FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi! i was wondering if it's Okay to feed your Flytraps Dead bugs, call me scared, but i don't like to give it living flys...
Thanks!
~Joxi

I recommend you giving your flytrap live insects.Do you grow it outdoors or indoors?If you grow them outdoors you shouldn't have to feed them, since they may catch them themselves.And also it is not necessarily to feed them at all.

CPHunter is right about it not being necessary to feed them at all, however, if you must and you absolutely for whatever reasons cannot feed them live insects then yes you can feed them dead bugs. There is a trick to it though. First i recommend using only freshly dead bugs. After you drop your dead bug into the trap and it closes you will have to gently massage the sides of the trap for a few minutes afterward, this will "trick" the trap into thinking that the insect is alive and it will begin its digestive process. If you don't do this and simply drop your dead bug in then the trap will reopen a few hours later thinking that their isnt really a bug inside at all.

Travs wrote: After you drop your dead bug into the trap and it closes you will have to gently massage the sides of the trap for a few minutes afterward, this will "trick" the trap into thinking that the insect is alive and it will begin its digestive process. If you don't do this and simply drop your dead bug in then the trap will reopen a few hours later thinking that their isnt really a bug inside at all.

Really,I thought you were suppose to rub it for like an hour.

well yea give or take i usually just rub mine for a few mins at a time for about 30 mins or so and it works everytime, guess that wasnt the most thorough explanation my bad!

yeah its cool

I find that squeezing the sides of trap for only a minute or so is enough to get the digestion process going

I use a toothpick if my paralyzed spiders are not moving enough to trigger the hairs. Trigger the trap one for it to do the initial trapping. Then fondle the trigger hairs again so it goes into the sealing phase. Over a course of a minute or two.

Thanks alot for the answers! it is growing in a little green house, so not many bugs get in there, i ussally feed it dead bugs, and do like you all said. but my trap is fine so i don't think anything is wronf with it.
Thanks for the help though, and btw can they eat ants?

can they eat bee's?

89blaster89 wrote:can they eat bee's?

If the trap is large enough to digest the bees.. I believe you're looking for a 1/4-1/3 size ratio from the bug to the size of the trap.

I wouldnt recommend ants actually, because their outer shells are sometimes too hard and will cause the trap that u fed it too to die usually. So whatever you feed it just make sure it isnt very hard and that the trap can digest it easily.

Woodlice make the trap die too, I learnt from experience. My plant had not caught anything in 2 months so I fed it a woodlouse (amassive one too) and the trap started to die afterwards. The plant then caught 10 flies in the week after all on its own. Although I had to flick the fly bodies out after the traps reopened as they were stuck in the traps.

how many flys are to many for my indoor plant? can u over feed ? any advice on feeding amounts for a indoor plant will be appreciated

Feeding every trap on the plant at the same time would be considered over-feeding. Giving the flytrap around 2 bugs a week should be fine