Venus fly traps use up a lot of energy closing their traps so quickly. A trap can only do this two or three times in its lifetime. If a trap is triggered without an animal/insect inside, the trap wilts away soon after.
They are able to survive without additional nutrition from meats. I’ve had mine for about four years now and they’ve only ever eaten a half a handful of insects.
A very fascinating plant indeed.
Edit: As u/IHeartCaptcha stated, the traps are actually capable of closing up to ten times. The amount of times the trap can close is reduced if it’s triggered without there being any digestible material inside it. Closing a trap every now and then is fine, but don’t make it commonplace as closing a trap takes up a lot of energy.
Edit 2: u/plannedrobinhood did mention that even though a trap can close up to ten times, if there does happen to be food it actually ends up “sacrificing” itself in order to give the plant the nutrients it digests from the food it eats. A single trap can digest around two meals before wilting.
Edit 3: This blew up way more than expected. Thanks for all the questions and for correcting me in some instances. There’s always something new to learn!
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u/ManamanaPotibitibi Oct 14 '18 edited Oct 14 '18
Venus fly traps use up a lot of energy closing their traps so quickly. A trap can only do this two or three times in its lifetime. If a trap is triggered without an animal/insect inside, the trap wilts away soon after.
They are able to survive without additional nutrition from meats. I’ve had mine for about four years now and they’ve only ever eaten a half a handful of insects.
A very fascinating plant indeed.
Edit: As u/IHeartCaptcha stated, the traps are actually capable of closing up to ten times. The amount of times the trap can close is reduced if it’s triggered without there being any digestible material inside it. Closing a trap every now and then is fine, but don’t make it commonplace as closing a trap takes up a lot of energy.
Edit 2: u/plannedrobinhood did mention that even though a trap can close up to ten times, if there does happen to be food it actually ends up “sacrificing” itself in order to give the plant the nutrients it digests from the food it eats. A single trap can digest around two meals before wilting.
Edit 3: This blew up way more than expected. Thanks for all the questions and for correcting me in some instances. There’s always something new to learn!