How To Repair A Butterfly Wing

[Grace]

 

[strollingbones]

that is an excellent learning experience...thanks grace

 

[Grace]

I had to learn how to do that..but it wasn't a monarch. It was a Painted Lady butterfly. It didnt work. I didnt have wings for her. So...I had to make some. Tried a bunch of bee wings from dead bees....but they were too flimsy. Tried moth wings too (again from dead moths. I wouldnt kill a bug to save a bug so finding dead moths was a pita. But I found some in the garage windowsills). That worked...sorta kinda. She still couldnt fly more than a foot. So I had to hand feed her the sugar water (their tongues roll out like rolling out a carpet......flap around, then roll back up. Fascinating to watch). Had her about 2 weeks in a candy dish with a fresh flower every day for her "bed". Fed her 3 times a day. One day she was very still and I thought she was dead but when I picked her up, she was fluttering like mad...almost shivering-like. One wing flapping furiously, the other all over the place like a helicopter blade. She wanted to go. HAD to go. Her end was near and she had to lay her eggs. The inborn instinct in her had her in its throes I guess. So I held her outside in my palm and she just sat there and beat and beat and beat. She fell a few times (but I was sitting so she landed in my lap)...but not once did that frantic beating stop. Finally she got enough air under her off she went...like a spastic bubble on the wind. My mouth was a big round O when she took off without falling. She made it over the fence and across the neighbors yard and landed in their tree. Im presuming she laid her eggs on a leaf in that tree, then fell and died.
I was thrilled she made it. But I missed her once she was gone.

Anyway...at least I know how to mend wings now. I have lots of spider webs around here in the trees and monarch season, I always find some caught. The Painted Lady was actually bitten and wrapped up tight. Took me half an hour and two sets of tweezers to get the web off...and 3 days for her to "snap out" of the first paralizing bite. At least it didnt suck her dry before I found her.

 

[strollingbones]

o dear....taking food from the spiders....

what a wonderful video....i will share it with friends

 

[Grace]

The spider can eat other stuff. Not butterflies. Or bees. I like both. And Mr. Spider fought me for the Painted Lady. He/she was NOT thrilled. Big one, too. Shudder.
Glad you liked the vid.

 

[strollingbones]

outdoor spiders are non poisonous your two major spiders that are harmful....brown recluse and black widow.....you are more likely to be bitten by the brown recluse....

be sure and shake out any stored materials..they like to hide in there...sheets in a linen closet etc

 

[sealybobo]

o dear....taking food from the spiders....

what a wonderful video....i will share it with friends

This morning I found a butterfly stuck in a spider web. I gently pulled it out and it flew away. I wonder if 1 hour later that butter fly is still thinking about how it almost died and a giant saved it? Or does it not even remember? Or does it think I was going to eat it and it got away?

Anyways, I feel good about myself. I may be pro choice but I still do believe all life is precious. Now I wouldn't care if the butterfly was being eaten but if I can save something, why not?

Not all spiderwebs are cobwebs, but all cobwebs are spider webs. Well… they used to be! Typically, a cobweb is an abandoned spider web. The sticky silk of a spider web is excellent at catching insects so naturally, it’s great at collecting dust. This is especially possible in hard-to-reach areas, like ceiling corners, that is infrequently dusted. There are certain types of spiders, from the family Theridiidae, that intentionally build cobwebs. The erratic design is intentional!

Cobweb vs Spider Web: What's the difference between them?

Web Builders, as the name implies, make intricate spider webs, often in areas with a small amount of airflow, to catch prey.

www.graduatepestsolutions.com

I almost said cobweb but there's a difference. I didn't know.

 

[Vastator]

 

[sealybobo]

What would you say to someone who told you that you were half of the flesh and blood that makes them whole?