So Sad....

[butterflysweeti_cdn]

I had two monarchs emerge from their chrysalises and fall to the bottom of the cage, rather than haging from the top of the screen & drying their wings. As soon as I realized, I hung them back up.

They ended up having really crumpled, deformed wings. I was so sad & scared & wanted to fix them. I emailed a bunch of butterfly experts to ask for help & guidance. That's when I found this amazing website.

The experts advised me that there was nothing I could do to fix their wings. And suggested a humane way to put them out of their misery.

They were unable to fly and would fall from the top of my emergence cage & lay on their back struggling to flip over. This made me even more sad. I fed them hummingbird nectar & they liked it. But everyday I would see them just laying on the bottom of the cage. One guy had ripped his wings by grabing on to it to flip over.

Finally, I asked my fiance to put them in the freezer (I was told this is the most humane way to put them to sleep). I did, just last night, and I still feel soooo guilty & cry for them, as I feel so bad.

Can any one assure me this was the right thing to do?

I have such a guilty conscience now.... and believe me I would never intentionally harm anything or anyone.

I am thankful though that I was able to raise & release almost 200 healthy, beautiful butterflies.

[Orangeaid]

Butterflysweeti . The right thing to do is what you feel best in doing . When i have had Monarchs that could not fly i would put them on the butterfly bush and let them live the rest of their short lives that way. Unfortunately after raising many monarchs through the years the pity and sorrow has all but vanished and i check it up to statistics. I accept that some cats and butterflys are not going to survive regardless of how carefull we are but With the succes rate we have in rearing them we are helping alot more than hurting the population. I just dont have it in me to kill them so putting them out on the flowers works for me and makes me feel a little better.Others may feel that killing them is the less painfull and humane method.

[bjorkboy81]

I read, just as you did, that the best way to help them was to freeze them. I did that once and it weighed heavily on my poor mind. I have since then always put them on some Lantana or Porterweed...anything to help them eat. I even had one who survived for nearly two weeks once, despite several attacks from our pup. It's tough to see the butterflies with torn, deformed or broken wings, but just like we do for any person we love, we make it the best possible life for the time that they have. May you have abundant butterflies with beautiful wings!