His wings only unfurled a little more than this. When I woke up on Sunday morning, he was flopping around on the bottom of the tank. He must've fallen down and there wasn't anything nearby for him to pull himself up. There's a stick in there... but just one.
I feel really terrible about this. I actually woke up an hour before I got out of bed, but I turned over and went back to sleep. If only I had gotten up, he might've had a chance.
He emerged way too early... I've seen a few butterflies here and there, but no black swallowtails. Not sure their food source is even available yet, despite the early onset of spring... I'm not sure what I could have done. I did move the tank into a room with more sunlight. Maybe if I'd kept it downstairs he would've stayed...
But maybe not, since the sources I read say that it takes 2 weeks for them to wake up. And I don't think I'd moved it that long.
Anyway. He got to see the world as a butterfly. Which counts for something. And they always do this: you put your finger up to them, and they will crawl up on it. They'll hang on it gently as you move them out of the tank. If their wings are OK, they'll flutter off in the wind.
This guy, not so. I left him on a forsythia bush. Even as he was... he crawled up on my finger when I offered it to him, and he stayed there patiently as I walked over to the forsythia and found a good petal for him to perch on.
I got to see that yes, they're still alive. He was only in 5 months. The other two went in earlier, they might be about 7 months in now. But hopefully they'll take their time, and I'll put more things in the tank for them to cling to once they emerge, and it'll go well.
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