique to a particular area. New Zealand’s Lepidoptera order (Butterflies) displays the world’s highest rate of endemism (being unique to a particular geographic location). The majority (92%) of species are found nowhere else. Butterflies and moths are some of the most species-rich insect orders in New Zealand.

The total number of native species is not accurately known as many new species continue to be discovered, although it is likely to exceed 2,000. This rich biodiversity includes the large pūriri moth (Aenetus virescens - pictured), which lives in North Island forests and attains a wingspan up to 15 centimetres, and the pinhead-sized, leaf-mining moths of the family Nepticulidae, with wingspans of just 2 millimetres.