On Thursday, May 7, 2009 I made the decision to humanely put Timothia to rest. The were several reasons for the decision. One, her wings were starting to tear and her legs would get caught in her wings. Two, she was getting noticeably weaker. Because her legs kept getting caught in her wings, we kept trimming her wings more and more. Three, even though some would say this was just some stupid insect, it seemed like her quality of life had deteriorated. She was falling more and more within her cage, and she was struggling more and more to eat nectar.
On the positive side, this simple little butterfly brought an amazing amount of joy, and learning. To recap, this was a butterfly who I found fluttering in the pool. I took her out and placed her in a butterfly cage. Unfortunately her wings never unfurled. I tried slowly opening them, and moistening them, but there were already dried in their curled up form. Over the next few days I would take her out to the Milkweed and Butterfly Bush to allow her to sip on some nectar. She loved the Butterfly Bush and would often drink the nectar for 30 minutes at a time.
Fortunately my neighbor is also a butterfly gardening convert so she would come over during the day and take Timothia out to feed. Keep in mind, most Monarch butterflies live on 3-6 weeks and their sole purpose is to migrate and mate. About a week after I found Timothia I get a frantic call from my neighbor saying that she took Timothia out to the Butterfly Bush and suddenly another monarch swooped down, attached himself to her, and flew off! So, Timothia, who would under normal circumstances would never have been able to fly, was suddenly flying around the backyard and mating.
Lucky for me, Timothia (who was named Timmy until this event) and her mate landed and were both placed in the butterfly cage. The next day that poor male butterfly was fluttering all around probably wondering just what the heck he got himself in to, so I released him. Then came yet another big surprise. A day after mating, Timothia started laying eggs on the milkweed, lots of them! Long story short, Timothia lived 3 weeks, was hand fed almost 5 times a day, briefly found a mate, had a chance to fly, produced at least 150 eggs, and never had to be chased by any predator.
All in all, it was sad making the decision to put Timothia to rest. That being said, I never would have thought that such a simple little insect, pretty ugly from a Monarch point of view, would give me a chance to learn about butterflies and Life in such a short period of time. For that, I am truly grateful
Timothia Enjoying Nectar from Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Getting Help While Sipping Nectar
by texdr
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