Written By The Exploreist
By Todd Maurer | Updated: April 22, 2023
When it comes to food for butterflies, most people know that they love leaves and nectars, but there are a lot more foods they can eat, which varies greatly from species to species. If you’re raising butterflies at home and realize you’re running out of food, you’re in the right place. In this post, we will share everything you need to know about butterflies’ diets and a complete list of their favorite food.
First things first, all butterflies experience four stages in their life, including the egg, the larva as caterpillars, the pupa, when they form chrysalises and the adult butterflies. During each stage, they like to eat different things.
Table of Contents Show
As Caterpillars
It takes 4 to 7 days for the caterpillars to hatch, and once they’re out, they eat — day and night, with the first meal being the eggshell. The powerful jaws and mouths of caterpillars allow them to quickly chomp down on leaves. If you did butterfly farming yourself, you might have heard the little noise they create while eating. Each butterfly species has its own preferred plants, which supply all the nutrition they need to develop into beautiful butterflies.
In general, caterpillars like violets, clovers, dandelions, nettles, sunflowers, burdock, and other wild plants. They’ll also go for veggies like spinach, cabbage, and similar greens and garden herbs. However, their diet isn’t limited to these plants — caterpillars might also go for wild grass or leaves of grains like corn and barley. While caterpillars like sticking close to the ground, when food is scarce, they will climb trees of maple, elm, and birch to find food.
Despite the variety of food caterpillars can eat, they prefer the host plants, which vary between species. In some cases, caterpillars won’t eat if they don’t have access to their preferred plants, which postpones the larvae stage from a few months to possibly years. In addition to absorbing nutrition to induce their metamorphosis, caterpillars use the food they eat to protect themselves from predators. For example, monarch caterpillars use the toxin of the milkweed they eat to make themselves taste bad.
As Adult Butterflies
With this change in appearance comes a great change in their anatomy and diet. Adult butterflies no longer “eat” as caterpillars do but absorb nutrients from a variety of liquids, such as nectar, sugar water, and fruit juice from bananas, oranges, watermelons, and more, especially if they are mushy. Below is a short clip of our spicebush swallowtail, who hatched in winter, feasting on rotten oranges!
You can buy butterfly feeders online, which resemble colorful flowers and come with special sugar you can mix with water to make food for your butterflies. Also, some species get food from tree saps, pollen, dung, and even bird dropping!
Fun facts about butterflies
Have you ever wondered why butterflies like to land on people? It is when they, mostly male butterflies, absorb the sodium in our bodily excretions. Getting enough salt and a few other minerals is critical to their reproductive cycle. So, next time when this beautiful creature “rests” on your arm, let them enjoy your offering. Sometimes, they also get them from mud puddles, a behavior called “puddling.”
Butterflies use their feet to sense and taste, which allows them to land on flowers and other potential food sources and quickly determine if they are worthwhile. Do you know how they consume food? If you look closely at your home-grown butterflies, you will notice a small straw called a proboscis, coiled under its head, and it is what an adult butterfly uses to suck the nectar from plants.
How to create a butterfly garden
If you’d like to attract butterflies to your property, you need a garden with the appropriate host plants. Or grow different types of fruit trees or install butterfly feeders. You can also add some dark-colored rocks for butterflies to rest on and absorb heat, shallow puddles as a way to obtain water and vital minerals, and alternative food sources like sweet liquids or mushy fruits — after all, it is impossible to keep all your nectar and host plants going all season long.
The garden should be in an area that is sunny and warm, as butterflies are cold blood and need to maintain their body temperature for optimal functioning. You should also make sure that nothing in the garden can kill butterflies in their caterpillar stage, such as pesticides, and avoid buying plants treated with pesticides. Ask before you buy, and clean the vegetation thoroughly once you get it home. If you have pets like dogs or cats, keep them out of the garden!
Alright, we hope you’ve enjoyed this post, and if it raises your interest in rearing your own butterflies, checkthis post. And below is the table we promised earlier.
