What insects should you not feed to vfts?

[RandallFlagg]

Well, since I don't want to feel guilty about wasting bandwidth, I'll ask this question here.

I read the, "Flowering," thread and couldn't find anything on where to cut the stalk. If I want to cut off the flower, how big should I let it grow and how far down should I chop it off?

 

[jhaluska]

Last year mine ate a lot of the ants and never had a problem, they were extremely proficient at catching ants. It seems the ants would drink the nectar right underneath the spines of the traps and would caught perfectly every time I watched.

 

[dlybrand]

One thing you don't want to feed is lightning bugs! Mine (long since dead) caught one once and it was a nice parlor trick for the evening, the flashing trap caused by the insect in its death-throes, but the whole plant soon died. I think this was caused by the huge amounts of phosphorous it gave my plant.

-D. Lybrand

 

[RandallFlagg]

So, when is it best to chop off the flower stalk, and where do I make the cut?

 

[nrbelex]

Quote[/b] (dlybrand @ April 13 2005,1:46)]One thing you don't want to feed is lightning bugs! Mine (long since dead) caught one once and it was a nice parlor trick for the evening, the flashing trap caused by the insect in its death-throes, but the whole plant soon died. I think this was caused by the huge amounts of phosphorous it gave my plant.

-D. Lybrand

Good tip [prying open my traps

j/k] but really - I always thought they would be perfect... guess it's back to the drawing board.

~ Brett

 

[vft guy in SJ]

Quote[/b] (RandallFlagg @ April 12 2005,7:45)]So, when is it best to chop off the flower stalk, and where do I make the cut?

As soon as you can get your scissors in there to make the cut, go for it. It may try to send up a second stalk.. cut that one too. If you have a small pair of scissors you can get right into the middle of the rosette. Be careful not to accidently clip a new trap which may be forming near the flower stalk.

 

[jimscott]

Quote[/b] (dlybrand @ April 12 2005,7:46)]One thing you don't want to feed is lightning bugs! Mine (long since dead) caught one once and it was a nice parlor trick for the evening, the flashing trap caused by the insect in its death-throes, but the whole plant soon died. I think this was caused by the huge amounts of phosphorous it gave my plant.

-D. Lybrand

I tried that last summer and initiated a topic about it. To my knowledge, no harm was done to the VFT's. Perhaps I was just fortunate?

 

[RandallFlagg]

Quote[/b] (vft guy in SJ @ April 13 2005,5:18)]

Quote[/b] (RandallFlagg @ April 12 2005,7:45)]So, when is it best to chop off the flower stalk, and where do I make the cut?

As soon as you can get your scissors in there to make the cut, go for it. It may try to send up a second stalk..  cut that one too. If you have a small pair of scissors you can get right into the middle of the rosette. Be careful not to accidently clip a new trap which may be forming near the flower stalk.

Cool. Thanks.
It's chopped right after the light timer switches off.

 

[wickedthistle]

I acutally prefer to twist and snap the flowering stem at the soil level. I keep my vfts outside in a tank, so I'm usually too lazy to walk back in for the scissors.

 

[ruffryder85]

hey can VFT's munch on Woodlouse? you know them browny/purply insects?

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

SM

 

[ruffryder85]

SM?

 

[D muscipula]

I fed my VFT a large ant once that had accidentally been squished (the abdomen).  The formic acid from it literally burned the trap over a period of a day or two, leaving a brown region where it touched!

I second that.  Tamlin, what the heck did that mean?

 

[tonytheterrible]

You can just use your fingernails to pinch off the stalks right as they come up. That is what I do because I'm rather clumsy with the scissors.

 

[FlytrapGurl]

ruffryder85, woodlouse are the same as pillbugs, rollie pollies, whatever you want to call them. Exoskeleton is too hard to be digested easily.

Always avoid ladybugs... poisonous. Or maybe my mind convulted back to my old anole knowledge... I dunno, but either way, don't use lady bugs, because whether they're poisonous to them or not, their exoskeleton is too hard for the plant to digest them easily.

Quote[/b] ]Tamlin, what the heck did that mean?

Yeah, what the funk was that?

 

[ruffryder85]

so no ants and no woodlouse.......

you know how hard it is to catch a fly? lol

p.s. i know one does not have to feed the vft however the insects acts as a fertiliser, thus i prefer to feed it at least once a week....

kindest regards,

 

[FlytrapGurl]

Well, some ants are bad, some are good. Those little half-inch darting ones that annoy the hell out of you are good with mine, but any ant that can potently sting or bite is out.. too much acid.

EDIT: Oh, and to whoever it was that discounted mealworms... as long as they're very small and have just molted (if they have, they'd be completely white and soft), they're fine. Also be sure to slightly crush the moutparts with tweezers. This seems a little out of the way, but if you own reptiles (I have a leopard gecko) and regularly feed them mealworms, then if you see a mealworm that happens to have just molted and is very small, you can use it.

 

[ruffryder85]

guessing you from states FTG , here in the uk, the ants found in our gardens is as toxic/acidic as bread!

the ants are only about 4mm long, and i heard that ants dont really have much nutritional value, thus more of a waste of energy for the trap.
please correct me if i am wrong, it will only please me to find out that ants are acceptable means of nutrition.
in the summer when it gets hotter in the uk (above 22 cel) i will put the vft in the garden and let it naturally feed on flies

 

[ruffryder85]

Quote[/b] (FlytrapGurl @ April 29 2005,4:55)]Also be sure to slightly crush the moutparts with tweezers.

oh thats cruel!!!

lol

 

[Mannex17]

While searching under rocks for food (for my flytrap of course!) I found this little skinny mealworm-looking thing. I put it in my biggest trap, and after a few days of digesting, I saw a blackish spot on the trap. I held a flashlight up to the trap, and saw that the black spot was right where the mouth was on the worm. I guess I should have crushed the mouthpart before I put him in.