What do Butterflies eat---in captivity?

Question

We have a butterfly with a broken wing.I don't want to put it back outside to freeze. Is there anything we can put in the jar to make the butterfly more comfortable? Or something to eat?

Answer 1

Adult butterflies eat by drinking nectar from plants, but there are some that eat rotting fruit. Caterpillars eat plants, cereals, other insect larvae, and some even eat wool

Answer 2

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The adult butterfly eats nectar from flowers. They also do not live very long and do poorly in captivity, so I agree with others here that you should release it. However, if for some reason you cannot do that, you can feed it sugar water (1 part sugar to 3 parts water, same as for hummingbirds). The best way to feed a butterfly is to soak a piece of cotton in the sugar solution, then put the cotton in the cage in a small dish (a jar lid will do.) The butterfly will smell the sweetness and suck with its proboscis (tongue). If it is a caterpillar, it only eats leaves from the milkweed family: Common Milkweed, Butterfly Weed, and Aesclapia are some common Milkweed species they like. The leaves must be kept fresh -- simply putting leaves in the bottom of a jar will not do. To keep them fresh, you need to have the stems in water but also avoid having the caterpillar fall in and drown. An east way to do this is to put some water in a pop-top pop can and a stem with leaves attached into the hole. Then put the pop can in an old aquarium with a top, or other escape-proof cage, and put the caterpillar on the leaves. As the caterpillar strips each stalk of leaves (and they do this FAST -- caterpillars are basically 24/7 eating machines) remove the old stem and replace with another branch of Milkweed. As the caterpillar gets bigger, you may need to put more than one stalk in the can at a time. Another tip is to put some straw or dried grass on the bottom of the cage to catch the caterpillar droppings. This abosrbs the moisture and it also looks nicer not to see piles of caterpillar poop (and they poop a lot.) Also put some dead branches in for the caterpillar to pupate on. Although sometimes it will prefer to do this by hanging from the top of the cage. When the butterfly emerges, wait until it is strong enough to fly. Then release it to go breed more Monarchs.

Answer 3

Let it go free. They eat nectar from flowers.

Answer 4

You can mix sugar and water together, they love sweet things.