My first legit post in the VFT forum and yes, I think I like it here.
You may recall I bought 50 VFT's a few weeks back. I lost about 5 and a few others look a bit iffy but on the whole they're pretty healthy. I am keeping them in separate pots in a huge tray, on a bench in the garden that happens to be under a mango tree. This tree is inhabited (as are all the mango trees around here) by these agressive red ants that make big nests by sticking a ball of leaves together, way up in the branches. They hang out on the branches of the tree and attack, en mass, whenever you accidentally brush the tree. You usually discover it when you feel a sting somewhere down your shirt and sure enough, some suicidal little ant will be waving his legs wildly in space while hanging on to your armpit by his pincers. It's a wonderful feeling.
I was quite surprised at the number of ants that were getting caught by the VFT's, they can actually do it themselves!! I thought I'd have to force feed them. So I came home the other day and checked my plants out. There were about 3 VFT traps that had one side cut away (it had been done perfectly!! Just like in a cross section from a CP book) and the corpse of the ant that had been trapped had been removed. I actually caught a couple of ants in the process of getting one of their comrades out of a trap. He was dead of course, but they didn't seem to care.
Anyone had this before?
fatboy.
PS My Sarracenias are doing FANTASTICALLY.
You may recall I bought 50 VFT's a few weeks back. I lost about 5 and a few others look a bit iffy but on the whole they're pretty healthy. I am keeping them in separate pots in a huge tray, on a bench in the garden that happens to be under a mango tree. This tree is inhabited (as are all the mango trees around here) by these agressive red ants that make big nests by sticking a ball of leaves together, way up in the branches. They hang out on the branches of the tree and attack, en mass, whenever you accidentally brush the tree. You usually discover it when you feel a sting somewhere down your shirt and sure enough, some suicidal little ant will be waving his legs wildly in space while hanging on to your armpit by his pincers. It's a wonderful feeling.
I was quite surprised at the number of ants that were getting caught by the VFT's, they can actually do it themselves!! I thought I'd have to force feed them. So I came home the other day and checked my plants out. There were about 3 VFT traps that had one side cut away (it had been done perfectly!! Just like in a cross section from a CP book) and the corpse of the ant that had been trapped had been removed. I actually caught a couple of ants in the process of getting one of their comrades out of a trap. He was dead of course, but they didn't seem to care.
Anyone had this before?
fatboy.
PS My Sarracenias are doing FANTASTICALLY.