Date: Tue, 2 Sep 1997 13:50:51 -0400 From: BREWER_CHARLES@ecomail.damneck.navy.mil To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg3328$foo@default> Subject: Re: Nutrition Label for insects
Matt,
I can help you a little, but maybe someone else can go into greater
detail if you desire. I can tell you that it is normal for a vft to go
into a growth spurt after feeding. The traps of a vft Grows Close and
has to Grows open again. This is one reason for a growth spurt besides
having a good meal. As far as insects, the vft will eat just about
everything it catches. I would be a little concerned with large ants
as this seems to bother them. I feed my vfts with Large Crickets,
Moths, Butter flies, Horse Flies, Small Frogs, Large Spiders, Dragon
Flies, Wasps, Daddy Longlegs Spiders and the list goes on. Of course,
these plants do a fantastic job of catching their own insects. I feel
the meatier the bug, the better. My favorite food for Sarr's and VFTs
are crickets.
As far as how acid the soil is, I would not consider topping the soil
with dead bugs. You can attract unwanted insects that may not be so
kind to your plants and if your plants are outside, you are also
inviting small animals to visit your plants.
If you stick to the 50% peat/50% sand you shouldn't have any trouble
with ph. You can even use all peat if you wish. As for testing your
soil, you can get a test kit at any garden center, pet store, mail
order etc. This will give you a ball park range.
Charles Brewer
Va Beach, Va
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Does anybody know anything about insects? After feeding my VFT a nice
sized spider, i noticed a good growth spurt which I assume was from
the spider. I was wondering if spiders are better than flies or
whatever other insect, since spiders consume insects and thus I would
think have more protein in their bodies from this diet. On the other
hand, flies have good muscles for flying and muscles contain protein.
Does anybody know what the optimum nutrition for CP is? Also: Placing
dead insects on the top of the growing medium will naturally raise the
acidity of the soil, correct? And how can I rougly estimate how
acidic the soil should be and whether or not I should make it more
acidic?
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