Host and Nectar Plants by Butterfly Species
| Species | Caterpillar Host Plants + Food | Adult Butterfly Nectar Plants |
|---|---|---|
| Anise Swallowtail | anise, parsley, carrot, dill, fennel, and rue | columbine, Hall's lomatium, leichtlin's camas, New England aster, lantana |
| Eastern Black Swallowtail | anise, parsley, carrot, dill, fennel, rue, and golden alexanders (zizia aurea) | nectar from a variety of plant species including clover, milkweed, thistles, and phlox |
| Giant Swallowtail | citrus, hop tree, prickly ash, and rue | nectar from milkweed, lantana, butterfly bush, zinnias, and many others |
| Pale Swallowtail | parsley, dill, carrots, celery, parsnips, caraway, true anise (pimpinella anisum), and fennel | zinnia, aster and butterfly bush |
| Old World Swallowtail | sagebrushes (artemisia species), including arctic wormwood and wild tarragon | rotting fruit, dung and meadow flowers |
| Pipevine Swallowtail | dutchman's pipe, pipevines, and virginia snakeroot | nectar from flowers of phlox, ironweed and thistles |
| Spicebush Swallowtail | spicebush (primary food), sassafras, camphor tree (cinnamomum camphora), and various bays | verbena, zinnias, milkweed, lantana, periwinkles and other flowers |
| Eastern Tiger Swallowtail | many broadleaf trees and shrubs, lilac, willow, birch, tuliptree, and cherry | nectar of flowers from a variety of plant species including butterfly bush, milkweed, Japanese honeysuckle, phlox, lilac, ironweed, and wild cherry |
| Western Tiger Swallowtail | cottonwood, willow, quaking aspen, alder, maple, sycamore, hoptree, plum and ash | nectar from many flowers including thistles, abelia, California buckeye, zinnia, and yerba santa. |
| Zebra Swallowtail | pawpaw | milkweed, joe-pye weed, sweet joe pye weed, red clover, zinnia, cosmos sulphureus, lantana,Pentas, daisy |
| Monarch Butterfly | milkweed (asclepias) | milkweed, new england aster, red clover, zinnia, cosmos sulphureus, lantana, Pentas, daisy, mexican sunflower (tithonia) |
| Viceroy | willow, poplar, aspen, apple, cherry, and plum | milkweed, new england aster, red clover, zinnia, cosmos sulphureus, lantana, Pentas, daisy, rotting fruit |
| Red-Spotted Purple | apple, aspen, cherry, hawthorn, hornbeam, poplar, and willow | nectar from a variety of flowers, but prefers tree samp, rotting fruit, dung and carrion |
| Great Spangled Fritillary | violets, such as viola tricolor | nectar from many species of flowers including milkweed, dogbane, vetch, red clover, and purple coneflower |
| Variegated Fritillary | violets, such as viola tricolor, pansies, stonecrops, passionflowers/passiflora incarnata, and plantains | meadow flowers, hibiscus, and composite family |
| Meadow Fritillary | violets, such as viola sororia and viola pallens | meadow flowers and composite family |
| Gulf Fritillary | passionflowers, passiflora incarnata and passiflora caerulea | hibiscus, Pentas and lantana |
| Glanville Fritillary | plantoago lanceolata (ribwort plantain) or veronica spicata (spiked speedwell) | rotting fruit, dung and meadow flowers |
| Mourning Cloak | elm, poplar and willow | rotting fruit, dung and meadow flowers |
| Question Mark | elm, hackberry, hop, nettle, and false nettle (boehmeria cylindrica) | rotting fruit, dung and meadow flowers |
| Green Comma | rhododendron, azalea, birch, and willow | dung, fruits and puddles |
| Red Admiral | nettle, false nettle (boehmeria cylindrica) and hop | cosmos sulphureus, fruits and Gaillardia |
| Painted Lady | members of the mallow family, malva sylvestris, tree mallow (lavatera), thistles, and goosefoots | a variety of garden and field plants |
| American Painted Lady | daisies, everlastings, hollyhock/alcea rosea, pearly everlastings, sunflowers, thistle plants, and those in the asteraceae and malvaceae families | blazing star, cosmos, New England aster, Joe-pye weed, Mexican sunflower, purple coneflower, and zinnias. They also like red clover and milkweed |
| Common Buckeye | several species of plantain, philippine violet, and, occasionally, lantana | zinnia, butterfly bush and hydrangea |
| Baltimore Checkerspot | turtlehead (primary food), false foxglove, plantain, and white ash | Spreading Dogbane, common milkweed and Black-eyed Susan |
| Pearl Crescent | several species of asters, such as heath aster (aster pilosus), many-flowered aster, bushy aster, and calico aster | dogbane, swamp milkweed, shepherd's needle, asters, and winter cress |
| Great Purple Hairstreak | American mistletoe | American mistletoe |
