My VFT doesn't like flies?!

[Norman Newbie]

Hi

I hope I've posted this in the right place - apologies if not!

I bought my first VFT about two months ago from a garden centre, and having carefully looked after it as instructed, it's doing really well - it's grown lots and is looking really healthy.

However, whenever it catches a fly (which so far has only been about four times) it always either:

a) Opens its mouth within a day or two to reveal the fly still inside, or
b) remains shut and starts going a black/brown colour as if it's being eaten away from the inside (at which point I remove that particular leaf).

Is this normal? Or is it just not hungry? I've never force fed it - all the flies it catches have gone there of their own free will!

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Best wishes

 

[Chomp]

Well that does seem weird. Until someone with a bit more experience has any ideas, I would force-feed other insects and others to see if the same thing happens.

---------- Post added at 07:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:32 AM ----------

Oh, and welcome to TF.
(let your addiction begin)

 

[tommyr]

Hmmmm, are you SURE that after it catches a fly that the trap re-opens in only a day?

Other than that things seem normal. Also, don't worry about it catching flies or other bugs, it's more important that they get FULL, all day sun. My VFTs seem to really love daddy long leg spiders!

 

[uphwiz]

Hope your kidding , but if not I'll bite.
That's just how they feed , the traps are limited to a few openings and closings, then they turn brown/ black, and its OK to remove them.
also VTF dont accually eat all the parts , they just absorb what and then they reopen for the next meal, and im sure yours is getting exactly what it wants, and needs from the flys. and you can clean out the traps if you want just don't trigger the trap if you can help it. I just leave mine as they probably still feed the trap as they lay there.
its fun to feed them from time to time but its not necessary, and over doing it will stress it, so i wouldn't do it at all, if your sure its catching flys and other bugs on its own.
got any pics love to see it Please.
the one that's mostly green is VFTdente, and has probably had this trap sprung at least one other time and you can see the absorbed corpse of its last meal there is also one in the trap to the front bottom of the picture. the other is VFTred dragon, and as you can see in the surrounding pictures there are several that have been sprung too many times and have begun to brown and die off, i just trim mine off a few times a season or if some one is wanting to see my collection to make them more presentable, but it doesn't hurt the VFT to leave them for a while In My Opinion.
Click on the pictures for a closer view, and again for a real close up

 

[Norman Newbie]

Excellent - many thanks for clearing that up! For some reason I had expected each trap to consume the fly, then reopen ready for the next catch! How long after it starts turning brown should I leave it before removing the leaf?

 

[jimscott]

You can snip any black/brown material if you want.... or not.

 

[c.louis5]

I remember I read somewhere it has to be less than or about 1/3 of the size of the trap.

 

[Eden Marel]

Try feeding them 'small crickets' you buy at PEtsmart, my VFT love crickets.

 

[dashman]

I usually wait until dormancy to worry about snipping dead leaves from VFTs unless they look like they are blocking light from new growth or have caught a large bug that looks like it might rot.

Also, if you are growing them outside you should not really need to feed them at all. They should catch enough on thier own. They don't need much and have adapted to living off of an occasional bug or two.

Over feeding them can lead to problems. First you could be stressing the plant by killing too many leaves at once by continually setting off the traps. A plant that wastes all of it's energy making new leaves and traps can die during dormancy.

Second, I have read that leaves can become deformed and perhaps not form a carnivorous trap if it is fed too well. I believe the thought there is that since it doesn't need to take in new nutrients it will not waste the energy to form a trap. The same can true for nepenthes I believe but that is another topic. I can't site too much personal experience for the second point, just repeating what I have read along the way.