What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Earthworms healthy for my vft?

I've been thinkin about throwing a couple of earthworms inside my VFT pot and I was wondering if it would harm or actually help the VFT? Thanks in advance for answering my question.
confused.gif
 
Earthworms dont make good food for VFT's.. they tend to rot the traps.

Steve
 
Earthworms strike me as being too large to fit in a trap. If it tried to eat one you'd have the ends hanging out of teh leaf which would result in rotting.

Now, if you have a hungry Sarracenia, or a large enough sundew, I'd say go for it
smile.gif
 
It seems he means put them in the soil of the VFT. In this case its definetly a no-no. VFT's catch things to eat because the "soil" they grow in is low in nutrients. Earthworms would digest the peat or whatnot and produce worm castings-which are very good fertilizer for normal plants. VFT's, however, do not like this at all.
 
Ah thanks alot Nflytrap and the rest of u for that lil worm info lol I kinda knew that but thanks anyway! Hrm...worm castings sounds tasty for my other plan I have no clue what it is but it's growing pretty big it has lil red flowers and I mean little and it's quite tall and has huge thorns but aside from that it's not a carnivorous plant heheh anyway appreciate it...<~~forages backyard in dirt for earthworms!
 
I actually have a question to add to this. What if you cut the worm in half or at least small enough where it fits into the trap well? Worms obviously stay alive and wiggle around after you do this. Is it the worm itself that may rot the traps or just them sticking out of a trap if they're too big? If it's a size issue then you can do what I just mentioned, if you wouldn't mind doing it that is. Anyway, just curious.
 
Geez these threads just keep getting more and more morbid. You see.....the reason the worm stays alive and wiggles around after you cut it up into pieces is because the poor thing is WRITHING IN AGONY!!!!! Wouldn't you??

Anyways worms are probably too nutrient rich for vft to digest properly. Unless you are growing your plant in very bright, warm and humid conditions and your traps are very robust, you could risk rotting the trap. You'll know this is happening by the disgusting fluids leaking out of the trap's margins. And oh yes....BTW...rotted worm bits in a rotted vft trap probably smell really nasty. I would try searching for pill bugs or sow bugs or earwigs. You know...things along those lines. They're much more palatable to the plant.

Good luck and fun.

Phil
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (philcula @ Mar. 19 2005,10:36)]Geez these threads just keep getting more and more morbid. You see.....the reason the worm stays alive and wiggles around after you cut it up into pieces is because the poor thing is WRITHING IN AGONY!!!!! Wouldn't you??

Anyways worms are probably too nutrient rich for vft to digest properly. Unless you are growing your plant in very bright, warm and humid conditions and your traps are very robust, you could risk rotting the trap. You'll know this is happening by the disgusting fluids leaking out of the trap's margins. And oh yes....BTW...rotted worm bits in a rotted vft trap probably smell really nasty. I would try searching for pill bugs or sow bugs or earwigs. You know...things along those lines. They're much more palatable to the plant.

Good luck and fun.

Phil
Well, I never said I was going to feed my VFT a worm! I was just asking a simple question to learn more about VFT's. And I KNOW why the worm is wiggling around when you do that, I'm not stupid. I pointed that out because it wiggling around would spring the trap. Sorry if I offended any poor defenseless worms reading this forum. Never happen again! Geesh! LoL But, thanks for answering my question anyway.
 
No offense taken. But your answer lies herein -- Venus "Fly" Trap. If it ate worms it would be called Venus "Worm" Trap. Stick to the simple basics and your answer will jump out at you.
 
  • #10
In the rainy winters my a couple of my VFT's digested worms. Yup, the trap walloped the thing whole. If the worm is sticking out, than the trap has no chance of surviving.
 
  • #11
hmm, I shouldn't think that worms would do too much to the plant being in the soil. I have gotten plants from mulitple people that had earthworms in the soil. And if you think about it there would be earthworms in the wild. but then again in the wild i guess the nutrients seep out with the water... that's what top watering is for.
 
  • #12
[b said:
Quote[/b] (philcula @ Mar. 20 2005,6:09)]No offense taken. But your answer lies herein -- Venus "Fly" Trap. If it ate worms it would be called Venus "Worm" Trap. Stick to the simple basics and your answer will jump out at you.
So you're saying that VFT's can ONLY eat flies then? It's not called a Venus "Spider" trap either and they can eat spiders, right. You mentioned feeding them pill bugs, sow bugs and earwigs in your previous post. It doesn't have one of those bugs in its name either and it can eat those, right. If the caresheets said that venus flytraps are called that because they can ONLY eat flies, then I would have already had my answer about a worm or anything else and wouldn't have asked anything. Obviously, that's not the case. So asking about worms, even though "worm" isn't in it's name, I think is a valid question. I was just adding a question to the topic on worms since someone said they'd rot the trap since they would stick out. And, once again, I was never planning on giving my VFT a worm. I was just curious.
 
