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Disposal of eaten bugs?

I was wondering what the best way is to get the dead bugs out of the vfts once they open back up? Is their a period of time right after the vfts open back up that you can get the bugs out without worrying that the vfts will close right back up again? I want to make sure I can get them out without the vfts closing back up and using up more energy closing on nothing. Thanks.
 
If you happen to catch it right when the trap is reopening you can take a pair of tweezers and pull out the carcass. I normally just leave em in there... It doesnt hurt them and its kinda fun to sometimes see a trap with 3 or 4 dead flies in it.

I read once where a guy uses a spray bottle and squirts out the dead bug, when I tried it it still tripped the trap.

Cheers
Steve
 
If it is outside jst leave it, It will attract more bugs
smile.gif
 
if you really want to, you can try to carefully extract them with tweezers. I;ve managed to do it, though I ended up tripping the trap about half the time.
 
Yeah, I tried that with one of them last night and I tripped it. Mine seem VERY sensitive! The second the bug is in there they slam shut. I think my VFT is good to go for quite a while. It's eaten a few already in just a few days. And this sucker has mulitple traps sprouting up too.
 
Ayo, Hellz here,
I like to use the spray method, u take a sprayer bottle, and make the water so it squirts (like a water gun). then, u carefully squirt the dead remains of the former bug out. becareful not to make the stream ofwater to powerful, it will trigger, and your VFT will drink some water, but it works most of the time, and requires a bit of practice (kinda, not really...)
ight, hope i was helpful
Hellz
 
It takes several hours for a trap to reset itself.. it usually is easy to catch it before it resets and pull the carcass out.
 
I usually just leave them there and the rain usually takes them out.
 
It's not really necessary I use the spray method (at least, I DID way back when my VFTs were actually halfway healthy and there was a cause for there being a dead bug in there ¬_¬)... sometimes it triggers the trap, but not nearly as much as it would using tweezers. If you really don't want to trigger it, first ensure to yourself that you have good eyesight, and then take something really skinny (toothpick or needle) and push the carcass out really slowly, focusing your eyes on the trigger hairs so you don't touch them.
 
  • #10
I always screw up when using a needle or tweezers. It mostly depends where the bug is between the trigger hairs. I have found the best way is to take a squirt bottle and spray the dead bug out. The way the tension in the vft hairs is set, water droplets just bend around them and don't move them. This is why rain doesn't trip traps like mad. If you trip the trap using water, you probably pushed the bug into another trigger hair.
 
  • #11
Usually rain takes care of mine but I have used a spray bottle when I feel the need to clean them up a little.  First I mist it gently and let the husk soak for a bit (because sometimes they are really stuck onto the trap).  Then I GENTLY squirt a stream in the trap and slowly force the husk out.  Most of the time its fine...occasionally I trigger a trap.

But if your plants are kept outside, a good hard rain will usually clean them out.  
smile.gif
 
  • #12
i used a cocktail stick to remove the dead ones, i flick them once and if they dont fall do it agin in 5 mins and so on so you dont trip the trap.
 
  • #13
DJ Ricky B, The trap will not trip after a first activation. If you touch a hair, give it 30 or 40 seconds, and you can safely remove them. I find it best to take them out as soon as the trap is opening as they are still wet from the "acid" soak from the plant and are much easier to deal with. If they dry out, sometimes they will stick to a trap and make it harder. I simply use a toothpick to flick them out. Though I also let the carcass remain sometimes.
 
  • #14
Why, people, why?

Just leave those carcasses in there without messing about with tweezers!
 
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