FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi all!

I have a second-story, south-facing window with a lot of windowsill space, and there's currently a space heater in that corner to keep it at around 70F. Mostly because that corner is where my several small tanks full of cockroaches live. I currently have:
Horseshoe crab roaches http://www.roachcrossing.com/for-sale/r ... rab-roach/
Death's Head roachs http://www.roachcrossing.com/for-sale/r ... ead-roach/
Roth's burrowing roaches http://www.roachcrossing.com/for-sale/r ... ing-roach/
Hybrid hissing cockroaches http://www.roachcrossing.com/for-sale/r ... on-hisser/ (but darker and bigger)
Domino roaches http://www.roachcrossing.com/for-sale/r ... ino-roach/
In a total of one split-in-half 10 gallon tank, one shoe-storage-sized tub, and one 2.5 gallon tank.
Which is where the whole idea for this came from; there are fruit flies and gnats in the substrate, I can't get rid of them without drying out the substrate too much for the roaches, and I want to not have fruit flies and gnats in my room. I started doing some research to see if maybe I could keep a few sundews (outside the tanks, of course) to catch the gnats, realized that the roaches are under a south-facing window and that there are carnivorous plant options that are easier to keep than I thought, and here we are.

Just added to my Christmas list:
Utricularia Longifolia
Utricularia Sandersonii
Two teacups to plant those in because it's adorable
Nepenthes Sanguinea
Drosera Spatulata
Drosera Capensis seeds
And a packet of "mixed rare sundew plants" from a reasonably reputable-looking seller on Ebay.
Those last ones are just to see what they turn out to be, I'm expecting something that's really common and/or not even a sundew. Hopefully something interesting.

I'm on here because I'm anticipating a lot of questions that will need to be answered.

My only question at the moment is:
I have one of these http://www.petsmart.com/fish/supplies/a ... gid=300013 that I would never dream of putting a fish in but would like to keep some sort of cool plant in. I know Drosera shouldn't be put in terrariums, but how about tiny "aquariums" with a lot of holes in the lid? Do they still count?
If so, any suggestions for something that might like it in there? I considered some kind of aquatic bladderwort, but I'm not sure if they would all outgrow the space too quickly.

Welcome to the forum! You'll find a lot of nice people and a few old curmudgeons like myself. Be careful or soon you'll find yourself growing plants that want to eat your roaches.

Looking at that tank, I imagine you could put in either aquatic or terrestrial Utricularia in there. Fill it half full of long fiber Sphagnum Moss, living or dead and toss in a plug of U. sandersonii. It should do well in there.

This forum does have a Community Seedbank. For most seeds, you need to have been a member for a while. But we have Drosera capensis seeds available to new members for an SASE. Check it out, you can't beat the price.

Good growing,
Mike

Cool, thanks!

I'd like to put some aquatic bladderwort in the tank for contrast against the terrestrial stuff. Can U. sandersonii be converted to living in water?
Also, how would I give it and its microscopic food nutrients? I'd be keeping it in distilled water, but there's nothing in there for anything to live on. I assume sphagnum moss would add in nutrients and food for the critters, but putting a bunch of moss into a tank would turn it into moss tea that might be hard to see through. And would the moss provide the needed minerals to keep everything healthy? I know if you try to keep aquatic plants and shrimp in distilled water, they die of mineral deficiencies and (for the shrimp) lack of calcium to build exoskeletons from.

Edit:
I just remembered that I have halfway kept a carnivorous plant before, Utricularia gibba. I had a big rubber tub outside that was full of water and dead pecan leaves, one I kept mostly to watch aquatic insects, and what I've just (accidentally, while researching possible aquatic species) identified as U. gibba showed up somehow. I have no idea how it got there. Possibly a very lost waterbird? Hitchhiking as a tiny scrap on the leg of a dragonfly? I don't have it any more, we had to drain the tub because of a mosquito outbreak in the area, but I assume I could probably find some if I went and looked around the edges of a slow-moving body of water.
And I'm pretty sure I could keep it supplied with nutrients by occasionally adding dry pecan leaves- dry hardwood leaves can be added to aquariums to grow a bounty of microorganisms that are great food for tiny fry, and they're the main input for a lot of vernal-pool-like ecosystems.

Another fish person from Texas, hah ! Welcome to the forum!

Fishman wrote:Another fish person from Texas, hah ! Welcome to the forum!

I was gonna mention this! haha

erikHIplants wrote:

Fishman wrote:Another fish person from Texas, hah ! Welcome to the forum!

I was gonna mention this! haha

Hmm..things are gettin a little fishy 'round here...(no pun intended) hehe

Fishman wrote:Hmm..things are gettin a little fishy 'round here...(no pun intended) hehe

Lol! Welcome to the forums fishkeeper from Texas

Another Texan , I think you have a nice setup for a Circle of Death.

Thank you for not posting pictures of your roaches. They freak me out. Welcome to the forum!!!!