I have bought a few clear large "rubber maid" type containers for raising caterpillars.

These work well for putting a whole vase of host plant material inside and closing it in. I stand the containers up on their short side. For ventilation I have cut a rectangle off of the lid and taped in screen material.

I also love having the smaller lizard containers for raising caterpillars in.
Both of these are very easy to clean with some soap and water or spray bleach in between each wave of larvae.

The pop up style hampers work well for transferring the chrysalis's into to wait for them to emerge as adults.

I bought a little plastic aquarium at a flea market last year and saw them at WM this year so purchased two more. Along with the suggestion of using floral foam to place the leaves and stems of Asclepias in, my success this year has been much improved. This is one of the 'aquariums'.

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I cut the floral foam bricks in slices about one inch thick. That leaves me with enough finger room to pick up the foam without disturbing the cats on the stems and leaves. They are perfect since I can pick up my slice, tip it to remove the frass (sp?), dump the frass from the container, put the foam with plants and cats back in and I'm done.

The top isn't solid as you can see and the cats migrate to it when they are ready to make their chrysalis. The ridging is great for them. Yesterday I moved 13 adult cats into one aquarium and today I have 6 chrysalis (I watched one of the metamorphasize at 4pm!!), 3 Js, and three more huge cats thinking about making the transition.

In another aquarium I have 15 more cats.

I really like these.

Oh, good, thanks for posting this. I did not mean to bring cats inside but yesterday when I was washing the aphids off the milkweed, I took some small cats off to avoid hitting them with the water. I put them in a container like the one tiffy pictured but didn't think about the floral foam. I actually have some from a science project my son did. How many cats can you keep in a container that size? When I cut some fresh leaves this morning, there were two more cats on the leaves. I have never done this before, can you tell? I thought I would just provide milkweed outside but now I am ambivalent about putting these cats back out.

Becky

I keep around a dozen. Last year I raised about a dozen with the one I obtained at the flea market and a couple of other containers, one being a small aquarium, but I like this container the best. You can see clearly through it and keep an eye on all stages of development. This is good since the neighbourhood kids (and some adults) love to check out how things are going and come visit them often.

I'll be starting to separate the 15 which are in one tank into two in the next day or so. The bigger ones will get their own 'home'.

I have one like pictured above that I will put two or three cats in. I don't use the foam, I just add a fresh leaf, or two, every day.

I also have one that is smaller, its about a the size of 16 oz. cup with a nice terrarium lid.

Its the not the same brand as the one in the link, but is very similar to the small kritter keeper.

I have used clear 2 liter bottles, with top cut off and a piece of screen material, rubber banded to the top.

Here is a link that might be useful: kritter keeper

Tiffy, I like that Aquarium, and the floral foam is a good idea. This is my first year raising Monarchs, I felt the same way you do Ramazz. I watched a couple females lay eggs and couldn't resist collecting them. And so it started.

I'm using the large clear plastic salad boxes that are about the size of a shoe box, which I already had because I used them for winter-sowing. They have holes on the top and bottom already, and I line the bottom with a napkin and throw in a few leaves. The two oldest cats are in their chrysalides, so they should be eclosing in a week or so.