Raising a Butterfly

On September 17th of this year, we had a lovely visit with new friends. As we walked around the property, we came across some milkweed with a caterpillar on it. Our friends said it was kinda late in the year for him to be there, but if we wanted to watch him evolve, all we needed was a clear container with holes and some fresh milkweed.

So, we brought him in and spent many weeks watching him. As the end of October approached and no new changes took place, we thought he wasn't going to make it. Then, the day before our same friends were coming back for a visit, the pupae went grey/black and we could see the orange of his wings much clearer. We knew that now was the time to watch.

As Jeff was leaving for work on October 30th around 5:28 a.m., we rustled the kids out of bed and watched him hatch right in front of our eyes. What an amazing experience as a family! At first, we thought he was a girl and named her Ella which means beautiful fairy. As her wings dried and opened up, we could see that she, was a he. :) We never did rename him.

This was quite an experience as it was very windy when we tried to release him with our friends...windy and cold. He stayed on the sedum we placed him on for several hours. When our friends left, I did more research and found that this was not the kind of day our butterfly was going to adventure out on. So, we got him some butterfly-friendly food and brought him in. The next day, we tried again-while I had visions of taking him stealthily to a butterfly conservatory and letting him go but they wouldn't take him and told me that he knew what to do and would go when he was ready despite how cold it was. So, we placed him on some goldenrod that he tried to eat from. The sun was shining on the goldenrod, so we hoped he would warm up and leave. As the hours went on, I peeked out of my window to see if he had left. At one point, our dear neighbour was doing some weed whacking which I wasn't expecting... and with a jolt, I looked out to see the goldenrod on the ground! Ahhhh! Thankfully, Ella was fine. Phew... But where to find a spot where it wasn't windy and where it was sunny? We moved him around, but he still thought it was too cold. By 11 o'clock that night, Lucas and I went out and got him. We dumped Matt's stuffies out of his cylindrical soft mesh container, put sticks and food inside... placed a light near him and felt relieved.

By the next morning, he had flown to the top of the container, as close to the light as he could and was hanging peacefully. A little later, he flew around a bit, but didn't flap his wings a lot, so I thought he was getting weaker. Then, the sun magically came out and Josh and I decided to try again. We encouraged him to eat some orange and thistle and off he flew!!!! Yayyyyy!!!! I was so happy, yet emotional over the whole thing... :)

We envision our late bloomer making it all the way to Mexico! Let's hope he does! :)

This process gave us a real appreciation for the miracle of life-and the trials and challenges that exist for this delicate creature. So, many things have to fall into place for life to exist and flourish! It will really make us think twice about how we treat all living things in the future I'm sure.