Vegas: Springs Preserve Butterfly Exhibit May 2018

For a limited time frame every year, the Springs Preserve converts one of their greenhouses into a butterfly habitat, filling it to the brim with the beautiful little flutterers. The exorbitantly green interior is maintained at a specific temperature and humidity level to keep the precious guests at their happiest, and each guest who enters is inspected prior to entry and exit in a secured secondary environment to prevent any possible hitch-hikers from contaminating the environment (and to keep their guests safely inside)... but even with meticulous work nature will invariably run its course, so if you choose to visit the butterfly habitat please be cautious of where you're stepping! Sometimes the little lovelies who aren't feeling so well, or are having a hard time getting airborne, will find their way to the walkways. We had a butterfly land on my purse, another on my hand, and Antho had one land upon a dread while another found itself attracted to his socks... so we BOTH had multiple butterflies land on us this trip! Given their friendliness, it's best to keep a close eye on kids who may get overly excited and try to grab one of the delicate little things. It's okay, I totally understand the impulse, but the volunteers at the Preserve put a lot of time and effort into protecting their headlining stars. The exhibit can only stay open for a limited time each year due to the fragile nature of the butterflies, who aren't well-adapted to our extreme seasons. This makes it all the more magical to catch it during it's short season of operation! The butterflies were not very shy this time through, with some of them happily landing on us as mentioned above, and others posing for photos with all the leisurely calm of a beach-goer getting a tan. There's a stunning amount of variety among them, too, with small fuzzy orange fellas floating around next to massive blue and brown winged butterfly behemoths. We've visited the exhibit in the past, and made a conscious effort to get to it once more before it closed for the 2018 summer season. 

There will be plenty of photos below!

Vegas: Springs Preserve Butterfly Exhibit

Have you ever wanted to feel like a Disney Princess? Standing somewhere green and lovely with the gentle light filtering through the shrubbery as you gracefully stretch out your arms to welcome your animal friends, who greet you by entering the clearing or landing upon your outstretched limbs.... well, at the Springs Preserve you'll get your chance during the right time of year! Unfortunately, the butterfly habitat is NOT an all-year-long attraction as the delicate little pretties have sensitive temperaments and the colder months are not kind to them... This was why it was so important to us that we make it to this particular exhibit when we did, as it shuts down in November and won't be available again until spring! This unfortunately means that it is now, as of this post going live, closed for the season but during the spring and summer you can visit the habitat during the day, and we highly recommend it. The staff were friendly and informative as they usually are throughout the Preserve but in the greenhouse the butterflies reside in it's especially important as the space is so confined.  All entry and exits are supervised to ensure that no unwanted hitchhikers are tagging along to try to eat their residents. As tempting as it may be to reach out and pet the butterflies it's actually very bad for them as their wings are fragile and even a gentle stroke could leave them permanently disabled and the staff are there to help remind overenthusiastic visitors should they try to get handsy. During our visit an unwanted guest was taken care of, and one poor butterfly showed the unfortunate side-effects of rough handling as she fruitlessly flapped her wings atop an attendant's hand. The attendant was very kind and explained the situation with us and anyone else curious on top of being gracious in allowing photos. As far as I'm aware many of the people at the Springs Preserve are volunteers, so they're there because they love it and that shows in how passionate they are in sharing information when the opportunity arises. We absolutely had a blast and look forward to when they reopen in the spring! 

More photos after the cut!