Having walked off the plant (which was inside a caterpillar castle) it went onto the roof of the castle, however it then leaked green liquid and then pink liquid. It stayed still for several days and then tried to hang in a 'J' but there was almost no silk holding it up.
I transferred it to the end of a cottonbud and there it stayed for 2 days.
Late in the afternoon, today, I noticed signs of the chrysalis process beginning. I wasn't able to be present and when I next saw it, 3 hours later, it had died.
As you can see from my photos, it did try to split its skin but just didn't have the strength to carry it through to the finish. It looks as if it slipped down within its skin and hung there.
There are several reasons as to why this might have happened. I tend to think it was because it is now Winter here in New Zealand and the temperatures are cold. This caterpillar came very late in the season and I've noticed that late caterpillars don't have a high success rate in reaching butterfly stage.
When its cold they don't move much. Even though the late ones are under cover, they don't move enough because of being cold and therefore they don't eat enough before making their 'J’. Then when it's time to form the chrysalis, they don't seem to have the strength to carry it through. Either the ‘j’ turns into an ‘l’ and they die, or their skin splits along part of their back but they are able to go no further and they die. Sadly this was one of the latter