Dionaea Muscipula nectar intoxicating flies?

[0rmus]

Hi. Like many of you CP growers out there, i enjoy observing my plants and seeing them feed naturally on flies and other insects, non more so than my Dionaea.

 

I have noticed that flies feeding on the Dionaea Muscipula 'nectar' seem to become intoxicated slowing them down dramatically. Now i know American pitcher plants nectar is proven to have this kind of effect but this observation i noticed before i owned any pitcher plants. Also my pitcher plants are kept in a different green house this year yet i still regularly observe this behavior in the flies around my Dionaea. I've yet to see any written confirmation of this characteristic though i admit i don't own much litterateur on the subject so have just browsed the internet.

 

I was just curious if any of my fellow CP growers out there have observed this or have seen any written confirmation?

 

Happy Growing.

 

0rmus.

Edited April 27, 2014 by 0rmus

[Guest paul y]

I share that observation, I have noticed many times that alert impossible to catch flies soon become "dumb" unable to fly properly and quite easy to catch with tweezers after escaping a vft trap (which in my observations is more often than not)

[Carnicarni]

I've never heard of that ! But it is really cool ! I hope that it is gonna be confirmed !

 

Thanks Ormus for this observation !

[FlytrapCare]

Interesting observation indeed! We don't have many flies here where we live, so I don't have the opportunity to observe very many. So thanks for sharing your observations on the subject.

[tish]

That's something new to me. My place has almost no flies because im keeping them indoor. I never knew this.

Sent from my SM-N9005

[0rmus]

Thanks for your comments and interest.

I'm glad to see at least one other has observed the same thing as me.

I've been considering running a little experiment to go someway to proving the observation using cotton buds, some glass jars, some old chrysalis maggots from the fishing bate shop , sugar water and of course Dionaea nectar.

Some jars would have only sugar water on the cotton buds, others with harvested Dionaea nectar. Once the chrysalis hatch into flies I could observe the behavior in a more scientific setting.

Edited April 27, 2014 by 0rmus

[Guest paul y]

hi ormus, I go fishing (nowhere near as much as I used too as at some point you have to appreciate the ridiculous notion of "spending time and money trying to outwit a fish") anyway my relationship with maggots has been a long one with many millions of maggots drowned and fed to fish, coupled with my ever growing cp collection I may well be able to lay claim to the title of "DESTROYER OF MAGOTTS AND FLIES!! (insert tyrannical laugh)

I will join you with this experiment as I have loads of vfts to play with and will get some casters which is the fishing name for the chrysalis stage (buying casters will save you a week of waiting for your maggots to turn into casters)

im going to set up controls etc etc and report back here (no photos as its too much hassle)

there are qualified entomologists lurking about on here, we need an organic chemist with access to analysing equipment to find out for sure.

interesting stuff though, my dad works at Bristol uni, im wondering if I collected loads of vft nectar on a cotton bud and through my dad try and get it tested, or mayhaps Alistair at reading uni may be able to help.

[Guest paul y]

hi ormus, I go fishing (nowhere near as much as I used too as at some point you have to appreciate the ridiculous notion of "spending time and money trying to outwit a fish") anyway my relationship with maggots has been a long one with many millions of maggots drowned and fed to fish, coupled with my ever growing cp collection I may well be able to lay claim to the title of "DESTROYER OF MAGOTTS AND FLIES!! (insert tyrannical laugh)

I will join you with this experiment as I have loads of vfts to play with and will get some casters which is the fishing name for the chrysalis stage (buying casters will save you a week of waiting for your maggots to turn into casters)

im going to set up controls etc etc and report back here (no photos as its too much hassle)

there are qualified entomologists lurking about on here, we need an organic chemist with access to analysing equipment to find out for sure.

interesting stuff though, my dad works at Bristol uni, im wondering if I collected loads of vft nectar on a cotton bud and through my dad try and get it tested, or mayhaps Alistair at reading uni may be able to help.