Venus Fly Traps, Anyone?

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[Melamphoros]

I bet you could set it out on the fire escape (assuming for the moment that you have one) a few hours every day and it would be golden.  Sunshine and bugs galore.

That's a possibility but I might be afraid that someone could steal it or knock it over (or that I would forget about it).  I know I need to go outside more, but I don't want to sit in one spot.

*shrug*  I'll take BBC's word for it, it just seems odd.

I wonder how much fat is even in insects.  I think they are mostly protein.

[Pyperlie]

That's a possibility but I might be afraid that someone could steal it or knock it over (or that I would forget about it).  I know I need to go outside more, but I don't want to sit in one spot.

Hah, you should take one of those little kids' toys with the balls that move around inside the bubble, remove the top part and the thing that pushes the air into it, switch out the plastic handle for a leash, and take it for a walk.

Somebody bothers you, just turn to the plant and say, "don't worry, Audrey, I'll slake your lust for human flesh just as soon as we get home (or, alt., as soon as we get back to the shop")".

I wonder how much fat is even in insects.  I think they are mostly protein.

It surely varies from bug to bug.  I suspect a grub worm or a maggot or caterpillar has more fat, proportionally speaking, than a fly.

[Melamphoros]

Hah, you should take one of those little kids' toys with the balls that move around inside the bubble, remove the top part and the thing that pushes the air into it, switch out the plastic handle for a leash, and take it for a walk.

That's always a possibility

Somebody bothers you, just turn to the plant and say, "don't worry, Audrey, I'll slake your lust for human flesh just as soon as we get home (or, alt., as soon as we get back to the shop")".

Is it strange that I already named it Audrey?

It surely varies from bug to bug.  I suspect a grub worm or a maggot or caterpillar has more fat, proportionally speaking, than a fly.

Eh, oh well.

[Star]

Is it strange that I already named it Audrey?

It would've been strange for, say, my mother to have named it Audrey.  It would have been strange for you to not have named it Audrey.    IMHO.

[Prickle]

I recently acquired one of these things and I have questions about how to grow them.

The tiny tag that came along with it says that it 'likes lots of light but not full sun."

But another source says they need 2-4 hours in sunlight.

The tag also says to take the thing that covered the plant (which is basically a cup), fill it with water and place the tiny (plastic) pot in it.  However, this other source says that this is bad for the plant.

Also, my apartment doesn't have a lot of insects -- are there any places that sell them?

Thanks in advance for any tips.

I had one for a while, about a year. Then for some reason it got unhappy and died. It could be because I let it bloom, I'm not sure...anywho.

African violet soil was recommended. It has moisture holding properties. You want to keep the soil moist but not soggy, so the pot needs to drain, but with a something to catch the extra water underneath. They also like humidity so ideal conditions would be terrarium-like.

I kept mine in a plastic pot but set it into a deeper brass cauldron type planter, this helped trap the moisture close to the plant.

When the mouths turn black pinch them off.

Like I mentioned above they will send up a tall stem and bloom with a small white flower, and then produce seeds. Some say it's not good to let them bloom others say it doesn't matter.

Some people give them a special kind of fertilizer. And others feed them a pinch of raw hamburger once a month or so. Still others make an effort to catch flies.

I tried to feed mine the occasional mosquito hawk but it wasn't interested.

This site was helpful tome:

http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/venusflytrap.html

[sefiru]

I bought one at Home Depot a couple of weeks ago. (I named it Fluffy and planted it in a porcelain teacup.) We'll see how it does; I had one for a while in Japan, which I kept in a soup bowl full of water about halfway up its pot, and it did ok, but it dried out when I went on vacation. I also fed that one a crumb of salmon which seemed to be good for it (low cholesterol? Omega-3?).

[FierFlye]

(I named it Fluffy and planted it in a porcelain teacup.)

Fluffy?  That's hilarious. 

[Athystle]

When I was a kid, I thought they were the neatest thing and wanted one. The South Texas climate isn't good for them, however.

Maybe I'm part venus fly trap too. I just can't imagine myself doing well there either. I'm as north in vermont as one can just about get. I am having an extremely hard time dealing with the heat and humidity this summer and can't imagine being anywhere any hotter. I'd die.The summers were much different here when I was a kid. I'm a huge humidity hater. Do you have dry heat there or is there much humidity.Spent a yr traveling the country in 95 but did not hit Texas. Close though, Okla. panhandle.

[sefiru]

Fluffy?  That's hilarious. 

The one I had before was called Bubba.

[Sperran]

Thanks in advance for any tips.

My only tip is don't feed it hamburger.  My dad did that to our flytrap when I was a kid and it turned black and keeled over.

Sperran

[Melamphoros]

My only tip is don't feed it hamburger.  My dad did that to our flytrap when I was a kid and it turned black and keeled over.

Way ahead of you

[wisdomsbane]

That's a possibility but I might be afraid that someone could steal it or knock it over (or that I would forget about it).  I know I need to go outside more, but I don't want to sit in one spot.

I wonder how much fat is even in insects.  I think they are mostly protein.

I think they have some sort of special lamp that basically acts as a miniature sun (It's about the size of a regular desk lamp, I wonder if it would be the similar to a uv lamp?).  I wonder if something like that would work.  That way you could just turn it on and off when you needed to, and you could control how direct it was with some sort of a lampshade or something.

[Koimichra]

Sine suggested to me getting a full-spectrum bulb in the lizard section of a pet store instead of a people medical supply store. 1/10 of the price!

For plants they have "red" and "blue" grow bulbs and you want one of each if you grow plants seriously indoors. But unfortunately I don't really know why or what that's about. Probably one goes UV and the other goes infrared or something.

[sefiru]

Sine suggested to me getting a full-spectrum bulb in the lizard section of a pet store instead of a people medical supply store. 1/10 of the price!

For plants they have "red" and "blue" grow bulbs and you want one of each if you grow plants seriously indoors. But unfortunately I don't really know why or what that's about. Probably one goes UV and the other goes infrared or something.

Well, it's because chlorophyll has two parts, one that uses red light and one that uses blue light (which is why it looks green: that's what's left over). I guess ordinary bulbs have too much of the middle part of the spectrum and not enough at the ends.

[Koimichra]

Well, it's because chlorophyll has two parts, one that uses red light and one that uses blue light (which is why it looks green: that's what's left over). I guess ordinary bulbs have too much of the middle part of the spectrum and not enough at the ends.

Ahhhhh, that makes sense.

We have plenty good luck with some indirect natural light from a basement window and a plain compact flourescent in the ceiling fixture.

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