Gribbley larvae in my water tray

[cockroach]

I just repotted my S. leucophylla and found these critters whipping around in the water tray. What the hell are they? More importantly, what can I feed them to?

I estimate the biggest (which is what I aimed the camera at) is around 6 mm long. Most seem to be between 1 and 3 mm.

Can I just dump the smaller ones into the pot my U. sandersonii is in? If I plop them into my S. purpurea will they be eaten or just grow up? What about a Nepenthes?

 

[Alexis]

Mosquito larvae?

Probably best just to leave them, they won't do any harm.

 

[cockroach]

They better not be mosquito larvae! This is an indoor plant!

 

[NeciFiX]

I'd just dump the water tray out in the toilet.

 

[xXTWECOXx]

Definitely mosquito larvae, just dump it out, unless you like mosquitoes.

 

[jimscott]

Looked like mosquito larvae to me. I would just get sime sundews and butterworts to handle the mosquitoes! ....Or you could just get rid of the media and start over again.

 

[adnedarn]

Yes, mosquitoes. I dump them out on asphalt (to be sure they dry out and die) in the toilet they'd still live, just somewhere else. I say killem whenever you can. It's prolly a good time to clean that tray anyway

 

[Ant]

I would put it in another try and clycle the water through the plant so you don't waste the water.

 

[Drosera36]

Garbage disposer.....

-Ben

 

[xvart]

More importantly, what can I feed them to?

Spoken like a true CPer. lol.

xvart.

 

[Not a Number]

Mozzies for sure. Your S. purpurea or Neps should eat 'em but if they don't how will you get them out of the pitchers?

 

[PiranhaPlant]

i thought mosquito larvae are resistant to the digestive juices in Nepenthes?

 

[Finch]

thought mosquito larvae are resistant to the digestive juices in Nepenthes?

erm those are presumably special species that have adapted to exploit that resource... in Borneo. Doubtful mosquito larvae here, especially ones from Boston, would harbor similar adaptations, as there is no selective pressure in the wild to adapt to Nepenthes' digestive juices in the Americas

 

[xvart]

erm those are presumably special species that have adapted to exploit that resource... in Borneo. Doubtful mosquito larvae here, especially ones from Boston, would harbor similar adaptations, as there is no selective pressure in the wild to adapt to Nepenthes' digestive juices in the Americas

Well put, Finch. Darwin would have been most impressed.

xvart.

 

[cockroach]

erm those are presumably special species that have adapted to exploit that resource... in Borneo. Doubtful mosquito larvae here, especially ones from Boston, would harbor similar adaptations, as there is no selective pressure in the wild to adapt to Nepenthes' digestive juices in the Americas

Don't be too quick to discount the survivability of Boston insects. Many years ago, when taking out the trash, I discovered some maggots in the bottom of the trash can. In a fit of rage I dumped turpentine on them. (I was in art school at the time, focusing on oil painting, which is why there was readily accessible turp.) They swam around in the turp while I tried not to choke on the fumes. In the end I dumped the maggots, turpentine and all, in a vacant lot down the street, figuring that these maggots were unkillable but I still didn't want them in my apartment.
They had been eating the remains of a curry, which may have had something to do with their stamina.

To this day I live in fear of encountering whatever manner of collossal, invincible fly the turpentine-and-curry-fed maggots grew into.

 

[Finch]

Oh, I dont doubt Boston insects survivability. I doubt Borneo insect's successful establishment in Boston.


! but it sounds like the making of a informal experiment

 

[mannyherrera]

Mosquito larvae. Kill 'em. If you had an aquatic Utric you could try and feed them to it (sometimes they are too big for Utrics). Some larvae are immune to Pitcher Plant enzymes, but I don't think that's the case here. You could feed them to your Sarrs or Neps.