The Story of our Butterflies

Over the past century butterflies as well as other insects and flora have been on the decline as a result of the destruction of the rain forest as well as other habitats. Through the combined efforts of lepidopterists worldwide, butterfly farms have been constructed for the purpose of increasing butterfly populations.

Whereas only 10 per-

cent of eggs laid by butterflies in the wild survive to full maturity, in these farms where the butterflies are protected from natural predators 90 percent survive.

More butterflies are released from these farms than would have naturally occurred, with the remaining butterflies being allowed to complete the fulfillment of their creation.

The butterflies of Better Butterfly Creations are the result of such farms.

     This  father and son team have been fascinated by butterflies their entire life. What started as a Boy Scout merit badge for Salvatore Ciccarello the father became a lifelong fascination for him.

     While other children in school where checking out fiction books he was reading every book he could get his hands on about butterflies and anything to do with their environment. His fascination continued into adulthood and he became a member of the Utah Lepidoptera Society in 1985.

     The earliest childhood memories of his son Joseph Ciccarello are of accompanying his family on weekend excursions to the Rocky Mountains to enjoy time together, to climb and to collect butterflies.

     When Joseph was seven years old he moved to the Tampa Bay area with his family. He continued to have the fascination with the beauty of butterflies, more so than his other siblings and so father and son became a team in their butterfly hobby.

Before long they started ordering specimens  from the world wide butterfly farms to enhance their already magnificent collection.

     At the Age of ten Joseph saw a piece of butterfly art and decided that he could do better. He  wanted to create something special, art that would take people's breath away. After completing several works, he would carry this big box  full of his pieces around selling them door-to-door. His art sold well and he continued doing this for 11 years.

     Joseph was 17 when he was working hard to achieve the rank of Eagle in the Boy Scouts. As his final requirement he chose to     build and plant a 7500 square foot butterfly garden in Fort DeSoto Park.  The money for this project he raised with the door-to-door sale of his artwork. The butterfly garden was a huge success for a season but was destroyed by Hurricane Allison and an unusually cold winter. He was of course successful in his endeavor and is now an Eagle Scout.

     He now enjoys creating beautiful works of art for serious art collectors and businesses. Quite  a number of his pieces have found their was into private homes and the homes of beginning

collectors as well.

Better Butterfly Creations