u/Dyndigo

In the past 30 hours I have been taking care of a butterfly with a broken wing. I say broken, but the front left wing is missing, there's a little hole as well as a big missing chunk on the back of the rear left one and the front right is clipped at the tip. I don't know how he ended up here or if he even likes it in the little box I put him in, but I hope I can at least make the last few days or hopefully weeks of his life a little more peaceful.

He is sitting on the tip of my thumb right now, but let's go back to the beginning. Me and Terra were playing out in the garden when I saw a brown butterfly struggling with a few strands of grass. It was flapping helplessly under the green restraints. I noticed a big chunk of its left wing was simply not there so I offered my hand and the injured insect willingly came onto my hand. Terra has always been curious so I showed her the butterfly. She sniffed the tiny creature and accidentally pushed it off of my hand. 

I lowered my hand again and once more the butterfly crawled on my palm. I brought it upstairs inside the house and decided it was best I help it in any way I could. The butterfly got adventurous and it began to walk around in my hand. Unfortunately it lost its balance and fell on the floor. It was in a ton of shock and now refused to ride on my hand again. Unable to do much else I sat on the floor and researched how to take care of a butterfly. Terra lied on the floor beside me and observed the strange thing sitting mere inches away from her nose as it stood still as if it were frozen there. I read through Reddit posts and comments, people's blogposts, watched YouTube videos and found out that this butterfly was a White Admiral and that it is best I give it some sugar water and/or a ripe fruit. So it received both. Alas the little Admiral was stood still and didn't budge.

I saw that if the butterfly doesn't recognise the food source, you could soak a little cotton in the sugar water and present it to the insect. So I dabbed the cotton part of an ear bud in the liquid and did as I was told. The butterfly jumped back and I pulled the ear bud away. But a mere moment later, it extended its proboscis the direction where the sweetness came from and reached the lid with the sugar water. It dipped its front legs in and once again froze in place. I threw away the ear bud as I thought the butterfly will now drink, but it did not. It simply stood there. I managed to move it to a different room on a chair. I went to the kitchen to get more water and then to the bathroom for another ear bud and when I returned the tiny admiral had ventured to the other side of the room. Terra was observing it from above and when I came in she tried to eat it. I managed to get to the butterfly before Terra did and I put it back on the chair. I attempted to feed it through the ear bud method again but it didn't work. The butterfly seemed to want to run away, but interestingly whenever it was presented with my hand it would climb on it. After a while it calmed down and I put it in a box with its food supply (a cap from a jar, with sugar water and next to it - a ripe banana), but it would get off of my hand. I noticed a playing card next to me and I managed to get the white admiral on it, so I placed both in the box. I stabbed the lid real good to create air holes and ended up not sealing it closed, simply placing the lid on top of the box. I went to bed.

The next morning the butterfly had not moved even a little. It was still in the place that I left it inside the box. Soon enough it started roaming around and climbing the walls so I gave it a hand and took it outside of the box. I placed both of us on the desk where I would spend the rest of my day and it just stood there. It stood still for hours. Until it suddenly extended its proboscis and began roaming about my desk. Quickly I presented it with a soaked ear bud and it started sucking out the delicious mixture of sugar and water. I had to get up so I placed it back in the box with its ear bud.

When I returned the butterfly was still feeding but the bud seemed a little dry. So I attempted to to take the ear bud and dip it in the water but the little admiral was holding onto it and wouldn't let it go. I ended up accidentally dragging it a millimeter to the side and its proboscis ended up inside the cap full of the sugar water. It was so delighted it immediately continued feeding.

Some time later I decided to dig a little and based on its wing shape I'm quite confident that this White Admiral is a male. That's why I'll be referring to it as "him". I also came up with a name for him. Turns out the card in his box was the Ace of Clubs. So I named him the White Admiral Ace or simply adm. Ace. He also seems like he is a veteran, so I think it fits.

I know I won't have all that much time with the little Admiral, but I'll try to make whatever that time is to be as better as it can be compared to him living outside.

