FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

When I get bored and find a bug lying around conveniently, but that's because my flytraps are outdoors. Happens about 3 or 4 times a year... to a random trap. They all seem to do fine on their own.

I have a different idea about feeding my plants. I just put them outside or open the greenhouse doors turn on two lights and let them feed themselves... There are plenty of bugs to go around before dawn. You also mentioned spiders they fit the menu ok at least from my standpoint.

TrapMaster wrote:Hello, I'm new here. So I was wondering how often do you feed your plants? I usually just do one trap a month while leaving the other traps alone. And that seems to work just find, but could the traps be fed at a higher rate or is my rate of feeding too high?

Well I should note the VFT do capture extra bugs, like flies that get into the house, but my main question has to do with the rates of me feeding it. Like what's the maxs and mins. Thanks for having me.

Only when I do tests.

But for the most part, never.

Talking about feeding, I came back to my window sill after studying to see all of the big traps on my jaws plant were closed. Little did I know i saw this small sized fly flying around and i continued to watch it for a good 15 more minutes and after it setting off about 4 more traps it nearly got caught in one of my traps but escaped through the little side opening. I got fed up with it and i zapped it... Was thinking one of my traps would have a good meal instead it was wasted energy -_- .

GothicJackalPaws wrote:When I get bored and find a bug lying around conveniently, but that's because my flytraps are outdoors. Happens about 3 or 4 times a year... to a random trap. They all seem to do fine on their own.

No I search high and low for bugs!

jamez wrote:

TrapMaster wrote:Hello, I'm new here. So I was wondering how often do you feed your plants? I usually just do one trap a month while leaving the other traps alone. And that seems to work just find, but could the traps be fed at a higher rate or is my rate of feeding too high?

Well I should note the VFT do capture extra bugs, like flies that get into the house, but my main question has to do with the rates of me feeding it. Like what's the maxs and mins. Thanks for having me.

Only when I do tests.

But for the most part, never.

your comment doesn't make any sense.

magicwiser wrote:Hey guys, I found this cool video on another post about how to feed your trap. Thought it could be helpful.

http://youtu.be/MVrUWr7Jg0E

thanks for sharing!

I found a small bug to feed my trap so I grabbed it and placed it in a trap. The trap closed as expected but I think the bug was pretty beat up by the time he got there. Thus, there wasn't much of a struggle. Is it necessary for the bug to struggle and move around once the trap has closed?

The trap actually needs to be triggered twice, if I understand correctly; once to close, and once a little while later, to "check" that there is actually something in the trap.

This second trigger mechanism prevents the trap from committing the energy to seal and digest the insect if there isn't one... it stays partially open for a while in order to let an insect out that is small enough to fit through the hairs along the edge of the trap- these insects aren't worth the energy cost of digestion. Or, alternatively, the trap could have been triggered by a drop of water or an insect too large to get a seal on, giving that large insect a chance to escape since it won't be able to digest it properly anyway.

Anyway, maybe too much detail, but there ya go- if it wasn't able to put up a struggle, I would gently place a finger to either side of the trap a few minutes later and agitate it a little, to encourage the trap to seal around the insect. I do this a few times, intermittently every few minutes, just to be sure, because I'm not sure when that second trigger is necessary.

Charli wrote:The trap actually needs to be triggered twice, if I understand correctly; once to close, and once a little while later, to "check" that there is actually something in the trap.

This second trigger mechanism prevents the trap from committing the energy to seal and digest the insect if there isn't one... it stays partially open for a while in order to let an insect out that is small enough to fit through the hairs along the edge of the trap- these insects aren't worth the energy cost of digestion. Or, alternatively, the trap could have been triggered by a drop of water or an insect too large to get a seal on, giving that large insect a chance to escape since it won't be able to digest it properly anyway.

Anyway, maybe too much detail, but there ya go- if it wasn't able to put up a struggle, I would gently place a finger to either side of the trap a few minutes later and agitate it a little, to encourage the trap to seal around the insect. I do this a few times, intermittently every few minutes, just to be sure, because I'm not sure when that second trigger is necessary.

That is exactly what I was wondering. So then if the trap wasn't triggered a second time, will the trap just open up again after awhile? I did agitate the trap like you mentioned a few minutes later and now (a few days later) the trap is still sealed shut. Ill take it that its busy digesting then.

Yup! It would have opened that day or the next if it didn't work, I think.

You can also tell because when it makes its "seal" around the bug, the little hairs point outward a little instead of crossing, cause of the shape of the trap when the sides are sucked in.

Ahh I'm glad you mentioned the cilia pointing outward. That was the other thing I thought was weird. You would think the cilia would cross over to help make a better seal instead of pointing away from the trap. It makes it look like the trap wants to open but can't. Thanks.

I recently went on a feeding spree with all of my traps. Most of them have already colored up, but they need the nutritional boost to grow a bit, so I've found lots of roly-polies underneath their pots and started feeding every trap.

My sundews are ridiculously prolific-- they've got a whole trail of ants from top to bottom of their dewy leaves. But the flytraps need a little help, so I've been giving it to them.

Now I can sit back and watch them grow. It's fine if they don't color up any further this year-- I've already marked which ones have the best coloring to use for my breeding program. ^-^

I would be careful, over feeding a plant is not healthy. Generally you only want to feed one trap on the plant at a time. Also, I've read that VFTs color up as a means to attract bugs and if they are constantly being fed, their color will fade.

magicwiser wrote:I would be careful, over feeding a plant is not healthy. Generally you only want to feed one trap on the plant at a time. Also, I've read that VFTs color up as a means to attract bugs and if they are constantly being fed, their color will fade.

Yep, but this is the first time I've ever done this since I got them, so it's probably a one-time thing-- and while all their traps are closed, they're looking in tip-top shape still. Hopefully, this will give them a bit of a growth spurt, after they finish digesting.

I know they won't color up any further, but the color shouldn't fade until the traps die and they grow new ones. But since I've already marked the ones with the best coloring, I'll know which ones to use for pollination.

So, yesterday at about 3:30pm, i fed my venus fly trap a very small black spider. At the same time, i tested one of the other mouths to see if it would close. when i awoke this morning, the one that i didn't feed, is almost back open but, the one that i fed isn't open at all! Did I do something wrong? Please reply soon! Michelle:)

hannah36 wrote:So, yesterday at about 3:30pm, i fed my venus fly trap a very small black spider. At the same time, i tested one of the other mouths to see if it would close. when i awoke this morning, the one that i didn't feed, is almost back open but, the one that i fed isn't open at all! Did I do something wrong? Please reply soon! Michelle:)

When a flytrap catches something to eat (insect, arachnid, etc.) the trap closes completely, creating a tight seal so nothing interrupts the digestion process and it stays this way for a week or so (depending on the size of what is trapped). And when a flytrap is triggered but has caught nothing to eat, it will open up in about 24 hours and the trap will be set to close again. So nothing is wrong, it is perfectly normal for a flytrap to do that

You can read more about trapping and digestion here

http://www.flytrapcare.com/venus-fly-tr ... ml?start=1