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cat eats venus fly trap

17 years ago

Hey there. I've posted before and gotten some good responses, so I look forward to hearing on this one. My 6 month old male tabby, Jasper, just ate my brand new Venus Fly Trap plant! He and I are getting our own place... Next Wednesday we move in. For now, since we are with a roomate space is limited so my roomate made us put the litter box outside on the screened porch and we let him out go to and back in when he starts meowing to come back in. Sometimmes he likes to linger a while and people watch, and sometimes he wants back in as soon as he "flushes". Well, I just bought a vft plant yesterday and put it on the porch so it could get some sunlight. I didn't even think about my little tiger tearing it apart. I let him out this morning to "go" and when I opened the sliding door, I found to my dismay my new plant torn to shreds. Some of the leaves had bites taken out and others were just loose on the ground. I don't know how much he injested, but he is just fine, it wasn't toxic to him. I started to take his Nintendo away as punishment, but he is so beautiful and sweet that he can kiss his way out of any mischeif. All joking aside, I know I can't "punish" him for being a cat and it's my fault for not preventing it. How do you protect your plants? I thought about covering it in an upturned clothesbasket, but I don't want to block the sunlight. Can I kitty proof my plants in a way that they will still get sunlight? I thought about putting a mesh screen over them, but it might get stuck in Jasper's paws furthering the problem. As a sidenote, do you sleep in bed with your cats? I want him by my side all the time because I love him so much, but I am scared to roll over and squish him. I know they run if they are under a car and the car starts up, but I'm just wondering how they are in bed. If we were both asleep, and I moved I would be scared of something tragic happening. I've only had him a month so I've got a lot to learn and I am not ready to lose him... I know one day it is inevitable, but I don't want to think about that right now. I just look forward to a long happy love filled life together. Thanks for any help!!

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Comments (2)

acorn
17 years ago
Love your post.
I have two two year old cats and since they can now get out and climb real trees my houseplants started looking good. About 7 weeks ago I took in two little 3 week old kittens now they are about 10 weeks old and all over the houseplants. I have a 7 foot tall palm they love it. I spray them with a sprayer with water when they climb, but they climb when I'm not looking.lol. They also think plant pots are better litter boxes. I hang what I can and just love the cats so much I forgive them all the time. I make sure all my plants are not toxic to animals.

I sleep with atleast one cat,they are in at night, and never squished any. I think our bodies remember when we sleep, so we are careful.

I am sure you and Jasper are going to have a long and love filled life together. One thing my animals taught me is that life if blessed and live it with love and play.
susanjn
17 years ago
Rule #1: Don't trust a kitten on anything you value - except your lap. They are lean, mean, destructo machines.

Rule #2: The claws, teeth, and yowl will let you know if you roll over on him. It will hurt you MUCH more than it will hurt him.

Rule #3: It will be virtually impossible to deny that sweet little monster anything he wants. Resistance is futile.

Enjoy your kitty!
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Hi Kay Only water you VFT with rain, distilled or RO water. You need very bright lights to keep one inside but this is not the right time of the year to try. Vfts must have a winter dormancy and they should be kept outside now so that they can go dormant. When it looks like the leaves are dead, sprinkle with some kind of fungicide, put pot and all in a ziplock bag and put it in the frige until spring. Check it every week or two for mold and pour any excess water out. It might do ok outside but I don't know where you are. Any live bug small enough to fit in a trap will work for food (except caterpillars)and they don't need many. One bug a month will do. The most important things are water and light. VFTs grow much better outside in full sun. The Carnivorous plant forum on GW has lots of useful information on VFTs and other carnivorous plants. I have a few including 11 VFTs.
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I've read that in some cases, because the leaf was not able to close fully when a part of the insect is outside, the leaf will usually turn black. However, that's not to say every bug that is partially outside will cause this for the leaf. I've seen some really soft things like caterpillars have some parts outside but the plant was able to close enough (probably because caterpillar body is squishy) and digest the part that was inside.
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The advice of not letting your VFT flower is always suggested because most people are not experienced or are new in growing CP, so these people barely have their VFT thriving. Flowering takes a lot of energy and if your plant is week, it can die. But if you have your plant growing very vigorously, theres no problem. I always let them flower, never had problems. When I was a beginner, of course I lost my pants until I was told to cut them off. Now I have no worries letting them flower. I had one VFT grow a flower stalk this late of the year but once I started to induce dormancy, the stalk aborted and died. That VFT is now dormant. To induce dormancy, just place it in a cool part of your house and give it less light. Now, most summer leaves will die and stop functioning, also your VFT will start to produce some smaller traps with sluggish movement if you trigger them. Those are winter leaves. Once the plant is dormant, cut down on the amount of water, just keeps its media moist to keep the bulb from drying out. I keep my dormant bulbs in a pot and simply place it in the coolest room next to a window. They will receive some sunlight but its not enough photoperiod to break their winter dormancy. I always let my VFT grow on the same media for 2 years before transplanting them on a fresh media. Or you can dig out your bulbs after it has become dormant, cut the old leaves to avoid rot, wrap it with moist LFS moss to keep the bulbs from drying out, place it in a Ziploc bag, and then put it in the fridge (not the icebox!). Always check now and then to make sure you keep the LFS moss moist but not wet and you can check on the condition of your bulb. The bulb should be white and crispy. Come spring you can plant them on fresh media to begin its new growth season. Good luck!
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Flytraps will not eat dead insects. Once an insect is trapped the bug needs to move around more to trigger the trigger hairs a second time before it will seal up and eat the insect. You do NOT have to feed carnivorous plants. They get most of their energy from SUNLIGHT. That is why they are not indoor plants. They NEED 6 hours or more of sunlight a day during the growing season.
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