ILiveInFlipFlops Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) Update: She did it!!! We found her tonight eating from one of the orange slices in the cage! So we'll keep her in there until after our holiday guests leave, and then we'll probably release her so she can fly around the house. It was a pretty neat sight, watching her eat. With all the butterflies we've hatched, I've never actually seen one do it. Cool! Thanks again for all the advice :D ------------------------------ This is an Eastern swallowtail, which, from all reports, won't feed on its own in captivity unless I show it how, and there's no way I can unroll its proboscis without hurting it. I can't release it because it's 45 degrees outside. What am I going do with this poor creature? And I have two more cocoons in the mesh cage. Should I put them outside now? I assume they'll survive, since that's where they would have overwintered anyway, but since they've spent the fall inside, would the temperature shock hurt them? Ugh, I feel so bad :( Edited December 24, 2015 by ILiveInFlipFlops 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) If you have a food source ready, the butterfly will probably unroll the proboscis not knowing where to put the end of it, and you can stick the food source under the tip. Otherwise you can unroll the proboscis by gently sticking a pinkie fingernail at the start of the coil and pulling the proboscis out. I'd move the other two chrysalises to a cold place which is not going to get very far below freezing. Edited December 19, 2015 by Amy in NH 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 This may sound really odd...but do butterflies see the same as we do? This is totally a home scooter coment lol I wonder if you can find a video of the same species eating and put your phone next to the cage and replay the video a few times. I dont know if the can see it or not. Then if it unfurled it's probiscus, help lead the food to the little guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILiveInFlipFlops Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) Thank you both. I've tried to do this before, but couldn't get the thing to unfurl and was worried I'd damage it in the process. I'll give it another try, but I feel awful about the idea of this poor thing starving or freezing to death. It occurred to me that the spot the chrysalises were sitting in was near a heat vent, and we've only just recently had to have the heat on regularly because we just came through a weird extended warm snap. It must have triggered the emergence. What a bummer. Edited December 19, 2015 by ILiveInFlipFlops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 I had a pet butterfly I rescued from a cat. It lived in my bedroom, fluttering around for 4-5 months. I fed it nectar 2-3x/day. If you can get it to eat it should be okay. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippen Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 http://texasbutterflyranch.com/2013/12/03/baby-its-cold-outside-what-to-do-with-late-season-butterflies/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 I have no idea about that type of butterfly but with monarchs they taste with their feet. If you can get them to stand on the food source they unroll the proboscis by itself. Swallowtails might be totally different though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercyA Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Any update, OP? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILiveInFlipFlops Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 I had a pet butterfly I rescued from a cat. It lived in my bedroom, fluttering around for 4-5 months. I fed it nectar 2-3x/day. If you can get it to eat it should be okay. I read your reply to my oldest DD, and she said, "I'll finally get to be a Disney princess!" Honestly, I wouldn't even mind that (though DH wouldn't be thrilled). I just hope it will find a way to eat. I did make it a nectar solution in a red lid and put some oranges out too. I haven't seen it eat yet, but it's still alive, at least. I have no idea about that type of butterfly but with monarchs they taste with their feet. If you can get them to stand on the food source they unroll the proboscis by itself. Swallowtails might be totally different though. She did stand on the oranges at one point, though I didn't see her eating anything. If I can get the sponges mentioned in the link, I'll try to move her onto them. http://texasbutterflyranch.com/2013/12/03/baby-its-cold-outside-what-to-do-with-late-season-butterflies/ Thank you, this is SUCH a helpful link! It gives me hope. I haven't managed to get out to look for sponges yet (having some kidney stone trouble that is knocking me flat), but I'm going to try today when I'm out for other things. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILiveInFlipFlops Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 (edited) Any update, OP? Our butterfly is still alive, though I haven't seen her eating yet. I'm going to look for some sponges/scrubbers today, I think, and I'll try the q-tip method as well as seeing if I can get her feet to touch the food. DH (half-jokingly) says this is what I get when I mess with nature, but I also know that we managed to save 11 caterpillars from our yard that we helped hatch into butterflies this past summer. They ALL would have have been eaten by birds (because that's what happened to the ones I couldn't bring in). So I guess I still consider it work well done! And next year we'll know better and can prevent this. Edited December 22, 2015 by ILiveInFlipFlops 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamiof5 Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Hope she survives!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 You can also soak paper towel in nectar if you don't have Sponges although you have to be careful they don't touch with their wings as they can get stuck. Whenever I feel down about one of our wildlife rescues gone wrong I like to look at the survival statistics in the wild because I know that it still had a better chance with us. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILiveInFlipFlops Posted December 24, 2015 Author Share Posted December 24, 2015 She did it!!! We found her tonight eating from one of the orange slices in the cage! So we'll keep her in there until after our holiday guests leave, and then we'll probably release her so she can fly around the house. It was a pretty neat sight, watching her eat. With all the butterflies we've hatched, I've never actually seen one do it. Cool! 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Yay!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 It's so special to watch! Yay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercyA Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Yay! Thanks for the happy update! :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joules Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 She did it!!! We found her tonight eating from one of the orange slices in the cage! So we'll keep her in there until after our holiday guests leave, and then we'll probably release her so she can fly around the house. It was a pretty neat sight, watching her eat. With all the butterflies we've hatched, I've never actually seen one do it. Cool! That is so cool! It sounds like you have done this before, but I feel pulled to mention, when you let her fly about be sure it's not in a place with hot lamps (particularly halogens, but maybe even incandescent). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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