Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: My first eclosing experience!!!!!!!!, 0 by thea611

thea611 wrote:
Well, I woke up this morning at 8 and went into my hobby room as I do every morning, to check on my cats, and there was one hanging off the mesh, wings still a little crimped!!! I was ecstatic! I left her alone (I'm calling her HER, but I don't know yet how to determine the sex, I need to do that before anymore eclose!), but kept going to check on her, and her wings steadily straightened out. By the time we returned from our walk, she was flexing her wings and had moved around in the crate, so I figured she was probably ready. I reached in with a zinnia flower and she readily stepped on to it, and I brought her out thru the window over the garden. My husband held the flower while she posed for a few photos, and then she just up and flew away!!!! By then, it was 10:30. And I spent the rest of my morning feeling like I'd just sent my child out into the world! I never had kids but I imagine this is how moms must feel when they send their child to school the first day. It made me so emotional, thinking about sending that beautiful creature out into this hostile world. I SO hope she'll do all right.