I had two butterflies in my backyard. Noticed one was missing earlier today and now that I've logged back on, the other one is missing as well. What did I do to make them fly away?
I don't think they ran away. It's my understanding that butterflies die of old age eventually. After a certain number of milkings. Anybody, please correct me if I can learn more.
It'd be nice if there was a way, within the game, to know that your butterflies had died and not just absconded. Maybe a little butterfly corpse, or a tiny wee cross. Because it is confusing when they disappear, and I can see 'Where did my butterflies go?' becoming the new 'Where can I get salt?'
Strange as it may seem, I have my 12 butterflies a long time now and they haven't gone away. And they get auto-milked quite regularly by the milk collector. That said, now that I've posted this they will probably all be gone next time I look.
Ya, thanks. This is exactly what I was looking to find out. Guess I have some caterpillar making to do.
While we're on the subject, do piggies have a lifespan; or chickens?
I fed a caterpillar on the second floor of my bog home (above the firefly swarm in the barsement) and it disappeared into thin air. Never got it back. I went down to the basement to incubate, hatch and feed the other two eggs and there was no problem. I already had a butterfly in the basement so now there is three. Don't know what happened to the mystery caterpillar but it was included in the badge calcuation for three butterflies.
I had two, and came back from a holiday trip to find 10 butterfly eggs. I gathered from the above posts that b/c I have been using a butterfly milker, they had a short life span but left me the resources to hatch plenty more. I wish Glitch animals wouldn't die, it's kinda sad!
I've been tending my friends garden & animals while she's away & went there today to find piles of 2 or 3 milks in the garden + a pile of 10 butterfly eggs, so I assumed they'd died & that was what was left. There was only 1 left, but the next time I popped in, there was none but another pile of milk.
I've been tending another garden too, & the butterflies there are fine, but they don't have milkers (the other friend does) so I wonder if (like pigs) butterflies die off quicker if they're not hand milked, or if it's just that their life span is hastened by milkers. It'd be interesting to know if hand milking them as well as having a feeder helps, or if it makes no difference. Does singing to them make a big difference to their life span?
My butterflies have a life span of about 8 days. Every day I make and incubate one butterfly egg (actually a chicken incubates it :D ), and I usually have 8 butterflies. I have 3 milkers and seldom hand milk. According to TS butterflies don't die; they "go to a better place." In my experience they always leave something behind when they go. Usually 2 or 3 bottles of milk and very occasionally that clutch of 10 butterfly eggs. I haven't gotten the eggs for a long time - not sure if it's just random or some particular combination of factors stimulates the eggs rather than the milk.
There's also some good answers to the same question in this thread. I experienced the same problem, and was going "WTF?", came here looking for answers!
I am pretty sure that butterfly lifespan has recently decreased. I had five that lasted for a very long time. Then, recently, new ones have "gone on" much more quickly.