Is it time to put Lila down?

[u/Sagetheswaggydino]

Not sure where to post, as it’s hard finding others who keep injured butterflies, but i’m feeling really worried about Lila.

She is a 5 week old cethosia penthesilea (orange lacewing butterfly. Their typical average lifespan in the wild is 7-10 days and she has gone way past that. She emerged with a crumpled wing so i took her in to care for her. On the exact same day my mother found an injured Common crow butterfly at work, and brought her home to me. So Lila got a friend. They would always roost together, find spots to sleep, explore the enclosure, climb and come down to feed. Common Crows typically live a lot longer than Orange Lacewings (11-13 weeks), and lately i’ve seen the effects of old age hitting Lila. Her friend Queenie can still climb, but Lila’s tarsi must be worn down or maybe she’s too weak and she just can’t climb anymore. She needs help with everything now and just sits there sadly. I’m happy taking care of her, but if she can’t even climb and explore, what kind of life is that anymore? I’m even more sad, as i brought them a new buddy named Omelette who’s wings are worse than Lila’s but she’s up roosting with Queenie like Lila used to. And Lila is simply too weak to get up there.

She doesn’t seem to be suffering, but i know she’s on her last few days. Should i let her pass naturally in her enclosure or just euthanise her now?

[u/jnffr_]

I would keep her until she passed. I was in a similar situation a couple weeks ago. My husband found an eastern tiger swallowtail with a significant part of one of her wings missing so she couldn’t fly.
I kept her fed and comfortable. I bought a bigger habitat so she could rest, and took her out into our sunroom so she could walk around and hang with me as I worked. She passed peacefully one night. I was there with her. She laid 2 eggs, but they were not viable. I pinned her.

[u/Sagetheswaggydino → u/jnffr_]

aww that sounds beautiful :) Its so sad when they can’t fly, but it was so nice of you to give her a comfortable little life and keep her safe. Honestly the sun room idea is so cute. I bet she loved that. I was gonna take Lila and her friend outside on their birthday (5 week birthday) but rain ruined it :( I used to have another injured butterfly of the same species that used to love going outside and would even tell me what flowers he wanted to go to by batting his legs in the direction of one lol.