>I can't seem to find
>(and catch!) bugs small enough to feed them. I am under the impression that
>Drosera need live food to trigger the movement of the glands. Is this
>true? Any recommendations for food that's easy to obtain? Can my
>butterwort be given the same food?
I am very interested in the threads on feeding with fertilizer solutions,
egg white (cooked and uncooked), and live insects.
FYI the confused flour beetle is VERY easy to culture and keep.
Tribolium confusum may already be living in your pantry among old
cake mixes, etc. They will thrive on a mix of 4 parts flour, 1 part corn
meal, and some nutritional (or live) dried yeast. The beetles are very
small and might be suitable for feeding to seedling CPs. I would always
kill each beetle first, to avoid releasing them into your house. They
DO thrive in pantries and are nearly impossible to exterminate. Each female
can live for years and lays thousands of eggs in that lifetime. They need
no water and get moisture from normal humidity. Keeping them in a glass
jar with a fabric cover contains flawlessly *as long as the jar is upright.*
The other end of the size spectrum are the bran beetles including the
common mealworm. These are easy to keep as well and can be bought
at pet stores (to feed fish etc.) and bait shops. I would probably use the
larval stages as CP food as they are less mobile, more vulnerable, and
smaller than the adult beetles.
I am new CP and thus have not yet tried feeding CP with these two
species, but these are the simplest insects to keep and I have been
keeping them for instructional purposes for years.
ross
Ross Koning Internet: Koning@ecsuc.ctstateu.edu
Biology Department Phone: (203)-465-5327
Eastern CT State University Fax: (203)-465-5213
Willimantic, CT 06226 USA