It is with a heavy heart that I write that Hubert has passed away. Though tragic, it is not unexpected. I knew butterflies live way shorter lives than other animal species, being insects and all. He did live longer that I expected, I’ll admit, so I’m proud to say his life was a great one. But like most things, nothing lasts forever. I’m sure Hubert will be spending a great time in butterfly heaven.

He began showing these symptoms last night, before I went to bed. He looked as if he was struggling to get up. The next day (today), all he did was move his legs around in the air, and not even for very long. Thus, Hubert had reached the end of his life.

I had written this blog solely for the purpose of documenting Hubert’s life for my Teaching Science class. Now that he is gone, it will be weird not going to this blog every day and writing about something cool or interesting that happened. But alas, this will be this blog’s last post, and it will serve as not only an assignment to be turned in, but also a memorial for one of the coolest species I’ve had to take care of. To cherish his memory, I will be eating a banana, his favorite fruit.

R.I.P. Hubert 1/21/2020 – 3/5/2020

You will be deeply missed.

After having realized I did not post yesterday, I will make up for it with this.

This was taken yesterday. Hubert is guarding the bananas, as per usual. This seems to be a job he really enjoys.

Meanwhile, this photo was taken today. He is definitely more mellow than he was yesterday. He also appears to be stuck in the bananas, but he’s still alive. He moved around slightly when I shook the cup a little bit. His cup is starting to get dirty, so I’ll probably try to clean it sometime before the week is over. After all, spring break IS coming up, so I’ll have more time to focus on Hubert!

Hubert looks dead, but I’m pretty sure he’s not. He’s hanging on for dear life, probably because he doesn’t want to fall into the bananas. He was flying around quite a bit yesterday, and I showed him to some family and friends during my sibling’s birthday party. He didn’t seem too fond of the attention though.

Hubert really is a strange creature. I’m not sure what exactly he’s doing in this photo, but I’m not going to question it because it looks like he’s having fun. I still haven’t changed out his food, and I’m not sure whether or not I’ll have time for that today. I really like this picture, though, because it shows a bit of the underside of Hubert, which you don’t always get to see. It shows his adventurous spirit, too. He really does like hanging out upside-down like that. Other than that, no big changes, and I’m really not expecting anything big, either.

It has been getting nice out lately, and it will continue to be nice for a while. I was debating simply letting Hubert go outside, where he truly belongs. At the same time, however, he’s been dependent on me, and he already doesn’t like it when I open his cup to give him food. Who knows how he would react? It seems I have a lot to think about…

It’s Leap Day, and while Hubert hasn’t been leaping, he has been moving his wings quite a bit. It’s as if he’s showing absolutely no signs of him reaching the end like he was not even a week ago. I’m not sure what happened, but he just seems a lot better now! Of course, that may change because I’m thinking of changing his food out in the next few days or so. He still doesn’t seem to like that, but it’s a necessary evil. The process this next time around won’t be as painful though, because rotten bananas seem much easier to deal with than rotten, liquid strawberries. It seems I have learned my lesson.

For a while now, Hubert has been simply resting on the toothpicks. Today, however, that changed! I actually saw him flying around for once!

Granted I think it’s because his wings accidentally touched the bananas and he got scared. However, it’s good to see him flying around again. I was worried that he was reaching the end of his life, though to be fair, he probably won’t be living that much longer if it took that much to get him moving. Still, I love seeing the vibrant colors in his wings. Butterflies are so cool!

I moved the toothpicks around in Hubert’s cage so he would have more room, based on my theory that he was stuck. He is still alive and still flinched when I did this, but he saw no reason to fly away from me. I don’t even think he left from his toothpick to come down and eat, even though I gave him new bananas. I’m certain now that Hubert is starting to reach the end of his life. Sad, but not unexpected, as butterflies don’t live that long, and I have had this page for over a month now. It’s been a wild ride. I’ll see them through with you to the end, Hubert.

Hubert is still relaxing on the toothpick, but I know he’s still alive. I gave him more bananas to eat, and he moved around a little bit. I’m beginning to wonder if maybe he’s just stuck? I’m not sure though, it looks like he could get out of there if he really wanted to. Maybe I’ll try moving the toothpicks around a bit tomorrow and see what happens.

This picture was taken at a different side from the previous post, but truth be told, Hubert hasn’t been moving around much at all. It’s confirmed that he’s not dead, as my dad and I were watching it last night. He moved the cup around slightly, and Hubert did flinch. However, I’m beginning to wonder if Hubert is feeling sick. I know butterflies do not last long, so I’m guessing I won’t have much time left with him. We don’t have anymore fruit either, as our grapes are starting to go bad and we have no bananas or strawberries. I guess all I can do is make the most of it. Though I hope Hubert can hang in there a bit longer.

I honestly have no clue what Hubert is doing. It looks like he’s hanging on for dear life, but I think he has at least two legs on the toothpick. Maybe he’s just trying to show off his acrobatic skills? I have no clue. He can’t tell me either. Yesterday, he had his wings opened up for a bit, which was pretty cool to see. Other than that, he’s just been chillin’ like a villain.