Feeding

[Nicholas_Bostaph]

I was curious how you guys went about feeding your VFTs. I know that some of you put them outside, but both of mine are in a terrarium and even if I carry the whole thing outside not many bugs make their way in except tiny snacks for my D Intermedia. Of course, I know that they don't NEED to feed, but my Dente sent up a number of new decent sized (for it) traps and I'd like to see it get some extra nutrition to keep doing that

. Any thoughts?


What was that refridgerator idea again? I tried placing a fly in there for about 5 minutes, but it just made him a bit sluggish...still too hard to catch. 10 more minutes didn't help much either

. Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[jhaluska]

Well, when I was younger I had preying mantises as pets (yeah, I know I'm weird

).  I made a net, went out to a field and caught bugs and dumped them into the aquarium and let them catch the bugs. I didn't have to stalk the bugs with a net, I just swung randomly in a field. You'd be surprised how many bugs I caught in just a minute or two. I think a similiar approach will work for you.  Go catch some bugs that you think the VFTs can eat, put them into your terrarium and let the VFTs do the catching.  Just take care that you don't put in any bugs that can get out or potentially make a meal out of your plants.

Although not as fun as watching the traps snap shut, I found they do a lot better at catching them by themselves than me trying to feed them.  They are just a lot more patient than me!

 

[uglypho]

The freezer is faster. Just keep it clean though.

.

 

[SnowyFalcon]

In my freezer it takes about 30 secs to knock out a fly far enough so that he'll wake up in about 5 minutes as good as new. Unfortunately by that time, he's in the VFT's maws, stimulating more trigger hairs by his waking up!

SF

 

[ninja]

What I'll do is catch a large fly or small cricket, take a toothpick and impale it through the back

then (while the bug is still kicking) stick it in the trap. I then slide the toothpick out carfully! after the trap has closed.
Sorry but I'm just trying to help.

 

[Daniel]

I buy crickets at the local petstore, they are real cheap. You can drop it into your terrarium. They'll be hoping around and around until they fall into a trap. Or you can freeze them until they become a little stunned and slowed, and put them inside the trap to ensure capture immediately =D.