Do you have any of the tall red pentas in your yard or perhaps zinnias? They love the pentas to nectar on. If you don't want to release her, you also might try the melon flavor Gatorade. You can dip a q-tip init and they will sometimes crawl on it to get the juice. That is what they do at Breathouse Butterfly Farm so that the visitors can feed a butterfly. You can also put some on a clean sponge - make sure it doesn't have anything added to it for cleaning, of course. Certain types prefer it more than others but it is worth a try. They can go for about 24 hours without nectaring but after that I am not sure. If I were you and you see the least bit of sunshine tomorrow, I would release her. They are pretty adaptable to finding places to stay dry and get nectar on their own. I have some in my yard that disapear for a couple days when it cools down then they show back up. As far as holding her - you want something where she won't beat up her wings. If you have the flowers, they would be good both for nectar and for safely landing on. If you don't have the real flowers a spray of artifical ones would work. I use mesh hampers for keeping my butterflies in as well as old aquariums with the screen lids. Hope this helps! BTW, I had another Spicebush Swallowtail eclose from its chrysalis the other day. It had been in chrysalis since about October!

Gwynne - very good questions about the spores and their life cycle. I am wondering the same things - hence I am always sterilizing Lysoling and wiping everything! When releasing a butterfly I wear latex gloves, swab it (for OE research at the U of Georgia, see page below) over a surface that is later sterilized. I also have all doors opened already if I am inside, as to not impede my exit (or I summon my husband ;) I toss the gloves before reaching for the next butterfly. All of my butterflies tested (with my microscope and the naked eye)last year looked very healthy. However the U of Georgia said that 90% of my butterflies were indeed infected. I noticed others on the results page who test at home and saw no spores at home were told that theirs also were infected - guess I need to invest in an electronmicroscope to test properly! LOL! One obvious way of telling if you have a dreadfully infected butterfly (besides crumpled wings) is if the black and white striping on the abdomen is not crisp - if it is blurred or grayish, chances are it's got OE parasites. But you probably knew that. I don't know about the missing leg. I had a butterfly eclose with 2 missing front legs - that chrysalis had fallen, though, and oozed some of its insides. I assume the missing legs were a result of the fall. Not very pretty.... Here are two more sites with info re) OE: http://www.butterflybreeders.org/pages/sterilizationfordiseasecontrol-jg.html http://butterfliesetc.com/oe1.php I would email Dr Altizer at the U of G with your questions - she is quite helpful and a great resource. Here is a link that might be useful: U of Georgia OE Info

Of course you are not cruel, and you must do what is kind to yourself. I don't know how often they eat, but I'm sure someone will reply. Just know that it is my belief that all creatures can sense love, and that is what you are giving.

Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do; after the wing has dried in a bent position, it will not straighten out. The most humane thing to do is to euthanize by putting the butterfly in the freezer. When I have to do this, I put the butterfly in a zippy bag and place it in the freezer for at least a week. We do our best to help out the butterflies and sometimes they just don't make it, no matter what we do. But it is better to try to help them out than not. I have read that in the outdoors, only 1 in 100 eggs makes it to adulthood (butterfly). My success rate (with bringing the eggs/cats inside) is about 95%. I still have those that do not make it on occasion, but we do the best we can. Mechelle