...Squeamish to Insects

spiffyzha said:
I did not know this! I am vaguely horrified. Yet also intrigued.
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I'd known for a while that insects' exoskeletons were made mostly of chitin, and had been vaguely aware that mushrooms contained it, but somehow never put the two concepts together until I was reading about chitin for this project recently. Because of the exoskeleton stuff, I'd assumed that it was some kind of protein structure, like the keratin in hair and fingernails. I was surprised to learn that it's a polysaccharide, made from a derivative of glucose, rather similar to cellulose. It's what makes mushrooms firm.
 
Ertiocx said:
I've been using northfin bug pro since I picked up an expired jar of it on clearance. I feed it to nepenthes pitchers directly, powder it and sprinkle it over drosera and pinguicula, or make a slurry for dionaea.
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Do the little pellets hold together at all when they become damp? Or do they disintegrate? I'm wondering about your making a slurry rather than feeding the VFTs with a more solid form.
 
BunsenH said:
Do the little pellets hold together at all when they become damp? Or do they disintegrate? I'm wondering about your making a slurry rather than feeding the VFTs with a more solid form.
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They don't fall apart when wet. I grind them up and make it into a slurry because it's easier to administer it with an eyedropper or syringe compared to tweezing clumps of wet flakes.
 
This is a great thread @BunsenH

I too am now observing this phenomenon with feeding my VFT.
- Aerial prey such as flies, are comparatively rapidly (~ 5-7 days) digested, with undamaged trap opening, and digested fly husk remaining.
- The FDBW I am using (and perhaps too much of!) are causing trap necrosis & death, without exception. It does however take about 2 weeks or more to occur.

The thing is, in the case of the FDBW fed trap, in the interval at least 3-4 more new traps grow. So the plant is growing and improving; I just have never observed the reported "trap opens after a week to 10 days after feeding" except with flies it catches itself. Basically whatever I'm doing, feeding a bolus of FDBW is a death sentence for that trap; but currently the plant makes more traps than loosing. Shrug?

I too, would like to know what the difference is. Pictures for information:

1. The traps:
green arrow = trapped his/her second fly!
red arrow = traps on 1st meal FDBW and will be last meal :(
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2. The FDBW brand. Says 100% freeze-dried bloodworms (insect larvae) only.
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So I will follow along your adventures with interest.
Also, will try reducing feed volume to literally one little dehydrated wormy, instead of what I have been doing.

Cheers.
 
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I use the same ones, the tetra brand, and I rehydrate them with a little bit of water and squish them with the tweezers until I get a ball.
 
Muckydoo said:
I use the same ones, the tetra brand, and I rehydrate them with a little bit of water and squish them with the tweezers until I get a ball.
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Yes. That's exactly the process I've been doing. Specifically, using Distilled water USP.. for say 20 min, then squish into a blob. Perhaps my feed amount is too much.

I will keep working at it.
It's just interesting to observe the very obvious difference in the plant's physiologic response to the 2 feed methods.
 
Interesting. I'm reading that bloodworms are aquatic bottom-dwellers and carnivorous. I can think of several reasons why different brands might affect VFTs differently, including their environments and diet. (Are bloodworms "farmed"?) More variables come into how the VFTs are fed with them, and the plants themselves.
 
A few weeks ago, I gave one of my healthier traps a small bit of sun-dried earthworm (AKA "worm jerky"). It gummed the fragment for about 2 weeks before starting to go bad, but again, I don't know to what extent this can be blamed on the food. Dunno how this compares with your "astronaut bloodworms".
 
I found this stuff at the store the other day and gave it to my Drosera capensis, so far so good as it seems to enjoy it but it has also only been a week.

I bought it as a treat for my isopods but figured I'd give a little bit to my plants and see what happens. My Pinguicula did not like it at all.

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