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Capensis not hungry

What factor determines if a Drosera will "eat" a bug stuck on it's leaves?
I have a 4 inches wide D. Capensis that is leaving the bugs I give it sitting on it's leaves for days without even curling. While my D. Intermedia, the quarter of the Capensis' volume, is proudly presenting anout 12 corpses in it's spoons.

Picky eater? Lazy? Or just unhappy?
 
Sszvein, try giving it freeze dried blood worms (mosquito larve), that does the trick for my capensis. I assume the capensis have "dew" on their leaves, right?

-Homer
 
No dew = no appetite
smile_n_32.gif
 
Well it has some. The drops are not the huge bright red drops I see on your pictures, but tiny transparent drops on the tips of the red "hairs". So...small apetite then? ^_-

I've read that high humidity help produce dew, but I don't want to spay water on them and risk diluting the goo, thus defeating my prupose with spraying anyway.
Solution = wait?

PS : Mosquito larves?!? Ewww, bon appétit everyone! How do you find those anyway? I'm pretty sure I will find none in my backyard.
 
same as mine. Maybe the cap can't be bothered (too tired) to curl the entire leaf at this point in time. Are the individual tentacles moving?
 
BTW, you can get loads of mozzy larve if you leave a great crap load of stinkin' stagnant water outdoors (or even in indoors for a few days). Mother won't be too happy though...
 
The leaves on my capensis don't always curl unless the bug is really struggling. It could be that the bugs you're putting on there have a hard exoskeleton, so it may not look as if they are being eaten. There is quite the West Nile scare in my area, so mozzies are not an option. Try fruit flies, fungus gnats, and smooshed ants.

For humidity, put more water in the watering tray, or you could try putting it in a large plastic container to keep in humidity. Also for some of my plants at home the fan we have going is drying them out, so the solution was to put up a wind shield to block the constant (dry) airflow.

Mostly, it's just a waiting game ;)
 
i find my capensis curl around anything, even fishfood powder which i feed them.
 
I grew my capensis open tray, on a south facing window sill, in a rather dry laboratory. Humidity didn't seem to a factor in its growth, health, appetite, or willingness to flower. But Light did. Generally speaking, dew production seems to be more a function of lighting. More light -> more dew and greater capability of capturing prey, which tends to be the little gnats and other flying insects.
 
  • #10
Sszvein, you can get freeze-dried mosquito larvae in the fish food section of a pet store. It costs a few dollars (US)for a small jar, which should last a while.
smile.gif
 
  • #11
Well, I've been watching carefully for a while, and after 4 days, the leaf is starting to curl on my nice, apetizing fly, really it's so slow it's barely noticable until quite a while.
Pep talk not going to work hum? Too bad.
Thanks guys! I really feel more secure with all of you guiding me through this. ^_^

PS : Fishfood powder?!?
 
  • #12
Here's a pic of mine from a few months ago, at the beginning stages of sending up a flower scape:

136.jpg


Same plant, a month later

101_0173.jpg
 
  • #13
There's barely any red at all...why not? Light is a factor?
 
  • #15
It is capensis 'alba'. Other sundews receivng the same conditions have turned red. Light is the biggest determinant for dew production.
 
  • #16
fishfood powder is just that- fishfood powder lol. i buy wardley betta pellets, crush them into a fine powder. then i just dip the leaves of my drosera directly into it. on small drosera that lay flat i sprikle the powder on it. i also feed it to my pings, neps, sarracenia, heliamphora,- auctually the only think i don't feed it to is byblis, dionaea, and utrics.
 
  • #17
And your plants like it? ooookay.
 
  • #18
oh they love it. many, many members use "weird" foods for their plants. i use fishfood and 2% milk. some members use cheese and chocolate. i've even fed my plants blood.
 
  • #20
Woa...
Now I would like to know...how did you guys discover that your plants like "those kind of thing"...
 
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