[Christina Chan]

A caterpillar showed up on my balcony one day on the 8th floor in AKL CBD…. Somehow I kept it and went out of my way to buy a swan plant to feed it. It has been an amazing journey.. its been 2 weeks and 2 days since I found it and I am in awe and amazed at how a caterpillar knows exactly what it needs to eat and how it eats it….
It just transformed into a butterfly this morning (28th March) And I just stumbled upon the MBNZT website when I was looking up how to feed it and when to release it.
I wonder if I am still able to tag it now and release it within this week? Because I am concerned it missed its mating season? What is its chance of survival and mating once I release it?

I have never taken care of a butterfly before, this is my first time, and I never like wriggly bugs… However, I grew to love this caterpillar that showed up on my balcony looking for food. I didn’t even have any plants on my balcony, I still wonder how it came up all the way on the 8th floor.

[Bron and Camryn]

Wow Christina what an awesome story. What a lucky caterpillar!

[Jacqui]

Yes, Christina, you could but I think I’d let it go… what with the mail deliveries you may not get your tags for a few more days. If you’d like another caterpillar, happy to give you one.

It has every chance of mating and continuing the species if that’s what it’s bodily clock decides it should do. Or, however, it may be one of the overwintering generation.

I suspect that it would have been transported there…either by itself (from another level – maybe it ran out of food) or maybe you brushed against a plant it was on and brought it home inadvertently. This happened to me the other day, someone noticed a caterpillar “hitchhiking” on my back.

[Author]

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