How to rescue Butterflies! : ) These are Red Admiral Butterflies I found this week in the attic room of a converted farmhouse, theres ten of them, the house is empty at the moment but soon to be occupied for the winter, this represents a huge problem for these Butterflies hybernating there, what will happen is when the people move in and turn the heating on the Butterflies will wake up thinking it is spring and will wear themselves out trying to find a way out burning up the vital energy needed for to get them through the winter and even if any do make it outside it is dropping below freezing at night and there is no food at this time of year, so if they are left there they are doomed, fortunately there is a simple solution for this situation, by removing them one by one carefully very gently pinching the wings and easing them away from whatever they are clinging on to, (wiggle them slightly until they let go) and put them in a good box that can be shut tightly so that its dark inside, Be sure to make some small air holes in it and put it in a cool dry dark place, it absolutely must be cool or they will wake up too soon, if any wake whilst transferring them dont worry just get them into the box and into the cool dark place asap and they will soon go back to sleep. dont put them in a place that is too cold either! they are not frost proof! but also be careful in the spring when the temperature is rising that they dont get too warm and all wake up in the box before any flowers are open, somewhere like a shelf in a cellar or an outbuilding with a fairly steady temperature is ideal. In the Spring time wait until there is a warm sunny day and there are native blossoms or food plants flowering and open the box and leave it in the sunshine nearby, its magical to sit and watch, within a short while they will wake up and fly off to look for breakfast! I will also put a small lid with some water mixed with honey in the box just in case any one needs a midnight snack, and check it from time to time. now I need to find someone who eats honey to borrow some from!, its the closest thing to what they would naturally eat. One thing I find really interesting is how do the butterflies that are still awake find the ones that are already sleeping so that they can huddle up together? there are so many forms of communication that we do not understand!
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 21:40:45 +0000
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