Re: Ants in the VFT

From: dave evans (T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU)
Date: Fri May 16 1997 - 13:21:00 PDT


Date:    Fri, 16 May 97 16:21 EDT
From: dave evans                           <T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg1950$foo@default>
Subject: Re: Ants in the VFT


> From: gardner@MAGICK.NET(Sara A. Gardner)
>
> >Hi Sara, I'm curious about something. Were the ants attracted to the VFT
> >and ended up in the traps? Or the soil as a new home? Or the VFT as a new
> >grazing ground to take their aphids to? The answer to foiling the ants
> >might lie in discovering exactly what they were after.
>
> John, to be gruesomely honest, I think the ants were attracted to
> decomposing slugs in the traps. I was feeding them as per instructions
> from THIS list!

Sara, I haven't ever feed my VFT with slugs. They do catch flies,
but more often it's daddy-longlegs or spiders. I suppose the latter
are attracted by the remains of previous victims. I keep most N.
American CP outside -everthing 'cept S.E. US Pings, D.capillaris and
D.brevifolia- so they feed themselves. Or is it, the bugs feeding
themselves to the plants? Anyways, a slug may be too meaty for them.
(I do believe they are low in fat, so they might be good if cut into
smaller pieces. But that's digusting! Maybe freezing them first would
cause less mess...)

Dave Evans



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