FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Do they give them any nourishment? Are they bad for them? I'm just wondering b/c I have a lot of slugs at my house at night and I was wondering if I should feed them to my plants.

I wouldn't doubt the nouishment they would give them, but only the chances the the Flytrap eats the slug, not the other way round'.

i know of growers who have fed catipillars to their Flytraps, and the catipillars have eaten their way out, and eaten other plants.
I, being a bit wary of my plants, would give it a miss.

well i probably wouldn't try a caterpillar for the reasons you stated but slugs don't have that ability they are basically a bunch of ooze which is why I wondered if they were nutritious for a VFT.

Why wouldn't they have the ability?
They are made just for eating plants, i'm sure they could be able to eat out.
A catipillar is a bunch of ooze, but with a non slimy skin, the only difference between them and slugs is the ammount of mucus on the skin.

Slugs ate my morning glories

i didnt realize they ate plants to be honest, or at least not fast enough to make a different in getting out

Try it. It wont kill the plant. Maybe the trap but not the plant.

I dont know about fly traps but at least three of my pitchers on my purple pitcher plant have whats left of a slug in them.

I wouldn't feed them live slugs, as anything with the ability to burrow will have the power to "dig" its way free from the leaves. I like to feed my traps meal worms, but live meal worms can escape. My solution is a quick blanching.

1. Boil a cup of water in the microwave
2. Drop the slug (or anything else you would like to kill humanely), it should be killed within 5 seconds
3. Use a fork to retrieve your blanched VFT treat, and hold it under cool water to stop the cooking
4. Feed your hungry plant

Or u could set ur plants on a large plate of beer,, slugs love beer but like us humans it aint good for them, they die happy. Just be sure your plants are in a tray or a dish to keep the beer from getting to them, My slugs come out at night thats how they end up in my pitcher plant. But they dont seem to bother my vfts.

Snails like beer, it's good for their shells.. mine like it, anyway.

But as for slugs, they are plant eating machines. They may move slowly but when they get on a plant they will devour it from the inside out. You can try it, but I wouldn't risk it in case it escapes and starts nomming your collection.

yeah i think I'll not risk it

good call

HEY strait up i just fed my VFT a small slug ok. and when i flicked it il kinda rolled into a ball and i scooped it up with a flathead screw driver and put it in a trap bigger than it and TRAP closed and it was like a lil ball in there checked on it next morning and that lil mug went flat and the trap has a nice seal! im positive the lil slug ant eating his way out there and he is doomed to hell! lol suffocated and being digested as we speak SO there u have it just feed it proper like so!

It will be interesting to see if your VFT can digest such a hearty meal before it rots inside the trap.
My experience with large prey items has always been that the trap will blacken and rot before the meal can be fully digested.

Even if rot does occur your plant will recieve a lot of nutrients from the partially digested meal, but unfortunately you will likely lose that trap.