Another Day, Another Disaster, Another Rescue

It seems our celebrity caterpillars may have become victims of their own publicity.


Apart from the natural dangers and predators our caterpillars encounter, they now have to contend with frequent and fascinated observers - not all of whom are able to keep their curiosity and fingers to themselves.


This morning (Monday), when we went to check on one of the chrysalises under a leaf overhanging the garden border - it wasn't there, and all that we could see was the remains of its last moult as it turned into its chrysalis. We knew it hadn't hatched as it had not been a chrysalis for long enough - and there was no empty case hanging.

This is the way the chrysalis looked last week. It's nowhere near ready to hatch.

This is the way the chrysalis looked on Monday morning. Note, there is no chrysalis case.

This appears to be the remains of our chrysalis, on the asphalt nearby. There is just the smallest remains of a green chrysalis case in the bottom centre of the photo. 

Can you find a chrysalis on the ground? 

This has been knocked off its branch. It is a perfectly healthy chrysalis and we found it on the ground in our garden.

We went to The Monarch Trust website FAQs tab  and followed the instructions for saving a fallen chrysalis. 

First, we carefully lifted it up with a piece of paper and brought it inside. 

Then we carefully tied a piece of thread around its cremaster

Photo below from Meandering Thoughts  blog.

 

And then we very carefully pegged it to a margarine container and placed it safely on the sink bench.

We have put a bit of tissue underneath it in case the chrysaslis falls.  

First position looked a little unsafe and we thought the chrysalis might get stressed if it got bumped.The container was resting against a surface but could easily fall over. 

Final solution: we shortened the thread so that the chrysalis was supported by the side of the container, and used a small peg to hold the thread in place. There is enough space for the butterfly to climb out and have something to perch on. 

Meanwhile, here's a progress report on some of our other chrysalises. Can you find three chrysalises in this photo?

This chrysalis is close to hatching.

 This chysalis still has some drips of water on it from overnight dew.