caterpillar headed buterfly??!

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caterpillar headed buterfly??!

Postby Jeans » Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:43 pm

ok, when one of my caterpillars made a chrysalis, it looked ok, except it still had its caterpillar head sticking out at the bottom :? i waited to see if it would still hatch and it did except now her head is the head of a caterpillar... :-s i was kinda shocked...
is there anything i can do to fix that?

jeans

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Re: caterpillar headed buterfly??!

Postby Mona Miller » Sat Sep 26, 2009 7:15 pm

That part is usually a face plate (looks like a mask when they pop it off) and they remove it with their front feet when they shed. You could try to spray with water and see if you could soften it. Then carefully see if it would come off. I'd use a sterilized stick pin or toothpick might be safer, but do it carefully. If it doesn't come off and she doesn't have a proboscis, then she can't eat. The best to do for her would be to put her into the frig and then into the freezer.
Mona Miller
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