They finally caught something!

[steveo]

Came home for lunch today and found that one of my plants, outside for the day, had captured something and had sealed shut over it.  I'm happy to see that the traps work!

The insect, judging from the bulge it makes, would seem to be about as big as the trap could handle.  I'm hoping that a lot of sunlight and supplementary light indoors will help the plant "swallow" this bug without losing the leaf.

It's the runt of the pot, too--caught a bug with its only fully-developed leaf.  Its siblings sport bigger, more numerous traps and have yet to get anything.  I do love an underdog!

--Steve

(Edited by steveo at 7:55 pm on April 15, 2002)

 

[Tristan]

Cool. Its always fun not having to feed your plants.

 

[Parasuco]

Yea, I found a fungus gnat, and thought i should feed it to my VFT (a smaller leaf, the only open one) and it tiptoed... tiptoed... moved slowly... triggered it... it shut kinda slowly, then the bug took off! Grrrr!!!!! I tried to catch it, but its no use, its shut to much to fit it in... THAT makes me angry!!!

 

[dave2150]

My Vft has caught a few files itself, but only 1 out of about 8 traps have survived the process, the flie always manages to stick right out of the trap, #### those files................
The only 'safe' method for the trap is to place the fly in the freezer until its knocked out, pull of its legs, and wings, and then it cannot escape the trap but manages to trigger the trigger hairs to allow proper disgestion. This is the only way that works for my traps, if anyone else has suggestions then let me know !

 

[Dyflam]

Ooohh... brutal! If you leave your plants outside regularly for a few hours they will probably get their own snack. That has been my experience. It's apparent if you sit and watch for a while that bugs are indeed attracted to these plants. Grab a few beers (if you're 21 or older) and sit and watch. It helps if you know there are flies around.

 

[PlantAKiss]

I have found if you leave your VFTs alone, they will catch their own food quite nicely. That's what they were born to do! They act the same as they would in a North Carolina bog away from prodding humans. Unless you have your VFT enclosed in some way so there are NO insects around it, then I guess you'd have to feed it manually. Although you don't really need to feed it at all. I don't have the stomach for feeding them myself, so I'm glad they gorge themselves naturally!

Suzanne

 

[steveo]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Quote: from PlantAKiss on 6:51 am on April 19, 2002
I have found if you leave your VFTs alone, they will catch their own food quite nicely.  That's what they were born to do!  They act the same as they would in a North Carolina bog away from prodding humans.     Unless you have your VFT enclosed in some way so there are NO insects around it, then I guess you'd have to feed it manually.  Although you don't really need to feed it at all.  I don't have the stomach for feeding them myself, so I'm glad they gorge themselves naturally!

Suzanne
[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Yeah--I don't want to drop bugs into them either. However, I also find myself celebrating when a stray fly gets into the house, so morally I'm afraid I'm just as culpable.

Odd, I don't have this problem when I'm fishing. Maybe becasue it's my maw that's getting stuffed!

--Steve

 

[greencrunch]

Hi Dave, I have found that a very fine pair of medical tweezers works well for putting the bug into the trap as the trap will not be held open by the tweezers, allowing the trap to close on the bug while you still have a hold on it, also if you are feeding a dead bug to the trap I have had success with stimulating the trigger hairs with the blunt end of a small sewing needle to convince the trap to finish sealing around the bug.

 

[havron]

I've had one VFT catch a rather large spider on its own in my room one night, finding its legs sticking out of the trap the following morning. hehehehe :biggrin:

(Edited by havron at 3:44 pm on April 19, 2002)