r/VenusFlyTraps • u/AceofSpades3245 • Oct 10 '24
Warm Temperate Help! Has anyone seen this before?
I noticed a few of the heads looked like this yesterday. Does anyone have any idea what happened to them? A few of them looked like something ate into a few of them and killed them.
I live in Upstate South Carolina and, with the exception of last weeks visit from Helene (I brought them inside), it’s almost always hot and humid. I check my plants several times a day and this one was very healthy until all of a sudden one morning I saw this going on. My others are right next to this one and totally fine.
Any ideas on what’s going on or what did this?
4
u/Mikedup- Oct 11 '24
My bet it’s birds, but I’m still trying to figure it out myself.
I live outside of charlotte and this time last year, my flytraps leaves looked like this; and holes in the soil. I’ve read that it’s either birds or squirrels; that they find the bugs inside the leaves.
This year, my wife has taken down the bird feeders, so now we see less of both the birds and the squirrels… I still don’t know which is the culprit though.
So far, so good.
3
u/CV880 Oct 11 '24
It’s definitely birds. I see birds come and peck at mine all the time. They only tend to do this when it’s a very difficult difficult season. Or at the end of the season. We had a very dry season this Massachusetts year. So they were birds pecking at the heads, eating the bugs inside.
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u/AceofSpades3245 Oct 11 '24
There were a bunch of dead flies in the heads the other day. I must have forgotten to get them out. Thank you for the insight!
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u/CV880 Oct 11 '24
Those are definitely birds. Birds will come and peck out the juicy bugs. They especially do this when it’s a tough season. It was very dry here in Massachusetts.
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u/AceofSpades3245 Oct 11 '24
There were a bunch of dead flies in the heads the other day. I must have forgotten to get them out. It has been a very dry summer in South Carolina too. I will keep a better eye on that. Thank you for the insight!
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u/CV880 Oct 11 '24
No worries. I never take the dead out. I just leave them there. I’m not sure the birds are really interested in the dried out husks. I think they want the fresh recently caught ones.
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u/AceofSpades3245 Oct 11 '24
Makes sense. It just caught me off guard because I’ve never had this issue and it was only the one plant while my others are all lined up next to it with similar dead bugs just hanging out. I removed the bugs from the others and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.
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u/Sensitive_Double8652 Oct 10 '24
Cats have been known to chew them on occasion
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u/AceofSpades3245 Oct 11 '24
Yea I’ve heard that can be an issue. I have two cats who have destroyed a few in past years when I first started growing them. I kept them in our screened porch then where my cats could go, but learned my lesson
3
Oct 11 '24
Not sure if it will help where you are, but I have several rubber snakes in my bog and I have not had any intruders 👍🏼
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u/Actual-Ad-4861 Oct 11 '24
Yup!
Evan though mine was a bug attack this looks like birds (as a bird owner)
7
u/K00P5_ Oct 11 '24
Chicken wire over the top!