Pre-Flight Preparation

If you only expect to have 2 or 3 pupas, you can just take the shoebox cover outside when the pupas start to get dark. Mount it securely with nothing below the pupas to obstruct their normal coming out party.

There have been years when I did not see a single monarch butterfly or an egg on my plants. But this year has been crazy productive. I have already seen 15 of my babies fly away. Now I have 17 more pupas waiting to become butterflies.

In order to mount them on this simple dowel rack I carefully tie a piece of dental floss around the black stalk (called the "cremaster") from which they hang, slowly and carefully pull the pupa away from the shoebox top, and then simply tie them on this dowel rod.

I place the rack inside a mesh enclosure that I purchased for about $30. Target has a laundry hamper  for only $7 which can be used also.

Each morning I check to see if any are dark and look like they will emerge. I actually keep them locked in for at least two hours after emerging to help prevent any early departures before they are quite ready to go. Then I open just the top of the door so they have to do some walking to get to the exit.

Monarch Watch more fully describes all this and has all the other info you will need if you really get into raising monarch butterflies.