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Stowaway cabbage butterfly eclosed in my basement
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Posted by weedlady Central OH 5 (My Page) on Thu, Feb 2, 12 at 17:50
| Never knew it, but there evidently was a chrysalis hidden somewhere among some of the stuff (nursery pots) I brought in from the garden late last fall. Went downstairs to sort laundry yesterday morning and was very startled to see it fluttering about. Caught it pretty easily and put it into the small terrarium I had used for monarchs in the summer. Now what?? Our daytime temps here in central Ohio are barely in the 40s and fall down to below freezing at night. As a gardener, I am certainly no fan of the white cabbage butterfly and used Bt on my Brussels sprouts with a clear conscience, but now it's here, I do not want it to suffer. I hate to say this in a butterfly forum, but would simply putting it outside give it a more merciful/quicker death than starvation? I'm open to other suggestions!! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Stowaway cabbage butterfly eclosed in my basement
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| In a freezer for 3 days. or The pinning experts would kill it by giving the thorax a quick pinch. or Blunt force trauma works too. |
RE: Stowaway cabbage butterfly eclosed in my basement
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| Well, I would not want it to suffer either, but would probably put it outside and let it fend for itself. Those "cabbage worms" ate so many holes in my kale last year. I kept picking off the cats and putting them in the bird's tray feeder, the Chickadees loved to munch them up. Next year I'm getting some BT! |
RE: Stowaway cabbage butterfly eclosed in my basement
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Well, I do confess to discovering a bunch of cats defoliating the Brussels sprouts after I had been negligent in applying the Bt; they ended up as snacks for the largemouth bass in the neighbor's pond. A quite satisfying few minutes of entertainment... Did the same last summer with the denizens of a couple of webworm nests I cut out of the black walnut tree.
But the winged forms are just so much cuddlier. :-) I put the critter outside this afternoon; its fate is in Mother Nature's hands now. |
RE: Stowaway cabbage butterfly eclosed in my basement
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| Weedlady, that is what I would have done. I can not bring myself to kill any butterfly, whatever it may be. |
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