Sometimes Mother Nature Needs Assistance

I'm Back! Still sick but wanted to update anyway. Yesterday I woke to find four of the six caterpillars on the roof of their container. One had already chrysalized, 2 were hanging in j formation which is what they do just prior to making their chrysalis and one was just up there relaxing. The other two were frantically trying to climb the sides of the container but for whatever reason kept slipping down. I knew that if they were unable to get out of the food and poo on the bottom of the container they would die so I gave them a little help. I went outside and found a few twigs. I wrapped gauze around the twigs since that is what is at the top of the container. They seems to be able to hang from it easily. I placed the twigs into a large bug container I have and then put each one gently on one of the twigs. One of them almost immediately hung down in j formation. The other seemed lost. Poor little soul! He wandered up and down the twig and around the bottom of the
bug container for a few hours before finally just ceasing to move. He curled himself into a j formation on the bottom of the container and that was that. I wondered whether he would die or if it was possible that he would still chrysalize right there on the bottom. I got my answer this morning. He had chrysalized! Yippee! The problem with this is that when the butterfly emerges in a week or so it is important that the chrysalis be hanging from something so that the butterfly can hang upside down to allow its wings to dry correctly. Otherwise, the wings dry malformed and the butterfly cannot fly. I gently retrieved the chrysalis from the container. They are really neat! They move and wiggle when you touch them. From looking at them you would think they were hard to the touch but they are not. Both of the boys got to hold this little guy while he quaked and shimmied. We managed to disconnect the skin and head that he had shed. It was still hanging on to the top of the chrysalis and in the way for what I needed to do. I then used just a small touch of Elmers glue to hang him from one of the twigs. Success! He wiggled around for a bit after I got him stuck on but now he has settled down to quietly await his transformation. Below are two pictures I took of a few of the chrysalis. The one picture is rather fuzzy, but you can see that there are three chrysalis already formed and the caterpillar in the forground is in j formation. He actually turned into a chrysalis just about 20 minutes ago. The other photo is of "Elmer". LOL! I snapped this photo just after gluing him onto the twig. I have since transfered all the chrysalis into the larger bug container. If all goes well, we should have 6 Painted Lady butterflies in about a weeks time. I will make sure to post pictures when they emerge.