How To Repair Butterfly Wings
How To Repair Butterfly Wings
This is probably the most rewarding DIY project we have posted to date! I would like to thank Romy McCloskey for letting us share this wonderful story. If this can help one butterfly fly again, this post is worth sharing with you all!
I would like to thank my dear friend, Patric B., for sharing a video with me about repairing butterfly wings, so that I could help my sweet little guy. Here are before and after photos, with a bit of explanation under each photo, on what I did to help him along in life
I would like to add, this butterfly is 3 days old and was born with this injury that was sustained while pupating.
1/8/18 UPDATE: We had a successful flight! A quick spin around the backyard, then a little rest on on of the bushes… then… “like the down of a thistle “… off he flew! My heart soared with him, for sure!
1/8/18
1/9/18 THANK YOU!! I never thought my story would move people so much!
I fell into raising and releasing butterflies by accident, really, after finding 2 or 3 caterpillars on a bush on a Milkweed plant in my yard, this October.
I had no idea what to do, other than to keep them in a glass tank and feed them, and wait. Little did I know there was much more involved. So, I read up on them,as much as I could, joined a great group and experienced many losses in addition to many, many more successes.
When this little guy presented himself to me with such a torn and damaged set of wings, I posted about it on my personal FB page. I was, needless to say, heartbroken at the thought of having to put him down. Then a friend sent me a video on repairing wings. I figured, since I do so much designing, cutting and putting together of costumes… I could give this a go. And I’m really glad I did!
I feel it is important to note that the butterfly sustained his injury during pupating into his chrysalis. It was not a genetic defect or deformity due to the OE parasite that fatally infect Monarchs. I did have a lot of people asking why I would ever introduce inferior or defective genes into the butterfly gene pool. I had to explain to many that I did not. In fact, any caterpillars or butterflies that are infected with Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) or Tachinid fly (T-fly) larva MUST be euthanized to stop any further contamination in the Monarch population. It would be extremely irresponsible to do this to a sick butterfly.
Thank you again for sharing this slice of my life with others. It really has been a great surprise!
Romy xo
P.S.for those who want to see more of my butterflies I do have a public album of the many I have raised this year. https://www.facebook.com/romy.mccloskey…
And for those interested in my other handy work ( my day job), you can visit my FB page to see more: facebook.com/fadendesignstudios
How To Repair Butterfly Wings
The patient.
The operating room.
Securing the little guy down.
Ta-da! He’s finished!
Flight day!!!!
A quick rest, and then he was off!
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