How do I feed adult monarchs?

Adult monarchs (butterfly life stage) require sugar to survive. In the wild, they consume flower nectar as their food source. A monarch should be released 24 hours after eclosion (handling before this risks damage to its exoskeleton before it completely hardens). If weather (storm or rain) prevents release at this time, you should feed it. It can be fed 20% concentration honey/water solution, fresh fruit (such as cut up melon), or fruit juice on a clean sponge in a shallow dish. To prevent fermentation, these should be changed every day. The sponge and dish should be sanitized with the rest of your rearing containers. You can also put flowers in their enclosure for them, but be sure that they are flowers they like to nectar from and are also changed regularly.