Hi all,
You can use well water or tap water if the TDS (total dissolved solids) is below about 50 ppm. Tropical pitcher plants are a little more tolerant than, for example, a venus fly trap or terrestrial pitcher plant, so you might be able to go slightly above 50, but use that as an easy to remember number for what the plants should get (or for any carnivorous plant, so that you don't have to wonder what's OK for one plant versus another plant).
To confirm what your water is, you can use a TDS meter. I only have seen them on sites like Amazon. I don't think many nurseries carry them since most people just use tap water to water their non-carnivorous plants.
For the pitcher plant that the water was coming out right away, it probably just needs to be repotted with new potting medium. A sample mix could be something such as 50% peat moss and 50% perlite.
To make new plants, just take a cutting with 2-3 nodes where the leaves are, and plant at least one node in the potting mix. This is so that if you ever have the top parts die off, the node in the soil could still make new tips. Also new roots come more often from the nodes, although with Nepenthes, roots could form from the branch also if you have slightly cut it and allowed it to be exposed.
The potting mix can be the same as what you typically use for the plant.
Food-wise, if the plant is outside, it will catch its own bugs. The pitcher has some kind of chemical or sweet thing that attracts insects, which will go down the pitcher and have trouble crawling out.
You can help supplement, of course. One easy thing that I find to put in the pitchers is the doodlebug (aka roly-poly or pill bug). I also have a compost pile where black soldier fly larvae make a home, so every 1-2 weeks, I grab a few of those things with tweezers and make my rounds on giving 1-2 per pitcher.
If you don't want to deal with insects, you can also use those small fertilizer capsules like the ones that come with Osmocote. Put 1 of the larger balls into the pitcher. It's kind of tan-colored. That should be good for a few months, as it takes time to break down.
purslanegarden. If you don't mind, please go to your "Profile", enter your location (USDA zone and/or town/state). That way, when you post, we'll all know where you reside.
