insect lore butterfly habitat -- HELP!!!

[mlktwins]

Hi all! So we decided to grow some butterflies this year. We used the Insect Lore butterly kit. We received 3 caterpillars and each turned into a butterfly. Last Tuesday, we decided to let them go. The weather was perfect. Two of the butterflies flew away immediately. The remaining butterfly flipped itself on its back and couldn't turn back over. I finally helped it over on its legs. Then it tried to fly again and flipped itself over on its back again. I turned it over again. Then it just sat on our front porch. For about an hour. I finally put it back in the habitat and have been keeping it fed this past week. Part of one of its legs is missing, but its wings and everything else look fine. I want to add that we had one chrysalis that looked like part of the body of the caterpillar didn't get inside the cocoon. I'm thinking it was this butterfly.

 

Should I try and let it go again? Do I just take care of it until its goes to butterfly heaven :001_huh:? I feel so bad for it. I thought this would be easy -- I now think these things only happen to me.

 

What should I do?

[alisoncooks]

*Sigh* :grouphug:

If it didn't form correctly, there's not much you can do about it...

 

I don't have any suggestions...but know you're not alone in butterfly misfortune. A homeschooling friend of mine had newly hatched butterflies a few weeks ago. She left the habitat outside and forgot about them...and the heat got to them all. No survivors (except one that miraculously revived after she hid them in a closet...) :D

[savmom]

This happened to us. I made it a lesson in seeing the beautiful in something imperfect. We cared for him (her?) until the end.

 

FWIW, my dd was thrilled that one of the butterflies stayed behind. She was not happy about having to let them go.

 

We raised a Swallow Tail and a Tiger Moth over the last few months. DD never lets the habitat sit empty for very long :) Yesterday it was a Japanese Beetle :tongue_smilie:

[AnnaM]

We have done butterflies 2 times and had 2 fatalities due to not forming correctly. It just happens. Ours died before they could be released but I would put the one you have in a garden area and just let it die naturally.

[mama27]

This has happened to us. We have raised butterflies 5ish times now. Last time one's wong didn't develop right. We kept it till it died. The kids liked it. Named it...something or another.

[sagira]

That can happen. We had 5 perfect butterflies, which we released ceremoniously into the wild of our backyard, and watched, horrified, as hungry lizards devoured them one by one :blink:

 

That was certainly lesson in nature.. The second time we just kept all of them indoors until they died of natural causes.

[Mommy22alyns]

We had one butterfly die in captivity this year.

[angelmama1209]

we have yet to successfully have one turn into a butterfly.:/ We were first given an"about to hatch" caterpillar egg. It never did. Then we were give a newly laid egg. it also never hatched. We found a 1 inch long monarch caterpillar on our butterfly bush (inside) so we put that in our habitat. We fed it every day and really got a feel for the "Very Hungry Caterpillar". It went into it's j and 2 sections turned into chrysallis and just stayed like that, for like 3 weeks. then it just died. we have found 2 other caterpillars and tried to raise them and they have both died small. I called mercy, waved a white flag, and decided to either wait a year or just live vicariously through others' successes.