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Nep. food

Hi. I currently received some beetles through the mail. (Thanks to Brian. Thanks A LOT!!!) They are dead and frozen. My question is do they have to be alive to feed to my neps.? Im pretty sure they'll eat, or will they? Also, does food have to be alive for vft's to digest? Thanks in advance
 
I feed my neps dried crickets, so no, they don't have to be alive. I'd unfreeze them, though. Don't think they like ice.

Capslock
 
Neps are a little different than some other CPs.  Since the bugs just fall into digestive "juice", the struggling of live prey has nothing to do with the process of digestion...unlike say a flytrap which needs activity to encourage the last stage of sealing of the trap.

Live prey is best for a flytrap unless you don't mind having to wiggle a dead bug around.  I never bother feeding my flytraps...they catch their own meals like nature intended.
 
You have to trick the VFTs by continuing to tickle the trigger hairs after the traps close for a minute with a paper clip or something that fits between the lashes.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (srduggins @ Nov. 03 2005,6:11)]You have to trick the VFTs by continuing to tickle the trigger hairs after the traps close for a minute with a paper clip or something that fits between the lashes.
You'll have to tickle it for a couple of hours before it starts digesting. impossible especially when the trap is closed and you're running out of patience...
 
I have heard that when the pitchers of nepethes form they contain only a solution of water, and it is only after a struggle from an insect does the pitcher produce digestive enzymes.
 
My Nep's prduce a "Gel" like solution as they open. Much thicker than water. I figure from day one, they have the enzymes to eat.

-Rail
 
It's the presence of nutrients that stimulates enzyme production.  When the pitchers first open, they are charged with enzymes.  If no insects are caught, enzyme production decreases so the plant can reduce energy output.  If insects are caught, enzyme production increases.

As the insect struggles inside the pitcher, it releases metabolic compounds that the pitchers detect.  Dead insects are covered with these compounds because they struggled before their death (however that might have occured).  

I've found that VFTs will accept dead insects if the trigger hairs are stimulated.  If the trap presses tightly together (this takes a while), then the plant will most likely digest the insect.  Mechanical stimula is what causes the trap to close.  However, it's the presence of nutrients that stimulates the enzyme production, just like in nepenthes, and all CPs for that matter. Place a dried bloodworm on a Sundew leaf, and the leaf will curl up and produce digestive juices even though the bloodworm didn't move while on the leaf.
Brian
 
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