I have been taking care of a monarch with a broken wing for about a month now. I feed a honey-water solution to her two to three times a day, and she sits in e mesh butterfly habitat in my room right next to the window. I give her lots of leaves to sit on.
She used to be really active, climbing around the cage. But now she sits in one place the whole day.
I noticed that her abdomen is really large, and I've never seen a butterfly with an abdomen like that! Shes kinda heavy because of it, and cant balance any more. It makes me sad seeing her like this.
I thought she would lay eggs, so I put a milkweed leaf in her cage and set her down on it. I put her in a place where she could hold onto the plant without tipping over. However, I don't think she will lay any eggs, as she's been very inactive lately. She literally doesn't do anything apart from when I make her eat when I wake up and before bed.
I don't know what to do. She's been like this for a while. I really hate seeing her like this. Butterflies are supposed to be light and breezy, not heavy and tipping over all the time.
I just don't want her to suffer or be in pain, but I don't want to euthanize her. I've grown so close to her over this past month, and the thought of killing a creature I spent so much time caring for breaks my heart. I had to euthanize a butterfly that completely couldn't function a month ago, and it still haunts me. I don't want to stick her in the freezer.
She also can't really use her two front legs, which makes her balancing problem worse. It's like she cant hook onto things with those legs anymore. I'm assuming it because many times she would stick her front legs into her food when she ate.
She used to have fits when eating and flap her wings uncontrollably, sometimes accidentally taking a swim in her food (I only use a bottle cap but still), and now I'm scared that what if she got honey water on her abdomen and it glued shut and that's why she can't lay eggs??
Or another thought that I had was what if her abdomen is so big because when I feed her, she doesn't fly around and thus doesn't burn off the energy from the food, so maybe all the honey water is getting stored in her abdomen? Does that mean I shouldn't feed her for some time?
I'm legit so worried about her and I'm so scared. I have no idea what this is and what to do.
Please, if anybody knows anything about what this large abdomen means, or what I should do, please let me know!!!
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/Entomology/comments/inf9yg/the_crippled_monarch_butterfly_i_am_taking_care/
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