5 Foods Butterflies Can Eat (That You Can Enjoy Too!)
You don’t need to buy anything fancy in order to feed the butterflies that come to your yard. In fact, butterflies enjoy many of the sweet foods that we do. Keep this in mind when disposing of your kitchen scraps, as you may come across some tidbits that they would love to dine on. Take a peek at 5 foods butterflies can eat that you can enjoy too! You just may be surprised.
1. Watermelon
Don’t pitch that watermelon rind when you are done with it. Instead, place it in a dish and then next to some ground cover. Butterflies will use their long tongues to get the last of the sweet juices out, enjoying a meal that would have otherwise been pitched.
2. Oranges
Save those orange peels. You can squeeze the last of the juices out into a shallow dish and even place the peels themselves in it. Butterflies will once again use their tongues to extract the last of the juices which they are sure to enjoy.
3. Lemons
If you make fresh lemonade this summer, save the lemon peels to feed your fluttery friends. Place the peels in a shallow dish with a little water to help draw out the juices. Butterflies will flock from all over to dine.
4. Bananas
If you have bananas that are overly ripe, don’t toss them. Butterflies love mushy bananas and will devour them. Just open the peel and place the fruit in your flower beds. The butterflies are sure to find it and enjoy it.
5. Carrots
Who knew that butterflies enjoy carrots? Well they do! Carrots contain sugary liquid that butterflies can extract with their tongues. Softened carrots can be placed out for butterflies and enjoyed for days.
As mentioned, there is no special prep with these foods except slicing them and placing them in a shallow dish. In no time, you will have butterflies coming to grace your yard and enjoy the all you can eat feast!
I love butterflies, but we have so few of them in our yard. I have been thinking about starting a butterfly garden & this is great to know!
plus the oranges smell so nice! I like to keep butterfly bushes in the backyard.
Wow, this is so interesting! I had no idea they ate all this!
This might explain the millions of butterflies we encountered at our Watermelon picnic. I told the kids it was their sweet personalities . 🙂
We have quite a few butterflies. I never knew they liked carrots tho!
I had no idea that they liked all these.I love butterflies but have only seen 1 so far this year which is a shame.
I had no idea that butterflies would enjoy carrots! It makes sense, though, since carrots have a lot of natural sugar int hem.
I didn’t know that! We have a lot of Monarch butterflies near us. We will have to set this out so my kids can see more.
Wow, Carrots? I would’ve never thought that butterflies could eat carrots. What cool facts!
I had no idea butterflies like citrus so much. Good to know. We’ll have to put some out to see if they come and eat it!
I had no idea that butterflies ate ANY of these foods! Thanks for the list! I’ll be checking out my butterflies even more this summer. (I have a butterfly bush that they’re attracted to. They are fun creatures to observe!)
I love butterflies. I’ve never even thought of feeding them before!
I didn’t know how to attract butterflies. So far I have only been able to gain rabbits that eat my flowers. Ugh!!
When we moved into our house 5 years ago we planted a butterfly bush near our deck. I love seeing the butterflies from my kitchen window!
Never thought about using these to attract butterflies. Love the fact that you can eat the rest and don’t have to waste a whole fruit for a butterfly-sized slice.
This is a really interesting post! I never would have imagined they eat carrots.
That’s really interesting! I love to have butterflies in the yard…we’ll have to check it out and see if this brings more around.
Wow I totally learned something new today! This was so informative that butterflies love some of the same things we love…the carrots is something I never would of guessed a butterfly would like!
I have never thought to put out scraps for the butterflies and my kids love to see them. Thanks for sharing this list, as I will be sure to put it to use.
Butterflies can be so beautiful! I had no idea they can eat fruit like watermelon!
What great info! I would love to be able attract butterflies to our garden!
Who knew? These are cool facts that I did not know.
I had no idea about carrots? Wonder how they eat them when they;re in the ground?
Strange! I have never even thought about what butterflies eat! Very cool.
What a great post! This is so cool!
I certainly didn’t know that about the carrots. That’s a super tip and makes me feel good that they can be used in a way like this!
Wow, I learned from this post, I love butterflies, they tie me to my dad, (butterfly kisses) but I didn’t know they can enjoy these foods like we do!
This is a great idea! I’ll be sharing these with my munchkin. He’ll think it’s neat to “share” with the butterflies.
I had no idea they could eat fruit too. Interesting! I might give it a try.
carrots, really? I didn’t know we could just leave foods out for them to eat
I really had no idea that butterflies could eat these foods~! Super awesome to think about! if I have leftovers, I know where to put them now.
I had no idea! I just cut up a watermelon tonight, I’ll have to put out the rinds!
Butterflies are so beautiful. I had no idea that they would eat these foods. Cool!
I never thought about feeding butterflies. I will have to try this!
What a cute post! I had no idea that butterflies could eat so much stuff!
To think we’ve been throwing out the rinds and peels for years and we could have had butterfly’s in our yard instead. We’ll for sure be doing this from now on.
Very Interesting! I love watching butterflies on flowers, did not know they enjoy any of these foods. Wait, I have seen them on Watermelon when I left it out for the chickens, I assumed they wanted the water.
I have a pet butterfly that I caught yesterday but she’s not eating and I think I should feed her something but I don’t know what to feed her so this is really interesting