This is how the plant checks its prey
Not every object that falls into the clutches of the Venus flytrap is edible prey. Before digestion begins, the plant checks whether it is actually an edible insect.
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- Feeding the Venus Flytrap - Necessary or Not?
There are various receptors inside the trap that respond to chemical and movement stimuli. If the trapped object is not edible, the trap will open again after a few hours.
What happens when a Venus flytrap is digested
Once the prey has been found to be a digestible insect, the digestive process begins. For this, a secretion is released that
- Protease
- Amylase
- Phosphatase
- Ribonuclease
contains. The secretion dissolves the prey and removes its nutrients in the process. This process takes up to ten days. Then the trap opens again.
All that remains are indigestible residues such as the chitin shell or the legs. Do not remove this remnant, because then the trap will close again.
After seven catches it's over
The life of the traps one Venus flytrap is unfortunately not unlimited. It only opens a maximum of seven times. After the seventh time at the latest, the trap and the leaf die off. This is a normal process and not on one Care errors traced back.
Therefore, do not play around with the traps too often and do not put a finger in the trap for fun. Feed They - if at all - only live insects that are no more than a third the size of the trap door.
If the trap dies before then, it may be due to an oversupply of food or the fact that the trapped insect was simply too big.
Tips
The closing of the trap of a Venus flytrap happens so quickly that you can barely follow the process with your eyes. The movement is one of the fastest possible in the animal kingdom.