I would like to know if I should do anything else than just feed him from now on?

In the past 30 hours I have been taking care of a butterfly with a broken wing. I say broken, but the front left wing is missing, there's a little hole as well as a big missing chunk on the back of the rear left one and the front right is clipped at the tip. I don't know how he ended up here or if he even likes it in the little box I put him in, but I hope I can at least make the last few days or hopefully weeks of his life a little more peaceful.

He is sitting on the tip of my thumb right now, but let's go back to the beginning. Me and Terra were playing out in the garden when I saw a brown butterfly struggling with a few strands of grass. It was flapping helplessly under the green restraints. I noticed a big chunk of its left wing was simply not there so I offered my hand and the injured insect willingly came onto my hand. Terra has always been curious so I showed her the butterfly. She sniffed the tiny creature and accidentally pushed it off of my hand. 

I lowered my hand again and once more the butterfly crawled on my palm. I brought it upstairs inside the house and decided it was best I help it in any way I could. The butterfly got adventurous and it began to walk around in my hand. Unfortunately it lost its balance and fell on the floor. It was in a ton of shock and now refused to ride on my hand again. Unable to do much else I sat on the floor and researched how to take care of a butterfly. Terra lied on the floor beside me and observed the strange thing sitting mere inches away from her nose as it stood still as if it were frozen there. I read through Reddit posts and comments, people's blogposts, watched YouTube videos and found out that this butterfly was a White Admiral and that it is best I give it some sugar water and/or a ripe fruit. So it received both. Alas the little Admiral was stood still and didn't budge.

I saw that if the butterfly doesn't recognise the food source, you could soak a little cotton in the sugar water and present it to the insect. So I dabbed the cotton part of an ear bud in the liquid and did as I was told. The butterfly jumped back and I pulled the ear bud away. But a mere moment later, it extended its proboscis the direction where the sweetness came from and reached the lid with the sugar water. It dipped its front legs in and once again froze in place. I threw away the ear bud as I thought the butterfly will now drink, but it did not. It simply stood there. I managed to move it to a different room on a chair. I went to the kitchen to get more water and then to the bathroom for another ear bud and when I returned the tiny admiral had ventured to the other side of the room. Terra was observing it from above and when I came in she tried to eat it. I managed to get to the butterfly before Terra did and I put it back on the chair. I attempted to feed it through the ear bud method again but it didn't work. The butterfly seemed to want to run away, but interestingly whenever it was presented with my hand it would climb on it. After a while it calmed down and I put it in a box with its food supply (a cap from a jar, with sugar water and next to it - a ripe banana), but it would get off of my hand. I noticed a playing card next to me and I managed to get the white admiral on it, so I placed both in the box. I stabbed the lid real good to create air holes and ended up not sealing it closed, simply placing the lid on top of the box. I went to bed.

The next morning the butterfly had not moved even a little. It was still in the place that I left it inside the box. Soon enough it started roaming around and climbing the walls so I gave it a hand and took it outside of the box. I placed both of us on the desk where I would spend the rest of my day and it just stood there. It stood still for hours. Until it suddenly extended its proboscis and began roaming about my desk. Quickly I presented it with a soaked ear bud and it started sucking out the delicious mixture of sugar and water. I had to get up so I placed it back in the box with its ear bud.

When I returned the butterfly was still feeding but the bud seemed a little dry. So I attempted to to take the ear bud and dip it in the water but the little admiral was holding onto it and wouldn't let it go. I ended up accidentally dragging it a millimeter to the side and its proboscis ended up inside the cap full of the sugar water. It was so delighted it immediately continued feeding.

Some time later I decided to dig a little and based on its wing shape I'm quite confident that this White Admiral is a male. That's why I'll be referring to it as "him". I also came up with a name for him. Turns out the card in his box was the Ace of Clubs. So I named him the White Admiral Ace or simply adm. Ace. He also seems like he is a veteran, so I think it fits.

I know I won't have all that much time with the little Admiral, but I'll try to make whatever that time is to be as better as it can be compared to him living outside.