SHE IS ALIVE, BUT SHE CAN'T FLY! WHAT DO I DO .......
..... with a special needs butterfly? Yesterday, I honestly thought she had died clinging to the roof in one corner of the butterfly tent! However, this morning I noticed she had moved to another corner next to her empty chrysalis. Her wings are pretty deformed, s there is no way she can fly. If you look at the top front wing it looks pointed, but that's because it is folded over on the other side, and the lower wing is creased.
Image ©Diane Macdonald. All Rights Reserved.
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A quick search on the web gives all kinds of advice from feeding her fruit and letting her live without flying, to euthanizing her in the freezer or in a closed jar with a cotton ball soaked in nail polish remover! What do you think I should do?
She didn't seem very interested in the slice of mandarin orange, but she clung to it for a while.
Image ©Diane Macdonald. All Rights Reserved.
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She moved around on it, but still didn't think of it as food, or she just didn't like my choice of fruit. I read that caterpillars like mashed banana, so I will buy some later.
Image ©Diane Macdonald. All Rights Reserved.
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I always keep frozen berries in the freezer for topping my cereal and making smoothies, so I defrosted a strawberry and a raspberry in the microwave. Bingo! The raspberry was a hit! Notice I placed paper towels on the plate, and also on the bottom of the tent! This gives her some traction. She couldn't hold onto the shiny surface on the bottom, but paper towels have solved the problem.
Image ©Diane Macdonald. All Rights Reserved.
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I have a feeling that there is more to this story than meets the eye! I just checked on her and saw her fluttering around a bit in the tent and she is exercising her wings again. That little bit of nourishment must have given her some strength! She's a fighter! To be continued......
| Camera | Canon EOS 5D Mark II |
| Lens | EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM |
| Exposure | Varied |
| Post-processing | Adobe Photoshop® CC 2017, Adobe Camera Raw |
If you have not been following the story of my rescued caterpillar, you can read about it here, here and here.
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