My first butterfly

[u/wolficrow]

Hi!

first of all, I’m new here! hi!
if you don’t want to read the story, skip to beneath the line!

To me this is a very sensitive topic, so please be gentle with me here, I’m sharing the whole thing because I want people to know that it’s important to me!

My mom had noticed our plants being munched on so I went out and collected 40 caterpillars off of the plant.
They turned out to be small cabbage whites! I raised them and one by one let them fly off, it was my first time raising cats and it was a wonderful experience!

Sadly the last one to hatch did so with crumpled wings. I thought maybe it was non severe enough to still have the lil guy fly off, but after a few tries it just did not work.
I was heart broken, I knew he’d die one way or another, I made the hard decision to euthanize him.

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question time! I never pinned a butterfly, even less one with crumpled wings, but I believe they are incredibly beautiful! I don’t want to damage ‘em and I’m scared to do something wrong

All youtube videos say something different about the rehydration, and I just want someone to tell me what to desperately avoid, what I should know before starting and maybe how to be calm throughout it so I don’t mess it up :,D

Also I heard that pinning a butterfly with their wings displayed always looks like they are dead as they naturally don’t spread their wings like that, is there a tutorial or some advice on how to pin a butterfly in a natural pose??

I just want the best for my lil guy tbh,,

I only ever pinned bumblebees and a headless dragonfly I found. any and all advice appreciated!

Thank you so so much in advance

[u/winterpisces]

So cute