[GARSHA]

Hi All
I have taken in a Monarch Butterfly with a badly damaged wing. I have given it a mix of natural honey with water (Ration 1:9) over last two days to keep it going.
Does anybody know of any good YouTube videos for wing repairs?
My philosophy is to give it a try for the Butterflies sake.
Also, what other foods can I provide for the Monarch Butterfly. From an earlier post, I see that watermelon is an option, however, am unsure these available based on the current time of year.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks

[FiLeBeau]

Please refer to Monarch Wing Repair USA on You Tube or on Google for videos and for written instructions by the American Monarch Association.
These repairs are for structural issues – holes or breaks or bird pecks on wings.
I have fixed dozens of broken or torn wings – and I find it to be a wonderful process. I don’t repair late season wrinkled wings as these may be due to disease.
If wings are folded over or buckled or bent from environmental damage then I fix them by ironing with a mini iron (from Spotlight) or I glue on new wings or glue on a brace with face tape or thin Xmas card strips depending on the need to hold the wing straight. All the interventions work well depending on the needs of the patient.
Please add a few drops of organic soy sauce (aka Tamari) to provide salts to your honey water. Butterflies will die over time without the combination of the sugars, salts and water. For a quick snack I open a tin of organic peaches in juice with no preservatives etc.

Good Luck and Best Wishes
Fiona

[Jeannette]

I have seen on other posts that any form of over-ripe fruit can be ‘eaten’ by the butterfly if the probiscus is working properly.
I have repaired a few wings, but I have stopped doing that now as I read also in this forum somewhere that often it is a parasite that will cause deformity of the wing and if the butterfly is then given the abilty to fly (which it wouldn’t have naturally had) it will spread the parasite. I watched one “repaired” butterfly take off and it felt fabulous – but the next day I found it only 100 metres from where it took off from. It seemed to have just run out of energy and dropped dead. So I am not trying anymore to make butterflies fly that for some reason nature had prevented. I am instead just taking deep slow breaths and observing my own emotional reaction to assuming the butterfly-ego is as frustrated by not being able to fly as I would be! I still offer them help if they need it to get on to a flower where they can hang out like any other butterfly until life leaves them completely.

[Author]

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