'Hobby gone wild': Watch butterflies, learn about metamorphosis at The Butterfly Haven in Idaho

PINGREE, Idaho — Step inside an enchanting greenhouse filled with thousands of beautiful, fluttering butterflies and experience it all up close right near Blackfoot.

The Butterfly Haven, at 1460 W. 200 South in Pingree, is known as "Idaho's Largest Butterfly House." You can walk among 27-plus butterfly species and learn about metamorphosis.

"We are a butterfly sanctuary or botanical garden. It's 8,000 square feet, fully landscaped. We have flowers in here with usually around 4,000 butterflies flying around us," said Susannah Newsome, co-owner of The Butterfly Haven. "This is my dad's hobby gone wild, kind of a dream come true."

There are butterflies such as monarch, queen, buckeye, red admiral and morning cloak. Plants include Spanish needle, Mexican sunflower, blue mistflower, and more.

It's the ninth season for the business. Newsome's parents, Randy and Karen Reed, have over 30 years of greenhouse experience. According to their website, they originally grew tomatoes and herbs and later wanted to create one of Idaho's most distinctive natural attractions.

"We had this idea for probably 15 years before we opened it. I always dreamed of having a greenhouse, never this big, but it was just a dream of mine to open something so the public could see butterflies and flowers," Reed said.

Reed raises the butterflies, and it takes much more work than people may think. He also catches the native butterflies in the wild.

"I call the butterflies the 'caterpillar vultures' because they eat a lot. I have to feed them twice a day. I have to take plant material to them," he said.

"I go out in the wild and catch the natives, but we do get breeding stock from other butterfly farmers. We trade breeding stock back and forth between butterfly farmers too to keep new blood in so you have healthy, strong butterflies," he continued.

He didn't grow up going to butterfly farms or houses to check them out. He said he purposefully didn't go because he didn't want any influence from another one.

"Back east, there's a lot of them. But I would not go to one because I wanted this to be my vision, not their vision," Reed said. "I wanted it to be a peaceful place; I wanted it to feel like you were out in nature. So I wanted it to feel like you were walking out through the forest, watching butterflies."

The business has grown throughout the years, and Randy and Karen Reed have enjoyed it. You'll often see Karen Reed at the front desk of The Butterfly Haven, helping customers. There's a gift shop too, filled with butterfly-themed T-shirts, stickers, mugs, stuffies for kids and books.

"I like it all. I like visiting with people; I like raising the butterflies. I like interacting with the butterflies. I get distracted from my work, watching the butterflies. It's fun. It's a hobby gone wild, and I still like it even though it went wild," Randy Reed said.

The Butterfly Haven always has something enjoyable happening too. There have been marriage proposals, family reunions and even a wedding. It's a great place for a date. And there have been school field trips.

"The kids get to come, and they actually get to see the life cycles. We have eggs, caterpillars and chrysalis, so they get to see it all firsthand instead of just looking at pictures in a book or a video," Newsome said.

Besides butterflies, the greenhouse has little quails walking around that people can feed for 25 cents. They will eat food right out of your hand.

"We have been raising those since I was about 5 years old, so pretty much my whole life. They help us (by eating) roly-polies and earwigs. They are also just fun and cute. We even have babies throughout the season. The babies are about the size of a quarter," Newsome said.

It's open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Butterfly Haven is open until Oct. 4, as it's closed during the cold months. It will then reopen April 23, 2027.

"It's great for all ages. We had a family reunion come in last summer. They were ages 0 to 98, and they said that every single person in their group had fun. So it doesn't matter your age; it's fun for everybody," Newsome added.

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