11 Things Butterflies Love to Eat (Plus, How to Feed Them)

Co-authored by Shweta Sharma

Butterflies are unique, delicate insects that come in many different beautiful colors and patterns. If you have some butterflies that you need to regularly feed or you just want to provide a snack for the butterflies that pass through your yard, there are ways that you can do so. What kind of food you feed butterflies and how you should feed them depends on whether they're injured, in nature, or in a habitat.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Feeding Wild Butterflies

1
Use canned fruit nectar as an alternative to flower nectar. If you don't want to grow and take care of flowers, purchase some canned fruit nectar instead. To successfully serve canned fruit nectar, pour some into a plastic bottle cap or saturate a tissue in it and set it out in a butterfly feeder, on a porch railing, or somewhere similar.^{[1]
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2
Give butterflies sugar water if you don't have any nectar. This acts as makeshift nectar. Mix 1 part white cane table sugar with 4 parts warm water until the sugar dissolves completely. This should provide nutrition and energy for your butterflies so that they can thrive.^{[2]
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- White cane table sugar provides the best nutrients for butterflies and also dissolves easily, compared to other forms of sugar.^{[3]
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3
Feed butterflies rotting fruit as an alternative. Slice up some fruit that's going bad to give to your butterflies. They especially like to eat rotting grapefruits, oranges, strawberries, peaches, nectarines, apples, and bananas. Add a little bit of water or fruit juice to your sliced fruit to keep it desirably moist.^{[4]
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4
Make a butterfly feeder. The best way to feed butterflies in nature is to buy or create some sort of butterfly feeder. You can do this is several different ways, whether you want to hang a plastic water bottle full of food from a tree, or set a shallow plate with a base among your garden. Get crafty and make a desirable feeder to draw in as many butterflies as possible.
5
Provide flower nectar for butterflies in nature. Naturally, butterflies survive by consuming the nectar provided by different types of flowers. The best kind of food you can give them is this nectar. Milkweed, zinnias, and marigolds are popular with butterflies -- try planting these in your yard to attract and feed butterflies.^{[5]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Feeding Butterflies in a Habitat

1
Use Gatorade or fruit juice as an easy solution. The easiest way to feed butterflies in a habitat is with Gatorade or another already-prepared juice drink. As is, Gatorade and fruit juice have the sugar and water needed in order to provide nutrients to your butterflies. Use these for food if you want to be able to feed your butterflies quickly and easily.^{[6]
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2
Make your own creative butterfly food solution to get the best results. If you're willing to put a little more time and effort into your butterfly food to ensure maximum nutrition, make your own food solution. Mix 3 ounces (88.7 ml) of water or Gatorade with 1 teaspoon (4.9 ml) of simple syrup. Then, add in 6 drops of soy sauce.
- To make your own simple syrup, add 1 cup (240 ml) of sugar to 1 cup (240 ml) of water. Almost bring the mixture to a boil, but remove it from heat just before it starts to boil.
3
Serve liquid food in a small, shallow container for easy access. To make the food appealing to your butterflies, you'll need to serve it in a proper container. The smaller and shallower the container is, the better. Opt for a saucer or bottle lid if possible. Simply fill the dish or container, lower it into the habitat, and close the habitat.^{[7]
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- You can also use a small cup or a candle votive, but since these options are deeper, make sure to fill the container with marbles for the butterflies to stand on while they eat.
4
Provide skewered fresh fruit when you have several butterfly species. Fruit serves as an adequate food source for all different types of butterflies, so this might be the best option if you have a variety of species in your habitat. Take a skewer or a piece of bamboo and slide chunks of fruit onto it. Then, set it in the habitat.^{[8]
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- If the fruit won't stay on the skewer, secure a bread twist tie underneath the bottom piece of fruit.
5
Place fruit in the brightest area of the habitat. Butterflies instinctually gravitate towards bright areas, so they'll have an easier time finding the fruit if it's located in a brighter part of their habitat.^{[9]
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Helping Injured Butterflies Eat

1
Opt for liquids like warm children's juices, colas, and fruit punches. Children's juices, colas, and fruit punches make for the best first aid treatment for hurt, sick, or young butterflies. Use these as food if possible, and make sure to provide them at room temperature or warmer.
2
Soak a paper towel with the liquid food and place it in a dish. Decide which kind of food that you'd like to go with and then soak up the liquid with a paper towel. This will allow the butterflies to eat the food without getting their feet extremely wet.^{[11]
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3
Pick up each butterfly and set it onto the soaked paper towel. First, make sure your hands are completely dry. When one of your butterflies closes its wings, pinch them together extremely carefully at the tips. Lift the butterfly up and place it onto the paper towel so that it can taste the food on it. Continue doing this with all of your butterflies.
- If you aren't gentle, you can very easily seriously injure the butterflies by picking them up. It's very important to be careful when handling them.
- It's necessary to do it this way because butterflies taste with their feet.
4
Lower the butterfly's proboscis with a toothpick if it doesn't do so itself. Once they're placed on the paper towel, the butterflies will likely recognize that food is available and automatically lower their proboscises to consume it. If one of the butterflies doesn't do this, very carefully take a toothpick or a paperclip and lower the butterfly's proboscis towards the food yourself.^{[12]
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- The butterfly may be resistant at first and try to push the toothpick or paperclip away. Be persistent for a couple of minutes. If the butterfly is still resisting at this point, stop and try again in 1-2 hours.
5
Offer the butterflies food at least once each day. Pick up each butterfly carefully by the tips of its wings and place it onto the food-soaked paper towel at least once a day. If you struggle to get a butterfly to eat, give it a few more chances throughout the day. Even your butterflies who eat willingly may eat at these other opportunities too, as butterflies tend to prefer spaced out feeding times.^{[13]
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Expert Q&A

Question

How do I keep ants away from my feeder?

Shweta Sharma
Biologist
Shweta Sharma is a Biologist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). With nearly ten years of experience, she specializes in insect management, integrated pest management, insect behavior, resistance management, ecology, and biological control. She earned her PhD in Urban Entomology and her MS in Environmental Horticulture from the University of Florida. She also holds a BS in Agriculture from the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, Nepal.

Shweta Sharma

Biologist

Expert Answer

My first tip would be to put some kind of sticky substance in the feeder where the ants are climbing it from. Other than that, you could try putting water on it.
Question

How do you feed butterflies sugar water?

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

Make a solution of 3 teaspoons of sugar to 1 cup of water. Stir the mixture thoroughly to dissolve all the sugar. Use a dropper to soak a cotton ball with the solution, then place the cotton ball in your butterfly’s habitat. The butterfly will sip sugar water from the cotton ball with its proboscis.
Question

How soon do butterflies need to eat?

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

Your butterfly probably won’t eat for the first 24 hours after it emerges from its chrysalis, but it should be ready to eat by the next day.

Warnings

Butterflies have extremely delicate bodies, and you may severely injure or kill them accidentally if you mishandle them. To avoid this, make sure you know exactly how to touch them and interact with them safely before attempting to.

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