Date: 07/12/2017

Number: 2

I hand paired my male and female. They stayed connected for a good 30 + hours. Way longer then usual. After they finally let go of each other She had something stuck to her bum. I made sure they had flowers, raw clover honey water, and red gatorade to eat before I left for work. I had to go to work so I left her this way because it was my first time mating them and thought it was normal. I consulted with my Monarch exclusive group and they said to soak her abdomen in warm water and use a q-tip to gently rub it off. I did this and put her back in with the milkweed plants. I have photos of the hard substance. She immediately started laying eggs but they looked black. And only 3 of them. Then she just continued to drag her abdomen around on the milkweed plants until she finally just stopped and hung from the top of the tank. I noticed her abdomen was very deflated looking and there was a little red coloring on the tip of her bum. I made the decision to release them that afternoon. I put them with flowers they like. She ate nectar for about 30 seconds and took off. He stayed on the flower for quite some time before flying away. It was very heartbreaking for me. I just want to help the Monarchs but I don't plan to hand pair them again. If they pair up great! If they don't I will leave them be and let nature do its thing!!

Bad Axe, MI

Latitude: 43.8 Longitude: -83

Observed by: Carmen
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