FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I went to Lowes yesterday, and they had a brand new shipment of Botanical Wonders plants in. I was looking for pitcher plants, but there were only two in the case, and they looked bad. While I was browsing, two of the VFT's looked really nice. They were healthy, and showing a decent amount of pink blush inside the mouth, on the teeth, and even outside the traps. I am hoping they get better red coloration as the summer goes on and they get more light. So I fell for them and brought them home. One is taller and upright, and the other has larger traps and grows low, along the top of the soil.

Anyway, I was going to post pictures this morning. When I woke up, all the traps were closed. Not just one or two...all 10 or so of them. Do the traps close at night? I have seen some ants crawling around my grow area, but I find it hard to believe that ants crawled all the way into the area where I had them sitting, and closed every trap. The traps are closed enough that I really can't get a good look inside. If they did capture ants, how long until they open back up again? When the traps do open again, will there be dried up little remains in there? Do you remove the leftovers from the trap, or just let them be?

Sorry, I am completely new to VFT's.

Vft don't close up at night as far i i know, well mine don't. If they all closed up over night sounds like they might of caught the ants or somebodies been teasing them??.

As far as i know vft will only close if 2(or the one same) of the little hairs in the trap of the leaf is triggered more than once in quick succession. Or maybes the leaf is getting old they slowly close up, which i don't think is the case.

just keep giving them good direct sunlight, rain/distilled water and a good potting mixture and your plant should do fine.

If the vft hasn't caught anything the traps should open back in the next few days.
if your vft has then it will be a little longer. ants are only small so won't take long to digest.

Good luck and have fun growing!!

Chris

My question is why wouldn't they?
Venus Fly Traps can close 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if the trap is healthy.
It will close if 2 different trigger hairs are triggered within about 30 seconds, or if 1 is touched multiple times within about 30 seconds.
Good luck with your plant!

dantt99, his question wasn't if it was possible for them to close, he was just asking if it was normal for them to close at night then reopen in the daytime, thinking it was something natural that they do every night!

Yeah, I know some flowers close every night, and reopen in the morning, so it's not unheard of for plants to do such a thing. I know it was a dumb question, but I had a headache this morning and didn't want to read for the answer.

So, after finding out that they don't automatically close at night, I started investigating. In the bright sun this morning, I could make out something in silhouette inside most of the traps. I carefully used a toothpick to partially separate one of the traps that I was sure had something in it, and sure enough... ants for breakfast! Freaking awesome!

I don't know if all the traps have an ant in them for sure, but I am thinking a majority do. I need more flytraps.

Ants use pheromones to signal to other ants that they found food. I bet once they got a taste of the nectar, they sent them out and your plant was filled with them. Glad you got to the bottom of it.

Oh, I'm sorry, now I understand

oh the little fellow had ants for a snack. hahahahahahahaha