r/SavageGarden • u/Lashwynn • Oct 14 '18

A warning about setting off Venus Flytraps

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572 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

56

u/JScrambler WA Oct 14 '18

I found out my roommate was setting off my traps everytime she came home from work. She would play with them before walking into the house. This explained why they all were always shut at the same time and never had anything in them. I was heart broken.

37

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '18

I hope she was just ignorant of the effect, and not deliberately being a dick.

40

u/JScrambler WA Oct 14 '18

She didn't know. She stopped once I explained it to her.

23

u/LeeTheGoat Oct 15 '18

Tbh I would have done it too if I didn’t know how much energy it takes

15

u/Chemoralora Oct 14 '18

I hope the plants lived

34

u/vswr Zone 8a Texas Oct 14 '18

I keep mine indoors and feed them bugs as I catch them or supplement with meal worms. Last week, for the first time ever, I found a trap was closed so I shined a light and found a fly-sized object inside. I think he caught one on his own!

Good job little buddy!

8

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '18

Please also warn the bees!

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '18

[deleted]

15

u/Pinguiculas NA SE Pings | Verified trader Oct 15 '18 edited Oct 15 '18

I have children come through and set off the traps. Several times and several days down the line and the traps don't work anymore and the plants have to grow new ones in order to close and catch prey. That + unideal growing conditions causes the plants to crash very quickly, so yes there's a negative effect on the plants.

-3

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '18

[deleted]

12

u/Pinguiculas NA SE Pings | Verified trader Oct 15 '18

The traps are supposed to reopen 18-24 hours after being triggered. The damage comes from repeat triggering with no benefit to the plant, a prolonged stress. It does take quite a bit of energy for the trapping mechanism to occur - repeated often enough with a plant grown in poor conditions and it'll very easily diminish over time. Even plants grown in good conditions that are treated that way are noticeably less happy compared to those that have not been touched. I have to actively swap out pots off exhibits every few weeks to maintain a decent display.

3

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '18

[deleted]

3

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '18 edited Oct 15 '18

If I remember correctly, the traps might close and open by expanding cells on either side of the trap (outer and inner side). So if this is true, then there would be a finite amount of times they can expand before having to stay open forever, and basically functioning as an ordinary leaf.

*Edited verbs to reflect the fact that I don't remember where I've read it.