How long should a trap be closed after it trapped an insect?

How long should a trap be closed after it trapped an insect?#5220

By New Planter -  Mon Mar 09, 2009 6:50 am
Posts:  16
Joined:  Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:47 am

- Mon Mar 09, 2009 6:50 am #5220

(1) How long should a trap be closed after it trapped an insect? 1 week? My trap is opened a few hours later after trapping a spider. Is it abnormal? Cos' instead of digesting the spider, the trap 'released' the spider...
(2) If I accidentally touched the hairs and caused the traps to close, will it harm VFT? And how long will the traps take to re-open again?
Thank you.

Re: How long should a trap be closed after it trapped an insect?#5224

By Matt -  Mon Mar 09, 2009 2:27 pm
Location:  near Festus, Missouri
Posts:  22523
Joined:  Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:28 pm

- Mon Mar 09, 2009 2:27 pm #5224

(1) Pretty much everything you want to know about trapping and digestion can be found here:
Venus Flytrap trapping and digestion. In summary, if the trap successfully captures an insect, it takes about 5 to 12 days to reopen depending on a lot of things like temperature, size of the insect, time of year, etc. The fact that your plant's trap reopened so quickly means that it didn't get into the sealing and digestion phases.

(2) Accidentally touching the hairs and causing the trap to close won't harm the VFT. Many people agree that it stresses the plant a little bit, but as long as you're not doing every day or once a week or something, it won't harm your plant. If a trap closes without capturing any prey, it will reopen in a day or two. Remember, however, that traps can only open and close a few times before they're rendered inactive.

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Re: How long should a trap be closed after it trapped an insect?#5258

By New Planter -  Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:36 am
Posts:  16
Joined:  Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:47 am

- Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:36 am #5258

Wow Matt! You are really good in answering questions and also very informative about VFT. Thank you so much.

Re: How long should a trap be closed after it trapped an insect?#5259

By Matt -  Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:57 am
Location:  near Festus, Missouri
Posts:  22523
Joined:  Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:28 pm

- Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:57 am #5259

You're very welcome for the information. I try my best to give good answers, but there are many people here on the forum that have knowledge that I don't. That's one of the great things about a community, learning from others.

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Re: How long should a trap be closed after it trapped an ins#268432

By Sbrown72 -  Fri Jul 15, 2016 5:14 pm
Location:  near Festus, Missouri
Posts:  127
Joined:  Fri Aug 28, 2009 10:03 pm

- Fri Jul 15, 2016 5:14 pm #268432

My VFT s traps aren't opening all the way after they have eaten. Not sure how many times they have eaten as I just bought it from the store 3-4 weeks ago. Could this be because they have eaten their quota all ready?

Re: How long should a trap be closed after it trapped an ins#299179

By phil1984 -  Wed Jul 26, 2017 10:04 pm
Posts:  178
Joined:  Wed Jul 19, 2017 6:48 pm

- Wed Jul 26, 2017 10:04 pm #299179

Hi matt, my traps eat but take ages to open or don't open. I've just bought my plants, but one I've had for about a week and a half and traps that where closed when I got it haven't opened. And also I fed one a moth and it opened back up next day lol, did it not like it?

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Re: How long should a trap be closed after it trapped an ins#299198

By riveraXVX -  Wed Jul 26, 2017 11:42 pm
Posts:  1099
Joined:  Sat Apr 29, 2017 5:29 am

- Wed Jul 26, 2017 11:42 pm #299198

my 3 month in take on traps especially on new to you plants -- I'd more or less ignore how the existing traps work on the plant and wait till those are turned over and new growth opens up and starts functioning, as long as the new growth functions as you'd expect it to/should I wouldn't worry too much about the old leaves/traps

more or less "let them settle in"

Re: How long should a trap be closed after it trapped an ins#299202

By phil1984 -  Thu Jul 27, 2017 12:13 am
Posts:  178
Joined:  Wed Jul 19, 2017 6:48 pm

- Thu Jul 27, 2017 12:13 am #299202

riveraXVX wrote:my 3 month in take on traps especially on new to you plants -- I'd more or less ignore how the existing traps work on the plant and wait till those are turned over and new growth opens up and starts functioning, as long as the new growth functions as you'd expect it to/should I wouldn't worry too much about the old leaves/traps

more or less "let them settle in"

Thanks for the info Rivera , I'll do that lol. I thought they might be old traps that's had enough feeds lol

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