| Gray Hairstreak | cotton, mallows, strawberry, legumes, and mints | Yarrow, meadow and edge flowers |
| Coastal Green Hairstreak | bramble | rotting fruit, dung and meadow flowers |
| American Copper | sheep sorrel, curly dock, and mountain sorrel | daisy, dandelion, clovers, and milkweed |
| Tailed Blue | clovers, beans and peas | daisy, dandelion, clovers, and milkweed |
| Spring Azure | blueberry, California lilac, dogwoods, meadowsweet, and viburnums | coltsfoot, daisy, milkweed, and other meadow flowers |
| Cloudless Sulphur | senna marilandica, senna, clovers, and other legumes | hibiscus, cassia, Pentas, and bougainvillea |
| Clouded Sulphur | clovers and other legumes, wild blue indigo (baptisia australis) | clovers, dandelion, Phlox, and milkweed |
| Orange Sulphur | white clover, alfalfa, vetch, lupine, and wild blue indigo (baptisia australis) | clovers, dandelion, parsley, zinnia, other meadow flowers, and composite family |
| Dogface | false indigo, clovers, lupine, vetch, and leadplant | clovers, thistles and most composite flowers |
| Checkered White | crucifers and cleome | dandelion, Gaillardia and purple coneflower |
| Cabbage White | brassicas, such as cabbage, kale, and brussel sprouts, and nasturtiums | many garden and meadow flowers |
| Zebra Longwing | passionflowers and passiflora incarnata | hibiscus, Pentas and lantana |
| Malachite | yerba papagayo | rotting fruit, dung, and mud |
| Large Heath | hare's-tail cottongrass (Eriophorum vagin*tum) but larvae have been found occasionally on Common Cottongrass and Jointed Rush (Juncus articulatus) | nectar from hawkweeds, heathers, tormentil, and white clover |
| Green-Veined White | garlic mustard, cuckooflower, hedge mustard, water-cress, charlock, wild cabbage, and wild radish. | many garden and meadow flowers |
| Common Blue | common bird's-foot-trefoil (primary food), greater bird's-foot-trefoil, black medick, common restharrow, white clover, and lesser trefoil | many garden and meadow flowers |
| Western Pygmy Blue | pigweed (chenopodium album), saltbush species (atriplex), and others in the goosefoot family (chenopodiaceae). | many garden and meadow flowers |
| Queen | milkweed (asclepias) | milkweeds and milkweed vine |
| Common Wood-Nymph | purpletop (tridens flavus) and other grasses | rotting fruit and meadow flower nectar. |
| Speckled Wood | false brome (brachypodium sylvaticum), co*ck's-foot (dactylis glomerata), yorkshire-fog (holcus lanatus), and common couch (elytrigia repens) | ash, oak, hazel, bramble, fleabane, ragwort, trefoils, cone flowers, and yellow buddleia |
| Milbert's Tortoiseshell | common nettles | nectar from flowers of thistles, goldenrods, lilacs, and sap and rotting fruit |
| Common Brimstone | buckthorn (rhamnus cathartica), which occurs mainly on calcareous soils, and alder buckthorn (frangula alnus), which is found on moist acid soils and wetlands. | coltsfoot, daisy, milkweed, and other meadow flowers |
| Fiery Skipper | various grasses, often preferring bermudagrass (cynodon dactylon) and St. Augustine grass | nectar from a variety of plants including sweet pepperbush, swamp milkweed, asters, sneezeweed, knapweed, ironweed, and thistles. |
| Common Checkered-Skipper | several plants in the mallow family (malvaceae), including globemallows, mallow, hollyhock, alkali mallows, velvet-leaf, and poppy mallow | nectar from white-flowered composites, such as shepherd's needles, fleabane, and asters. They also feed on red clover, knapweed, beggar's ticks, and many others. |
| Grizzled Skipper | wild strawberry (fragaria virginiana), Canadian cinquefoil (potentilla canadensis), varileaf cinquefoil, and cloudberry (rubus chamaemorus). Also, all in the rose family works as well. | nectar from flowers of low-growing plants including blueberry, wild strawberry, and Canadian cinquefoil. |
| Ringlet | coarser grasses, including co*ck's-foot (dactylis glomerata), false brome, tufted hair-grass, common couch, and meadow-grasses. Other species of grass may also be used. | thyme |
| Large Blue | larvae initially feed on the flower-heads of wild thyme, but from their fourth instar, they feed on ant grubs within the nests of the Myrmecia red ants. | bramble and privet |
| Small Blue | their only food is kidney vetch | many garden and meadow flowers |
| Queen Alexandra's Birdwing | pipevine (Aristolochia schlecteri) | hibiscus flowers |
Didn’t find your butterfly from above? Leave a comment below, and we will add its host and nectar plants to the list.
The Exploreisthttps://theexploreist.com/
