Raising Painted Ladies is relatively easy.  Simply place a caterpillar on a thistle leaf and place with other leaves (to keep moist) in what we call a squat tub (cottage cheese or ice cream tub) with poked holes in the lid. 

-  Remove frass that falls on the bottom of the tub daily (Don't worry about frass in the nest)

-  Replace leaves with fresh ones every three days

-  If you don't want to handle the caterpillar, cut the leaf that surrounds the caterpillar with scissors  and place in with new leaves