  • #13
A worm doesn't have a nervous system remotely complex enough for 'agony'.

I think the best advice would be to try it, even if you know it'll probably take out a trap. The plant will grow another one, and you'll have the additional concrete experience on what works and what doesn't, and why. That's the best kind of learning there is.

As for having them in the pots I don't know... but I'd probably avoid it too. I know worms are supposed to aerate the soil, which is good for many CPs, but at the same time with every potted plant I've put a worm in, months later when I repotted the soil was this thick heavy molasses-y mush. Even if they didn't contribute nutrients that would concern me.

Maybe I just have a weird strain of worms around here.
smile.gif
 
  • #14
Ok FlyTrapNewbie, put your daggers away. Life is far too short.


Perhaps I should simplify my comments by saying you should stick to feeding your plant 'arthropods' only and leave it at that. If feeding your plant bits of earthworm can potentially and most probably kill the trap on the plant then you can make the choice yourself. Most of us wouldn't risk it. Incidentally too many people are under the false impression that vft need to be fed insects on a regular basis in order for them to survive or grow better. They do not. Although they benefit from the extra nutrients gained from such meals, it is not necessary for maintaining good health. Cultural excellence combined with the correct combinations of soil, light, heat, water, etc.. are the primary key ingredients.

Side note: I'm not saying they don't need to be fed insects, only that if you don't have anything to feed your plant don't sweat it. They will not die on you. If they do then some other environmental factor is at play here.

I know this from the experience of growing tens of thousands of vft. I have conducted extensive research with control plants that were grown for a minimum of 5 years without so much as a single trap being fed. These plants showed no ill effects nor any signs of weakening as a result. Of course I did repot them annually and removed all flower spikes on a regular basis.

Oh yes BTW... in the past several of my 'larger' plants have dined on tree frogs which have blundered into the traps, as pointed out to me by some of my shocked visitors. The traps on these plants average in the 2"+ range and the frogs are rather small, but the plants are growing outdoors in full sun in what I would consider optimal conditions. In order for a plant to successfully digest such a meal or anything richer in nutrients than an insect without rotting, it must be in excellent health first. So feel free to experiment away and let us know what your results are.

endparenthesis: "A worm doesn't have a nervous system remotely complex enough for agony"

I'm not so sure. Earthworms have a brain, a nervous system, 5 hearts, a gizzard, intestines, a bloodstream and some of the most advanced skin cells in the animal kingdom. They are one of the only life forms known to secrete 'opiates' in response to aggressive external stimuli or injury. These 'opiates' functionally mediate analgesia - the inability to feel pain while conscious, which is why they wiggle around so much when they are lanced with a fish hook. Scientific evidence supports that they are trying to 'numb' the pain... for lack of a better term.

Just some food for thought.

Phil
 
  • #15
[b said:
Quote[/b] (philcula @ Mar. 19 2005,10:36)]Geez these threads just keep getting more and more morbid. You see.....the reason the worm stays alive and wiggles around after you cut it up into pieces is because the poor thing is WRITHING IN AGONY!!!!! Wouldn't you??

Anyways worms are probably too nutrient rich for vft to digest properly. Unless you are growing your plant in very bright, warm and humid conditions and your traps are very robust, you could risk rotting the trap. You'll know this is happening by the disgusting fluids leaking out of the trap's margins. And oh yes....BTW...rotted worm bits in a rotted vft trap probably smell really nasty. I would try searching for pill bugs or sow bugs or earwigs. You know...things along those lines. They're much more palatable to the plant.

Good luck and fun.

Phil
I haven't tried it, but I seem to recall hearing that if you cut an earthworm in half it will become two earthworms. Or something.

But you'd need to cut it in half (or more) to make it small enough for the trap.

Many sources I've read, including Sarracenia.com and I think The Savage Garden, say that flytraps will happily munch on slugs. Again, you might need to chop 'em up for the plant first. ("Whatcha doin' honey?" "Dicing slugs." "I'm going to stay with my sister.")

Also according to Sarracenia.com:
"I have been told that maggots make good food for Venus Flytraps. (This marvelous little factoid came to me from an anonymous source I will refer to only as Steve Evanchuck. Last I heard, he was in Nebraska, frightening his neighbors.) Apparently you can buy maggots at fish bait stores (and other quality maggot outlets). The maggots are packaged in sawdust. Disgusted? Wait, it gets better! The maggots can usually escape from the traps, so the Steve Evanchuck (remember, Nebraska) says that the maggot must first be "pierced with a toothpick." This tells me, among other things, that there are weirder people in the universe than me. It is also a good reminder to be careful about who you borrow toothpicks from."

linkage

Edited because I don't know anything about worm nervous systems.
 
Back
Top