FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi all!

So, every once in a while, you meet someone is so much like you its creepy. That happened to me yesterday. He is an employee at a local sell-it-all country store. His name is Taylor and he is awesome! He is super knowledgeable about plants and reptiles, and didn't even blink when I told him I grow CPs, pineapples, tea trees, a banana, etc. He grows a lot of those things too! He had a few great tips I thought I'd share and he helped me find just the right copper fungicide for my pineapple plant. Being super knowledgeable about reptiles as well, he knows a lot of the inside-outs of some of these tips. So there's the back story.


Tip 1: Do you have peonies at home? If you do, perhaps you may know about the ants that are always attracted by the scent it gives off when it flowers. Their walking all over the buds helps them open. There are a ton of them on my house's peonies when they start budding. Taylor says one big reason his VFT is a monster is because he sets it out near his peonies when the ants are all over them. They easily fall prey to the traps, are cool to watch, and nutritious. The ants are of a good size. Yummy! Can't wait till spring to try it.


Tip 2: Do you have reptiles? Small crickets, cheap and easy to get at any pet store, make great food for the traps. Taylor sets his near the plants, and BAM! Another great meal for the trap!


Tip 3: Taylor tried to get me interested in mealworms. personally, I like them. My mom does not..... Anyway, buy live ones, they're cheap, easy to breed for more, and nutritious because of all the chiton in them. Just lay them in the trap and you have a delicious dinner. One problem though, to prevent them from becoming beetles, you've got to keep them in the fridge, which is why my mom is not to eager to try it. That, and if the mealworm is too long, you might have to cut it. A solution is to try freeze dried ones, available in the wild bird section. Just be sure not to get the flavored ones! Also check Youtube, somebody posted a video on feeding their VFT mealworms.



I'm hoping to get a conversation going. If anyone has any other tips, please share them!

Thanks,
Kbud

I have always fed my plants pet store crickets, I buy the tiny ones, put them in the fridge for a bit to slow them down so they're easier to handle.

But honestly I only feed my plants like once every six months or so, and I have not fed them since the start of fall. Maybe I'll just let them eat bugs in the summer.

Booth

I had a really cool idea for feeding crickets to Nepenthes. (I know, not a flytrap, but oh well)
Basically, get a bit of aquarium tubing, and put some porous cloth on one end. Point the open end at the cricket, and the closed end in your mouth, then suck.

Cricket goes in tube, point tube at Nepenthes, or anything else for that matter, and then blow, cricket gets expelled forcefully into the plant, and it's lunch time.

P.S Up until now, I've never met anyone really like me. I'm too strange for that.

Daniel_G wrote:I had a really cool idea for feeding crickets to Nepenthes. (I know, not a flytrap, but oh well)
Basically, get a bit of aquarium tubing, and put some porous cloth on one end. Point the open end at the cricket, and the closed end in your mouth, then suck.

Cricket goes in tube, point tube at Nepenthes, or anything else for that matter, and then blow, cricket gets expelled forcefully into the plant, and it's lunch time.

P.S Up until now, I've never met anyone really like me. I'm too strange for that.

Forget the cloth and Om nom nom
I just feed mine frozen bloodworms, i cant judge if it is helping, but my D. aliciaes almost died during last holiday and is putting out new health growth like a ...
And i fed my fvt bloodworms for the first time last week, so lets see if anything special happens there.


@ kbud, ive read that a fvt will only triger a certain amount of times, wouldnt it be a "waste" to get a small ant compared to a nice size ladybug or cricket or whatever? (since it will also cost energy to grow a new trap if the old one dies off)

Sander wrote:@ kbud, ive read that a fvt will only triger a certain amount of times, wouldnt it be a "waste" to get a small ant compared to a nice size ladybug or cricket or whatever? (since it will also cost energy to grow a new trap if the old one dies off)

Mine usually don't get triggered by ants that are too small for the trap because the hairs are thicker and less sensitive. If they do, the ant will escape and open back up. Ants are the, or one of the primary meals for VFTs in the wild (though not the most nutritious).

Yeah, and ive read that, but in cultivation i wouldnt want ants closing my traps if they could only close a few times, id rather feed them a bigger juicier meal^^

Crickets make my plants blow up

Thanks! Sander, VFTs close only about 3 times, but these ants are huge and meaty. Maybe in the spring I can get pictures of these monsters. I can't believe you feed your VFTs ladybugs! Feed 'em something annoying, like yellow jackets! Also, it is fair to remember that the meaty ones often have a lot of shell on them, so really, soft bodied ones are best because they can digest and absorb insects. The cricket idea sounds sweet, how big are the traps?

VFTs actually have mechanisms for digesting bugs with exoskeletons and shells. Do you mean they can eat about 3 times? Because they can close more than 3 if they don't seal for digestion when they close.

I have my vft's, 'bout 75 sweethearts there, in outdoor type terrariums, anyway at the risk of sounding off, I put a small quantity of my cats scat in the vacinity of wantfull traps and voila..

Daniel_G wrote:I had a really cool idea for feeding crickets to Nepenthes. (I know, not a flytrap, but oh well)
Basically, get a bit of aquarium tubing, and put some porous cloth on one end. Point the open end at the cricket, and the closed end in your mouth, then suck.

Cricket goes in tube, point tube at Nepenthes, or anything else for that matter, and then blow, cricket gets expelled forcefully into the plant, and it's lunch time.

P.S Up until now, I've never met anyone really like me. I'm too strange for that.

A large turkey baster and maybe some tubing should work too.

I have sundews, Venus flytraps, sarracenia, cephalotus, and more. Each of them gets fed betta pellets. They sell them in the pet store for about 2 dollares a large container. Every one gets fed about ten pellets a month.

Cool ideas:) Personally, I don't know about putting cat poop around my plants.... Either way, sweet ideas all! By the way, I truly think it depends on each individual trap, but I've seen weak traps seal, and never open back up. Kind of disappointing... BTW, how long do you put the crickets in the fridge? Considering trying it...

You could use one of those bug vacuums to catch something

http://www.amazon.com/Summit-Backyard-S ... bug+vacuum

xr280xr wrote:VFTs actually have mechanisms for digesting bugs with exoskeletons and shells. Do you mean they can eat about 3 times? Because they can close more than 3 if they don't seal for digestion when they close.

Im wondering the same thing.
Im currently feeding mine bloodworms, first time i fed them.

I have fed them woudlilouse before, but not great sucses.