[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

[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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