Quick question about sundews...

[BJTLLM]

By the descriptions I have seen, one would assume that Sundews would eat something small like fruit flies or gnats; but those are rather hard to come by where I live, however, small crickets are easily attainable. Would it be able to eat crickets and, even more importantly, would it be good for it?

 

[vft guy in SJ]

Hi Bjtllm.. Welcome to the forums.

Crickets would be fairly large for many Drosera. Is it possible for you to put your plant outside for a while? You might be surprised at the ammount and variety of small insects that it will catch on its own. Another option would be turn on a light outside at night. Tons of insects of all sizes will be attracted to that. Also bear in mind that CP's do not need to eat insects to live.  Like all plants, the main source of energy for a CP is photosynthesis. The insects are merely a nutritional supplament.

Good luck with your plants
Steve

 

[BJTLLM]

Thanks for the welcome.

Well, the main problem with putting it outside would be that I will be on a fairly large college campus, and I wouldn't trust most of the people here enough to put my plants anywhere even remotely out of my viewing range, much less outside without me.

Their not needing live insects, however, will make things easier... Methinks I have seen canned fruit flies before. Or would they be too small?

 

[Nicholas_Bostaph]

I've never seen canned fruit flies, but fruit flies should be fine for most Sundews.  As was brought up by FlyTrapGurl (I think) not too long ago, cheese makes a nice snack for a Drosera if there are no bugs in sight.  My D Intermedia seems to like cheese more than the bugs it catches  

.  So what kind are you thinking of getting (or have)?  Best of luck.

 

[goldtrap2690]

some bugs are ok , my sundews catch a fly now and then and rarely a cricket , but what you can do , is catch a big bug ( flies or crickets ) rip off there legs ( muahahahaha ) then put the body on the leaf ( perfectly so that the plant can absorb the bug easier , and to make the bugs death more gruesome ) and put them legs on some other leaves , that way the bug can't escape and the plants gets more nutrients . canned fruit flies are ok as well but i neevr have seen them in a can , i have seen them in plastic containers though

, but what your should do is to make sure that they can';t escape first . good luck .

 

[BJTLLM]

Nicholas_Bostaph: Honestly not really sure. I looked into them and was interested but I wanted to make sure that I would be able to provide it with enough food were I to get one. (Was originally thinking of a venus fly trap, but they aren't all that pretty and they are semi-common, methinks.)

goldtrap2690: My, you're en evil person.