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Post by shaydeesnail on Mar 27, 2013 14:07:28 GMT
Just had a thought, and I've never seen any other information on it so I thought I'd ask. I managed to avoid fungus gnats for ages , until I planted a few house plants on my windowsill, I think there may have been gnat babies in the compost I used. Now there is TONS of them, and they seem to have moved into the tanks. It's incredibly annoying, especially if I use my phone at night, they all go for the glowing screen. -.- So I thought, would a small potted venus fly trap plant be safe around the larger snails? I've had one before as a house plant and the "teeth" are very soft, so I don't think they'd be able to hurt an African snail, besides, snails can very quickly retract if they need to. Does anyone think this is possible/safe? Are VFT's poisonous to them or anything? Would the snails be attracted by the stuff the plants use to attract flies? Thanks
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Kevin
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Posts: 2,227
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Post by Kevin on Mar 27, 2013 15:30:55 GMT
I have several Venus flytraps, all mine are indoors, but according to a book I have there's a risk of slugs eating them when outside, so snails may eat them. Very small snails may also trigger the traps.
They wouldn't really work as a deterrent either, each trap can only shut three times before dying off, so they wouldn't eat a lot of them.
Something like a sundew would catch more of the gnats, but I don't know if they are safe or whether they would be eaten.
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Post by shaydeesnail on Mar 27, 2013 16:37:02 GMT
I was looking at the sundews as well actually, do you know anything about their care outside of the tank? I didn't realise the heads died after 3 meals!
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Post by malacophile on Mar 27, 2013 16:48:32 GMT
Sundews are bog plants that require a ton of moisture and continuous full sun to survive. If you want to try a carnivorous plant in the snail container, it'd probably be better to go with the fly traps. They're forest plants, so they will do alright without a lot of sunlight and they will like the humidity. As far as I know, they're not poisonous and they shouldn't be able to hold a slug or snail because of the slime.
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Kevin
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Post by Kevin on Mar 27, 2013 16:54:50 GMT
Both will need full sunlight, and a winter dormancy period, so thinking about it more, neither are probably suitable.
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Kevin
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Post by Kevin on Mar 27, 2013 17:25:02 GMT
I was curious whether a fly trap could eat snails small enough to fit into their traps, they can apparently, www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/is-snail-on-the-menu-t2219.htmlNothing graphic in this link, though it vaguely shows a trap closed over a small snail that is already dead. There's a youtube link within that thread that may show a snail being fed to one, so I wouldn't suggest clicking it, especially if you are unhappy about the live feeding of snails. A healthy plant doesn't actually need to eat any live invertebrates, though it's obviously to their benefit.
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Post by starcrazy19 on Mar 27, 2013 18:25:58 GMT
I think they only have 3 or so 'triggers' in them before the individual trap will stop working and die. The fungus gnats are sooo small and light, I'm not sure how successful it would be at eating them either... Although I'm no expert, I can't even keep them alive, sometimes I buy one and put it next to the houseplants (where the gnats come from in my house too) but the bloody things always die. Wish there were some reliable way to get rid of the awful things. Besides a gecko.
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Kevin
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Post by Kevin on Mar 27, 2013 18:31:40 GMT
In the winter they look like they are dead, but are actually entering dormancy and so their care requirements change for around 5 months or so, many alive plants are thrown out when their owners think they have died. I'd recommend the book The Savage Garden by Peter D'Amato, it has some great info on keeping them.
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Post by muddydragon on Mar 27, 2013 18:36:07 GMT
pitcher plants are VERY good at getting rid of any tiny flies. We had an infestation come in with some compost of one of the other indoor plants. i put one of my Nepenthes in the same room and it had a field day the pitchers were black with dead flies. As you said the flies were in the room not just the tanks you wouldn't need to put them in with the snails just in the same room.
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Kevin
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Post by Kevin on Mar 27, 2013 19:10:12 GMT
I'd very much like to get some Nepenthes eventually, but haven't really got enough space with the right conditions at the moment.
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Post by tsrebel on Mar 28, 2013 13:02:11 GMT
Venus flytraps will be eaten and are not efficient to deal with tiny flies. I don't know if sundews are safe, or if they'll get eaten. Nepenthes may also get eaten. I'd try them all, but outside the tanks. I've not managed to keep any of them alive.
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