[AceTrace]

I have 17 chrysalis formed over the past 3 days – unfortunately the caterpillars decided to pupate on the bamboo stakes rather than the swan plants themselves but they do not seem to ‘stick’ very well to the stakes. Two of the chrysalis have fallen off and may well be too injured to actually continue into butterflies – they fell from about a metre and a half with one sustaining a visible dent as though it hit the edge of the plastic pot when it fell and the other one I am pretty sure is deceased as he or she actually cracked the chrysalis shell when it fell and a little bit of green gunk came out. That said my problem is there is no white silk on the black stalk to hang the chrysalis and the black stalk that is there is too short to tie anything too ( I spent a good 10 -15 mins trying to tie a piece of cotton around it but it kept slipping off as the stalk tapers) What I have done is fashioned a hoop out of a twist tie, attached this to the bamboo stake and just sat the chrysalis in the hoop. It is not tight or anything but am just wondering if this will work (if they are in fact still viable). I am worried that the 2 – 3mm thick loop may restrict the butterfly’s ability to hatch out?

[Raymond]

I have successfully glued (about 10 times) with a dab of Maxbond builders glue a small string onto the top part of the crysalis. Then hang the crysalis till the butterfly emerges.

[LeslieD]

Once the chrysalis is dry you can detach it and rest it lying down. As it gets close to e closing (black and you can see the colours) make sure it is close to the side of something it can climb. Cake covers you can buy from mitre10 or the like(like a small net umbrella without a handle) are ideal for this kind of stuff. The butterfly just climbs up the side and drys.

So sadly the damaged ones don’t usually make it … but if the dent is small maybe it will come out ok and its worth waiting to see, a big dent usually means a deformity IME. The split one is best put in the freezer sadly as it will not survive.

good luck

[Author]

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