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What to Feed Butterflies (And How to Get One to Land on You)

Butterflies drink rather than eat — nectar, fruit juice and mineral-rich mud. A sugar-water feeder, a fruit plate, and the reason yellow and purple work.

By The Grow In Backyard Team 3 min read Save to Pinterest — opens Pinterest in a new tab
A brimstone butterfly feeding from a thistle flower
Photo: Bikeboy, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Butterflies do not eat. They drink — a coiled proboscis takes up liquid and nothing else. So “feeding” them means offering the right liquids, and there are three: sugar, fruit, and salty mud.

The three things to offer

1. Overripe fruit. Banana, orange, watermelon, mango, peach. Riper is better — lightly fermenting fruit pulls in far more butterflies than fresh, and some species prefer it to flowers entirely.

2. Sugar solution. Four parts water to one part white sugar. Soak a sponge or cotton wool in it rather than leaving open liquid, which butterflies can drown in.

Never honey, never dye

Honey can carry pathogens harmful to butterflies and ferments quickly into something that is not good for them. Red dye is unnecessary and unstudied — the colour of the dish does the attracting.

3. A puddling station. Shallow dish, coarse sand, a pinch of sea salt, kept damp.

This is the one people skip and it is often the most visited. Mud-puddling is mostly males taking up sodium and amino acids that nectar does not supply — minerals they pass to females during mating as a nutrient package that improves egg viability.

Where to put it

Sun, and shelter from wind. Butterflies are ectothermic: they cannot fly or feed properly until they are warm.

Add a flat dark stone in full sun for basking. It costs nothing and it is one of the most useful things in a butterfly garden.

Near flowering plants, a few feet off the ground, out of easy reach of cats.

Keep it clean. Fermented is good; mouldy is not. Replace fruit before it turns and refresh sugar solution every couple of days, daily in real heat.

Getting one to land on you

It works more often than you would think:

  • Stand still, in sun, near flowers.
  • Wear light or bright colours — yellow, orange, purple, white. Dark clothing reads as shadow.
  • No sudden movement, and keep your shadow off them — an overhead shape is what a predator looks like.
  • Sweat genuinely helps. They want the salt, and this is the same instinct as puddling.
  • Hold fruit or a sugar-soaked sponge flat in an open palm and wait.

Best odds on a warm still morning, when they are active but not yet at full speed.

What actually increases butterfly numbers

Feeders support adults. Adults are not the limiting stage.

Caterpillars are, and caterpillars eat specific host plants:

Host plants by butterfly
ButterflyCaterpillars need
MonarchMilkweed — and only milkweed
Black swallowtailParsley, dill, fennel, carrot tops
Painted ladyThistle, mallow, hollyhock
FritillariesViolets
Red admiralNettles

A garden with host plants and no feeder supports far more butterflies than a garden with a feeder and no host plants. Tolerate the chewed leaves — that is what success looks like.

Feeding an injured butterfly

Offer a sugar-soaked sponge or overripe fruit and place the butterfly gently onto it. You may need to uncoil the proboscis with a cocktail stick to start it feeding; this is standard practice and does not hurt them.

A butterfly that is merely cold often only needs warming in the sun. One with badly torn wings will not fly again, but it can still feed and live out its time.

Step by step

Time
PT20M
Cost
$5
You need
Overripe fruit — banana, orange, watermelon, White sugar, A shallow dish and a sponge or cotton wool, Coarse sand and a pinch of sea salt
Tools
Shallow saucer or plate

  1. Put out overripe fruit

    Sliced banana, orange, watermelon and mango are taken readily, and the riper the better — fermenting fruit attracts more butterflies than fresh. Put it on a plate in a sunny sheltered spot at least a few feet off the ground.

  2. Make a simple nectar solution

    Four parts water to one part white sugar, stirred until dissolved. No dye, no honey — honey can carry pathogens that harm butterflies and ferments quickly. Soak a sponge or cotton wool in it rather than leaving open liquid, which they can drown in.

  3. Build a puddling station

    Fill a shallow dish with coarse sand, add a pinch of sea salt, and keep it damp. Male butterflies gather at damp mineral-rich ground to take up sodium and amino acids, which they pass to females during mating.

  4. Place it in sun and out of wind

    Butterflies are ectothermic and need warmth to fly and feed. A sheltered sunny spot near flowering plants gets far more visits than an exposed one.

  5. Add a flat basking stone

    A dark flat rock in full sun lets them warm up, which they must do before they can feed effectively. It is one of the most useful and least expensive additions to a butterfly garden.

  6. Keep it clean

    Replace fruit before it moulds and refresh sugar solution every couple of days in warm weather, more often in heat. Fermented is good, mouldy is not, and dirty feeders spread disease.

  7. Plant for them as well

    Feeders supplement, they do not replace habitat. Nectar plants for adults and host plants for caterpillars — milkweed for monarchs, parsley and dill for swallowtails — do far more than any dish of sugar water.

Common questions

What do you feed butterflies?

Butterflies drink rather than chew — a coiled proboscis takes up liquid only. Overripe fruit such as banana, orange and watermelon is the easiest option, and a four-to-one solution of water and white sugar soaked into a sponge works well. Never use honey, which can carry pathogens harmful to butterflies, and never add red dye. A damp dish of sand with a pinch of sea salt supplies the minerals they also need.

How do you get a butterfly to land on you?

Stand still in the sun near flowers, wear light or bright colours — yellow, orange, purple and white are attractive, while dark colours read as shadow — and avoid sudden movement or a shadow falling across them. Butterflies are drawn to salt, so sweat genuinely helps, and a slice of overripe fruit or a sugar-soaked sponge held flat in an open palm improves the odds considerably. Patience matters more than technique.

What colours attract butterflies?

Butterflies see into the ultraviolet and are drawn to yellow, orange, pink, purple, red and white — the colours of the flowers they feed from. Purple and yellow are reliably among the most attractive in garden trials. Blue and dark colours attract fewer, and a dark moving shape reads as a predator's shadow, which is why dark clothing makes them harder to approach.

Why do butterflies gather on wet ground?

That is mud-puddling, and it is mostly males. They take up sodium, amino acids and other minerals that are scarce in nectar and pass them to females in a nutrient package during mating, which improves egg viability. A shallow dish of damp sand with a pinch of sea salt reproduces it, and it is often the most visited feature in a butterfly garden.

Can you feed a butterfly that cannot fly?

Yes. Offer a sugar-water-soaked sponge or a slice of overripe fruit and place the butterfly gently onto it — you may need to uncoil the proboscis with a cocktail stick to get it started, which sounds alarming but is standard practice. A butterfly weakened by cold often just needs warming in the sun. One with torn wings will not recover flight, but can still feed.

Does feeding butterflies actually help them?

Marginally, and habitat helps far more. Feeders provide energy for adults but do nothing for the life stage that limits butterfly populations, which is the caterpillar. Host plants are the constraint — monarchs need milkweed, swallowtails need parsley, dill or fennel — and a garden with host plants and no feeder supports far more butterflies than the reverse.

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