The Story Of Gimpy The Butterfly

On March 14, 2008, 3 butterflies emerged from their chrysalis'. Two were healthy and soon released to enjoy their butterfly lives. One emerged with a deformed leg and wing. We took him to the same flower filled garden as the others, placed him safely on a tuft of flowers and wished him well. The next day when we went out to the garden, he was still there. He had not moved 1 inch! Muffin Man immediately picked him up and proclaimed "Poor little guy!" Thus began the pampered life of a disabled butterfly named Gimpy. We brought him back inside and set up a small butterfly abode in a large bug keeper container. The boys found some nice twigs and blooms and we carefully placed each in the container for Gimpy to climb on. I searched the web for butterfly food recipes and found that it is simply a mixture of 4 parts water with 1 part sugar. The instructions said to put the mixture into a small jar and make a hole in the jar lid. Then stretch a cotton ball into a wick and poke the end of it through the jar lid. Put the lid on the jar making sure that the cotton hangs down into the liquid. The cotton will wick the "nectar" up and the butterfly will feed off the exposed cotton. I created the jar just as per the instructions and within seconds of placing little Gimpy on the top of the jar his long tongue unfurled and he stuck it right into the exposed cotton. Success! It was very cool to see! None of us had ever actually seen a butterfly unfurl it's tongue and eat. The only modification I had to make was to cover the lid with some gauze to help poor Gimpy get a foothold. He had quite a bit of trouble on the smooth metal lid.
Over the next few weeks I regularly helped The Gimp up onto the jar lid and he would usually eat. Little Man and Muffin Man gathered clean and fresh plant life to keep his home nice and held him daily. He was very calm and easy to hold. Muffin Man, especially, grew very fond of him. As we closed in on two weeks I went online to see just what the life expectancy of Painted Lady Butterflies is and found that it is in fact two weeks. Gimpy had lived a full life! However, I could tell that he was beginning to fade. He stopped eating and spent more and more time on the bottom of the container listing to the side. I spoke with the boys and we agreed that he should be able to finish his life in a lush garden doing what butterflies love most. Muffin Man really wanted to keep him but he finally agreed that Gimpy deserved his freedom. We took him back down to my mom's garden and said our goodbyes. We carefully placed him on a rose bush and wished him well. When we went back to check the next day he was nowhere to be found. Maybe he is now flitting about in Butterfly Heaven with little Angels chasing after him. I hope so. We miss you Gimpy!

This first picture is of Gimpy on his feeder jar.

 

Here is a picture of Gimpy with his wings spread open. This was toward the end of his time with us and his one good wing had begun to break down some as well. It may have been due to the fact that he spent quite a bit of time flapping around upside down trying to right himself after trying to fly.

 

This picture is of Muffin Man holding Gimpy one last time before we released him for good. Muffin Man was very fond of Gimpy and in fact strongly expressed his desire to keep ALL the butterflies when they emerged.

 

This is the last picture we snapped of Gimpy, on the rose bush.