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Feeding vft

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pooplol

I usually feed mine flys that I put in the freezer so they sleep. I was wondering what you feed your plant, if you use any techniques like the freezer one, and is it okay to feed your VFT ants?

THX,
Joel
 
pooplol,
i feed my VFT's with pinhead sized crickets
ive gottta try that freezer method so they dont jump out right after the trap closes, it gets me mad when that happens...
to feed them, i just use tweezers and let go when the trap closes, but sometimes, the crickets get out of the back while i take the tweezers out.
As for the ants, unless your traps are really really small like a baby VFT has, or u have big ants, you cant feed them ants. the reason VFT's dont colse all the way when the triggers hairs are touched is so they dont waste their energy digesting nothing, or small insects. this gives time for the small insect to escape and allow the trap to reset itself for larger prey.
i hope that answers your quetions,
Hellz
 
I catch flies live and put them into a 50 ml sample container (I work at a lab) and then put them in the sample fridge to get them asleep. Then I put the sleeping flies in the traps and let them wake up enough tp stuggle and cause the VFT to believe it has real live food.
 
jim, that's what I do too sometimes, but I mainly make them sleep and release them into the terrarium, watch them wake up and wonder into traps or fly into the D. capensis and other death by plants.
 
Hellz,
I don't know what ants you have around, but I've got some nice, big suckers. Too big for baby plants. I like to put a VFT put in a large tray of water, and drop in a few ants. They won't cross the water, and as soon as they settle down and start to explore....Well, you get the idea!
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[b said:
Quote[/b] (schloaty @ April 14 2004,4:04)]Hellz,
  I don't know what ants you have around, but I've got some nice, big suckers.  Too big for baby plants.  I like to put a VFT put in a large tray of water, and drop in a few ants.  They won't cross the water, and as soon as they settle down and start to explore....Well, you get the idea!
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Click to expand...
Ants can cross water. They float! So what they do, is make a "bridge" of floating ants, and other ants walk across the "bridge"
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I use the freezer, it takes between ten and thirty seconds, depending on the size and cold hardiness of the bug.  Remember, you don't want to kill them, just knock them out.

SF
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (SnowyFalcon @ April 14 2004,4:03)]Remember, you don't want to kill them, just knock them out.
Click to expand...
That's why you DON'T put them in THE FREEZER/Ice Box section, you place them in the refridgerator section.

I've been doing experaments with this and found that, if you place flies in a covered glass jar in the refridgerorator, they will live anywhere from 3 days (the small ones) to a week (the larger ones).
 
Mine go outside during the warmer months where all I do is watch the flies go bye bye. Almost every trap catches prey once during its life. These plants are very good at taking care of these things without any help from me.
 
I put the fly in the freezer in a petri dish, and after about 45 seconds i take it out of the freezer and wait for it to start to twitch then i take it out with a tweezer, gently drop it in and boom, easy feeding.
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Another easy but cruel way is with spiders. You hold on with a tweazers and cut all the legs half way so there all wiggling, then you pop the half legged spider in and they can't escape. Kinda mean,
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but effective
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I feed mine flys and pill bugs for the most part. Never feed your plant ladybugs they kill the traps,or earthworms they rot the trap and make a stinky mess!
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Spectabilis73 @ April 14 2004,1:42)]
[b said:
Quote[/b] (schloaty @ April 14 2004,4:04)]Hellz,
  I don't know what ants you have around, but I've got some nice, big suckers.  Too big for baby plants.  I like to put a VFT put in a large tray of water, and drop in a few ants.  They won't cross the water, and as soon as they settle down and start to explore....Well, you get the idea!
laugh.gif
Click to expand...
Ants can cross water. They float! So what they do, is make a "bridge" of floating ants, and other ants walk across the "bridge"
biggrin.gif
Click to expand...
A BRIDGE? You not joking? Very clever indeed...
Too bad humans can't do that...would come in useful sometimes
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(like when ye stuck on an island...)
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I usually feed mine large flying ants or houseflies that I catch (my reflexes)
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. Not too bothersome as I only have one VFT. Only thing I have to be careful of is that they don't rip the trap up with their huge mouthparts...scary!
How come a (my) VFT doesn't fully digest itas prey (I mean suck it dry like some people's VFTs do...yuck!
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Jason
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How do the ants keep their 'nose' above water level. Won't they drown? Have to take caution that they don't 'float' too long...
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Maybe it because of water tension...
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Not all ants make bridges, though some species do. Others float across on leaves used as boats.
For those kinds of ants that do make bridges, it takes quite a lot of ants. I only drop one or two at a time in the pot, so that's not really and issue.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Jason Wong @ April 16 2004,5:41)]How do the ants keep their 'nose' above water level. Won't they drown? Have to take caution that they don't 'float' too long...
tounge.gif
wink.gif

Maybe it because of water tension...
biggrin.gif
Click to expand...
ANts do not have "noses", they breath through their exoskeliton.
 
I feed my vft's anything that is a bug with a soft shell/body.
 
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