Monarch Update: Tragedy mixed with Happiness.

I'm hoping maybe someone can alleviate our concerns over this tragedy here.

As many of you know our eldest J hooked yesterday. We were very excited and left it alone. It did not start to form the chrysalis yet.

When I was getting a book Gideon insisted on reading I noticed something on the wall: Our missing baby caterpillar! We were DELIGHTED and we went to put it in with the others (in the same container as the J-hooked caterpillar) I was gentle, but that damn zipper stuck and the treehouse jerked. There was no avoiding it.

To our dismay the j-hooked caterpillar fell. We both thought the worst for this little one. I picked it up gently and tried to see if it'd reattach to the silk button.

It didn't.

I noticed a clear liquid from it's backside (where it was on the silk button) but I know it is NOT blood as that's GREEN and this isn't. It's been at least an hour since the fall. The caterpillar is back in the treehouse and still alive. It alternates between being in a curled up state and on it's feet. It seems to be removing the liquid from the backside. The liquid seemed to be in a sac of some sort that did 'pop' the sack seems a bit stretchy or something.

Will it make it? Will it go back up and j hook? Will it just turn to the chrysalis on the ground? Does anyone know? I don't know if I should help it or let it be. I'm doing a bit of both, but I'm really afraid to do much more than touch (if needed) to see if it's still alive.

I spent hours online trying to learn the answer to no avail. A monarch forum didn't have the answer either.

I have since changed our set up. The youngest caterpillars are in a bug house and the three eldest (plus the fallen j-hooked one) are in the treehouse. I'm not sure how we will feed them if they don't all j-hook in time but we'll worry about that if it's an issue. They are all about the same age, so I don't see a problem there.

Any help would be appreciated. We are VERY distraught over this and hoping for the BEST outcome.

Here's a video just shot of it. It's still moving.

Video showing the sack or clear liquid (unsure exactly what it is)

Both videos are more than 2 hours after the fall.