carniverous plants anyone keep them?

[grokefish]

My plants are starving as there havn't been any flies for a couple of months, should i feed them frozen water flease/mosquito larvae.

Matt

[Richard B]

Yes for pitcher plants, maybe for sundew & flytraps.

You should be able to find some woodlice outside under rocks & logs which work ok

[Birger]

Which species of carnivorous plant are they?

AFAIK the insect (or various small animals) is a supplement and they are not totally relied on for nourishment.

[apistomaster]

Hi Matt,
I have kept and collected a few carnivorous plants.
I have collected Drosera rotundifolia from mountain ponds in NW Washington State, http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=DRRO.
These as well as some SE USA Drosera spp I have kept have used cultured wingless Drosophla fruit flies as their supplemental animal protein source successfully for me. Same has applied to various small sized Pitcher plant spp that I have kept. Fruit Flies are about the most convenient insect to use for the majority of insectivorous plants I have kept. I slowed down or killed Fruit Flies fed to Venus Fly Traps and dropped them on the pad and then set off the trigger hairs with a tooth pick.
On the whole, I don't think any but some of the Pitcher plants would be able to benefit from the foods you have tried.

For Drosera rotundifolia I collected from the wild were all growing in moss on wood at the water line. These plants caught many smaller than fruit fly sized Chironomid Gnat spp that emerged from the moss. Chironomid larvae are what blood worms are although the spp I saw were much smaller than those used as fish food.
The insectivorous plants do not not require much supplemental feeding.

[grokefish]

Thanks chaps, they are pitcher plants.

Matt

[Chrysichthys]

AFAIK the insect (or various small animals) is a supplement and they are not totally relied on for nourishment.

Protein from the insects supplies the plants with nitrogen, so it might be an idea to use a nitrogen-containing fertilizer.

[apistomaster]

This article recommends using Miracid fertilizer at 1/4 normal strength.
http://www.pitcherplant.com/terrarium.html

[sidguppy]

careful, you can dung these things to death, literally

I'vce kept Sarracenia in the past and they're not that easy, especially not in winter in a heated home.

the trick is that they do without insects in winter, but they also need to be cooled or they "grow themselves to death".
they need hibernation. a cool (not freezing) room with enough light.
it's also possible and advisable to dry them out just a wee bit (not crispy) to avoid fungus.

this is another reason NOT to fool around with fertilizers. fertilizers will enable fungus to grow on the otherwise poor soil.
and fungus can and will kill a hibernating sarracenia pretty quick when given the oppertunity.

[apistomaster]

The native Pacific NW native Sundew species I have collected always live in marshy conditions with acidic soil and in or at the water line of extremely soft acid water mountain trout ponds at about 2700 feet above sea level in the foot hills of the west slope of the Cascade Mountain range. I kept my collect specimens in the moss I found them growing in but never actually had to feed them. I haven't tried over wintering them.
I know there are native Pitcher plants in the area but I haven't ever come across any of those. I tried some tropical spp of pitcher plants that could be grown from hanging baskets.
Everything I have experienced indicates that fertilization is more likely to harm than help. I did provide a link about culturing them in terrariums that mentions using diluted Miracid ferilizer but I have never tried it. Proper lighting, humidity and temperature range seemed to me to be the most important considerations.