Newly Hatched Butterfly Help!!!

[elve]

I've had a chrysalis in a jar all winter and today it's hatched into what the net tells me is a 'speckled wood' butterfly! I don't think it will survive outside - what shall I do? I think I found it in autumn on a dandelion plant.

[darrenm]

you might be able to get some advice from a Butterfly Farm/House over the net on how to try and feed it if you wish to try and keep it and somthing suitable to keep it in.

How long it will survive if you put it outdoors at present i do not know has they normally first appear in the wild in late March. Hopefully someone here will be able to give you some more information.

[elve]

thank you I've put it in a lidded glass casserole dish on a sunny windowsill ATM, with some sugar water (which I normally feed bees with) I guess I'll have to keep it till it dies though as the net has told me they feed on nectar, preferably in trees - but there's nothing in flower ATM Apparently nectar feeders only live one to 3 weeks anyway so I guess just make the little fella comfy is all I can do!

[elve]

oooh I've made a vivarium from an old plastic sweetie jar my local shop threw out (had it months - I KNEW it looked 'useful' ) - dishcloth over the opening to allow air in - cotton ball soaked in sugarwater for food - handful of hay (nicked from bunnies) - and the other chrysalis I found last year is hanging in there now too Got it on a sunny windowsill and 'Woody' is sunbathing while he can

[Gill Catton]

I'd be thinking of waiting until a warm sunny day and then releasing the little fella so he can be free and enjoy the sunshine for as long as possible. - Unless his wings are not working properly? (they look a little crumpled in the pic)

Oooh and I'd work on keeping the other crysalis cold too in the hope of staving off hatching until its warmer and there are food plants for the hatched insect.

[Susie]

Oh dear! I agree with Gill absolutely. Please, put the other crysalis in a cool garage or outbuilding as soon as possible to prevent them from emerging too early also. If it is possible to put them somewhere where they can escape to the outside world themselves then that would be ideal, otherwise please check on them regularly.

I am sure you meant well, and I know how exciting it is to collect something and see what happens, but that poor butterfly, which has survived the trials and tribulations of egg, caterpillar and crysalis, which didnt fall prey to parasite, parasitoid, fungi, bird, etc., will now die without fulfulling its potential. It is lucky that speckled woods aren't rare but species get wiped out by collecting from the wild and you didn't know what it was when you took it or its companions.

In future take only photographs, leave nothing but footprints, and leave crysalis where they belong unless you know what you are doing.

[harasseddad]

There's stuff in flower out there - some butterflies will emerge naturally in a week or two. If you can pick a warm day I'd let him go to take his chances. Ideally in a wood with spring flowers like winter aconite or lesser celendine out - he can always shelter up in a hole in a tree if it snows.

[Susie]

There are a few of the new season's butterflies out already in the south of England, such as small torts and brimstone, as opposed to the hibernators which can be seen throughout the winter on sunny days but speckled woods arent usually seen until the end of March at the earliest. I would be inclined to take it back to where it was found and give it its freedom too.

Where abouts are you, if in the south west then it may stand a chance I guess

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Susie

There are a few of the new season's butterflies out already in the south of England, such as small torts and brimstone, as opposed to the hibernators which can be seen throughout the winter on sunny days but speckled woods arent usually seen until the end of March at the earliest. I would be inclined to take it back to where it was found and give it its freedom too.

Where abouts are you, if in the south west then it may stand a chance I guess

Small Torts + Brimstones are hibernators too!

[Naturenutz]

I often see these flying around ivy on tree trunks.is ivy in flower ? and do they feed from it ? also i saw a peacock butterfly on monday just gone,so the butterflies are slowly coming out to play .