Some help, please!

[bittytoffee]

Hello there,

Was hopeing someone here might be able to help me a bit... or possibly guide me in the right direction of where to find some info.

Today I spotted a butterfly crawling on a cellar floor - and went into complete panic. 5 minutes later I had the butterfly in a container, the question is - what do I do now?

Butterfly is now home with me, he/she has perked up a lot, and was fluttering (in a frantic and terrified sort of way, bless him/her) about as I stuck him (ok... have now decided it's a him. Will name him Tristan. ) in a small spare aquarium I have. I found online that they like sugar water... so made that. Stuck it in a (clean) spice glass together with cotton balls.

Am now worried he won't eat, or that it's too far for him to reach the sugar water (about 1 cm from the holes)... as you can figure I got no idea at all about butterflies... I just want the wee guy to survive the winter and hopefully see summer outside (I also stuck a dried twig thing from a flower in there... and a piece of an apple, even though I got no idea if they like apple). It was -7 when I found him today, cellar is about -2.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, even if it's just to direct me somewhere else where I can find some more info about keeping a butterfly over the winter... I thought they either died or hibernated in winter, so seeing him today was a massive surprise.

Thank you!

[Roger Gibbons]

That's a good name for a butterfly. I strongly suspect you have never heard of Tristan Lafranchis, one of Europe's leading butterfly experts and the author of two of the leading books on the subject.

Roger

[David M]

That's a good name for a butterfly. I strongly suspect you have never heard of Tristan Lafranchis, one of Europe's leading butterfly experts and the author of two of the leading books on the subject.

Roger

You beat me to it, Roger.

Best thing is probably to put it somewhere which is not artificially heated and where it is likely to remain undisturbed. Butterflies can tolerate sub zero temperatures during hibernation but it would not be in its best interests to keep it in an environment which was too warm and well lit. It would probably interfere with its natural hibernationary instincts.

[bittytoffee]

Thanks guys! and no... I had never heard of the other Tristan, bet you my Tristan is more colourful - lol! Unless Mr Lafranchis uses a lot of fake tan...

Would the shed be an ok place for him (the butterfly that is... I don't think Mr Lafranchis would be too happy spending the winter in my shed. )? It won't be in much (apart from the occasional popping in the get some tools) use until spring.

[David M]

Thanks guys! and no... I had never heard of the other Tristan, bet you my Tristan is more colourful - lol! Unless Mr Lafranchis uses a lot of fake tan...

Would the shed be an ok place for him (the butterfly that is... I don't think Mr Lafranchis would be too happy spending the winter in my shed. )? It won't be in much (apart from the occasional popping in the get some tools) use until spring.

The shed would be ideal but make sure the butterfly has an escape route as it will stir again in March (possibly even February) and will need to get out.

[Roger Gibbons]

If Bittytoffee had really wanted to make an unambiguous Wagnerian reference surely he (or she) would have called it Siegfried.

Sadly, to most people in this country Wagner is a contestant from the X-Factor and Wagner’s overtures are his chat-up lines.

But then I was disappointed to find out that the Cleopatra in Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra was some Egyptian woman.

Roger

[bittytoffee]

Obviously not... thinking back of how he looked crawling along the floor he reminded me of the unhappy Tristan Paladin ( http://hem.passagen.se/maxbom/soi14.htm )... beautiful, but so sad.

Bittytoffee unpleasant??? Oh, I can be very unpleasant indeed, however the name itself is as far from it as possible... Bitty and Toffee, two of my "babies" (not talking human offspring here, think more along the lines of four legged furry creatures), who's like two little angels (hmmmm... dog currently ripping a slipper to shreds... possibly not as angelic as I like to think they are).

And here' the gorgeous guy himself:


He'll be going in the shed tomorrow morning, when it's day light again.

Thanks once again guys, hopefully Tristan will get to enjoy spring in the garden in 2011!

[Lee Hurrell]

You have a Small Tortoiseshell there.

Let's hope he makes it through the winter.

No wonder Tristan Paladin was sad!

Cheers

Lee