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Bugs that are too big

My plants live indoors, in a (sometimes frighteningly) sterile apartment, here in Boston. My available options for feeding them tend to be limited. I do what I can to catch flies for them, but usually the flies are bigger than the reccomended 1/3 the size of the trap.

As I understand it, traps go black while digesting a bug that's too big because bacterial rot sets in before it can finish the meal.

So I've been wondering if meals at the expense of traps are better than no meals at all.

And I've been wondering if prying open traps and removing semi-digested bugs before the trap goes black would be a good move, or harmful to the plant.
 
I would just leave it. I'm sure they catch bugs that are too big in the wild and my plants have caught plenty of huge insects and suffered no ill effects. If a trap does rot it's usually after a lot of the bug has been digested and so it's done its job.
 
Mine has had no ill affects from the spider I gave it that took up the entire trap. Nothing was sticking out, but it just barely was able to close around it.
It is still working on it tho, so it may still go black.
 
I also depends on the prey, or at least it does for me. I've had new traps to catch a fly and cause the trap to die and decay even when there was PLENTY of room. I just assume that the particular fly has been places that shouldn't be mentioned. So it may also depend on the bacteria that are living on/in the prey. Just my 2 1/2 cents.
 
Feeding is essentially unnecessary, since bugs are really just a natural fertilizer to VFTs. I'd worry more about sunlight and watering.
 
Is there something particularly bad about bits of the insect sticking out of a closed trap?
 
Prying opet the traps would only break the seal of the trap, alowing bacteria in and making the trap more vulnerable to rot. However, I've had my plants eaten very large prey with long abdomins sticking out, and the trap still reopens with the digested prey.
 
Mine catch all kinds of things and I just leave it. Its nature. Some traps rot, some don't. There will be more traps.
smile.gif
 
Legs sticking out shouldn't be too much of a problem. Even if the trap does rot, so what? As PAK said, there will be more traps.
 
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