Hello, Im completely clueless about butterflies. I have a cocoon (don't no if thats the right word or not) in my back garden, it has been there for about 2 weeks. when i first noticed it, it was just a green blob, within a few days it started to get pointy and darker around the edges. It has looked the same for over a week now, does it take along time or should it be changing quicker than this? Is there anything i can do to help it?
If the cocoon is still viable, it will take as long as it takes The butterfly knows when it should come out so there is nothing you need to do to help it. Some butterflies/moths take longer than other in this step of the process too. There are times when, for whatever reason, the cocoon is not healthy and the caterpillar inside dies but there is no way to know when that happens for a while. Just keep an eye on it or you could miss the butterfly birth.
I go out everyday to see it, when/if it does come out how long will it be be visible for, do they fly away quickly? I don't want to miss it. I feel like its mummy i keep checking on it. x
I don't know for sure about moths, but butterflies will hang around for a while. Their wings have to dry out so they can fly and that time depends on how sunny, windy, warm, etc the day is. Good luck, hope you get to see it come out. I have never found a cocoon but have gladly watched several Fennel plants become skeletons feeding the hungry caterpillars of the Swallowtail butterfly.
I was so excited when i found it. I dont even have a garden, a few potted plants in the yard but no flowers or grass. It was a complete surprise! Thank you for ur advice!! x
Hope you decide to hang around the Stew, we will make sure you catch the gardening bug. Nothing we like more than creating another plant addict
Oh u would be horrified to se my back garden! Its just concrete! I tried to make it look nice with a few plants but it is just awful still. A customer of mine bought me a houseplant as a thank u gift and i had it for a week when it died, i gave it to my mum to see if replanting it in a bigger pot would help but she thinks i've killed it, im awful! We rent the house so i cant really do much to the garden, id love one, but when i do have a garden ill will definitely pop in for a chat, ill probably have a million questions! Ill keep u posted about the butterfly! xx
I found this cool site that has all kinds of info on bugs...looks like you can submit photos for ID if you want to. Here's the link, and good luck with your moth/butterfly!: http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740
