FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Gotta love Mother Nature. But I’m not so certain about some of her feathered family members after I saw what they did to a number of my pitchers yesterday in order to get to the buffet inside the plants. Ingenious birds! Guess it wasn’t enough to go bobbing for bugs in the purps like they did previously.

Poor sarrs. As if they haven’t taken enough abuse so far this season!

Yikes! Guess they gotta eat too! Suggest putting out some bird feeders! Or get some outside cats! Glad damage wasn't too bad.

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I just made a feathered friend yesterday that has death wish. I fully intend on filling his wishlist.

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Heath, please elaborate on this. Lol. Our plants are capable of eating frogs and rats. I think a bird can fit. Hahaha.

OP, I know bamboo skewers are aren't the prettiest look, but they've helped a lot with deterring the blue jays picking at my medium for their nest material.

Mawy_Plants wrote:Heath, please elaborate on this. Lol. Our plants are capable of eating frogs and rats. I think a bird can fit. Hahaha.

OP, I know bamboo skewers are aren't the prettiest look, but they've helped a lot with deterring the blue jays picking at my medium for their nest material.

Lol... I don't hold any animosity towards the birds and don't plan on adding any deterrents for now. I'm just fascinated that they figured out how to do this since there aren't any comparable plants that grow around here. I'm pretty sure it was one of the jays that nest in our palms. Those birds are smart!

Surprisingly, no one bothers the flytraps. I think it's because the bees have claimed them. The water-soaked lfsm provides a 24/7 water source for them, and there are always bees buzzing around them. Thankfully, they aren't the "killler" type and don't mind me tending to the plants while they drink. Probably not the smartest thing to do, but I occasionally pet a bee from time to time. I wouldn't recommend them as pets.

Didn't think I'd be having a conversation about the birds and the bees on a public forum.

camsdad66 wrote:Yikes! Guess they gotta eat too! Suggest putting out some bird feeders! Or get some outside cats! Glad damage wasn't too bad.

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We actually have a bird feeder outside, and I think that might have contributed to the damage by attracting the wildlife in the first place. The damage to the sarrs is no big deal, and we enjoying seeing the thriving wildlife. Don't mind helping out the finch, jay, dove, and robin population. Would be a different story if pigeons were involved.

Mawy_Plants wrote:Heath, please elaborate on this. Lol. Our plants are capable of eating frogs and rats. I think a bird can fit. Hahaha.

Yeah, the little mfer decided he wanted some of my LFSM out of my fly trap pots, and in the process he knocked over multiple pots, breaking a multitude of pitchers. Now when I catch him in the act, I'll put a bullet in his face, and hang him above my plants as a fair warning to his other feathered friends to stay away from my plants. #daddydontplay.

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boarderlib wrote:

Mawy_Plants wrote:Heath, please elaborate on this. Lol. Our plants are capable of eating frogs and rats. I think a bird can fit. Hahaha.

Yeah, the little mfer decided he wanted some of my LFSM out of my fly trap pots, and in the process he knocked over multiple pots, breaking a multitude of pitchers. Now when I catch him in the act, I'll put a bullet in his face, and hang him above my plants as a fair warning to his other feathered friends to stay away from my plants. #daddydontplay.

This is exactly why I don’t use LFS as a medium. I like it as a medium, but every single plant I’ve put in it outside was eventually uprooted by birds or squirrels tearing out the LFS.

bananaman wrote:
This is exactly why I don’t use LFS as a medium. I like it as a medium, but every single plant I’ve put in it outside was eventually uprooted by birds or squirrels tearing out the LFS.

I've personally never had an issue with it until this year, at least not to the point I needed to take drastic steps. This guy also uprooted a couple of my wife's cucumber plants, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. You upset my wife, you will pay dearly. Happy wife, happy life.

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Whoa, that's something new for me! I have a ton of birds around and thankfully I haven't seen this... Yet... That is just crazy to think they figured that out!

Now I do have a toad that has claimed one of my bogs as his own... Almost every morning I see a new divot where he dug in for the night

He brought friends this time....

(Sorry about the blurry pics. These were taken through a window.)
Pssst... Hey y'all, you should check out boarderlib's plants! I hear he's got a nice treat waiting for you!

wow! I have yet to have this problem. Mabbie its the little pitbull I have running around my yard that keeps them at bay. lol

So that's what had been attacking my plants! I made a cover with snow fencing held together by wire. It seems to have been working since I haven't found damaged plants since I made it.


I could make a post if anyone wants to know exactly how I made it.

We actually have a bird feeder outside, and I think that might have contributed to the damage by attracting the wildlife in the first place.

^ Same here. There's a few feeders and a bird bath so they are in my yard year round.^
-- TR

Tryner78 wrote:So that's what had been attacking my plants! I made a cover with snow fencing held together by wire. It seems to have been working since I haven't found damaged plants since I made it.

Hopefully the fencing has prevented any further damage to your plants.

Those birds started getting into my vft flower stalk strikes. They tore off the dead portions of the stalks, yanked the cuttings out of the lfsm, tossed them onto the ground, and then played around with the moss. I can't help the sarrs much, but for the cuttings, I purchased a set of these mesh food covers:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01K1 ... UTF8&psc=1

Worked like a charm! No more damage to the cuttings, which have all survived 2 or 3 episodes of this trauma.

I've also seen evidence of the birds stealing digested prey and prey not completely sealed within a trap from the flytraps. If that continues, I have a giant version of those mesh covers ready and waiting.