FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi,

Everytime my VFT catches an ant, which is quite common cause I often have it sitting on the ground, the trap will only stay shut for a very short time (e.g 1-3 days) and when opened it doesn't even look like the ant has been digested in any way. Is my VFT unable to digest ants for some reason? When it catches other bugs like flies or crickets the trap has stayed shut for over a week and you can tell it has been digested.

Thanks.

There too small for the trap to think its even got a meal i would have thought. So it will close but not attempt to digest it and then just re-open the trap a day later

There are a lot of different sizes of ants. As long as the ant doesn't escape from the trap and it's alive the plant should try to digest it. You should be able to tell if the plant is digesting because the trap will be sealed. You may just be seeing the left over exoskeleton of the ant.

Prey that is quite small compared to the trap size will get "digested" very fast.

Thankyou everyone. It doesn't seem like my traps seal when they have caught an ant, they act just like they would if you were to stick your finger in there to tigger it to close.