Pink “teeth”

I’ve had this particular Venus fly trap for several years.  This is the first time I have ever seen the “teeth” turn pink.  That was new, and interesting I thought.

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We’ll have to be moving them back inside for the winter again soon.  But I’ll let them get a few more frosts.  Going into a dormant period is good for the long-term health of the fly trap.  But we have too many long stretches of very cold weather, to be able to leave them out year-round.  We are a bit colder than their native state of North Carolina.

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Lots of CP pics for today

The weather had been suitably humid, muggy and wet so we brought out my indoor carnivorous plants to play.  Ok, not to play.  😉   But to enjoy some “real” weather (sun, rain) and bugs.  Can’t forget the bugs!

This blog post contains Sundews, Venus fly traps, and lots of Pitcher Plants.

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Notice the hairs.  They are curved to help prevent caught insects from crawling back out.

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Next is a new growth on the pitcher plant, that has yet to fully open.
I love the color on it.

That is Sundew to the right of it.

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Notice all the rain water caught in this next one.  It does not harm their digestive ability though.

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The next ones are also Pitcher plants and a small Venus fly trap in the right corner.

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More Pitcher Plant and Sundew:

Hope you enjoyed them.  I think CPs are lovely plants.  Creepy, but lovely.  🙂

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Blue Mud Dauber vs. Venus Flytrap

For weeks now I’ve had a Blue Mud Dauber (Chalybion californicum) buzzing one particular Venus Fly Trap of mine.   It has amazed me how long it survived, given the fact that it was regularly on my fly trap plant.  Well today…  the fly trap won.

Usually I enjoy my CPs eating well.  But I was a little sad to see the blue mud dauber go.  They do not build nests like other mud daubers.  They re-use the abandoned nests of other species of mud daubers.  But what is most interesting to me about the metallic blue mud dauber (besides it’s color) is that they prey primarily on black widow spiders.  Making them quite useful to have around.  And it was the only one that I had seen this year.

R.I.P.  little blue mud dauber.  I should have photographed him while he was alive.  😉
But he never cooperated well with holding still.  Now all that is left of him is the hard parts of his body that the fly trap is now done with, having already closed, ate, and reopened.

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09-09-09

Today was the first day in awhile that I felt up to considering taking the camera out for a bit.  And I thought the ragweed pollen might be down to a more tolerable level, considering the recent rain.  I didn’t go far at all (about 10 feet, LOL) but…  I tried.  Not much luck though.

It was so wet I’d hoped to find some toads out and about.  But I only found one hiding under a bush, and the pics I got of him weren’t worth posting, because I simply couldn’t get a good shot at him where he was located at.

My carnivorous plants are really enjoying the weather.  They love hot, humid, wet and lots of bugs about.   One even filled with water in today’s rain.  It looks quite happy though.  🙂

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I saw a young squirrel at the very tip top of a very skinny tree.  It was fun watching him trying to balance.  But he was too shy to let me get any decent photos of him.   I got him leaping into another tree and then parts of him poking out from behind leaves.  Again, nothing worth posting.  I saw two more young squirrels out running about, all within the same 10 minutes or so.  Which around here is not too common close to the house.  In the woods yes, but not this close in.  I can’t help but wonder why I’ve been occasionally seeing them more close lately.  If it were just these young ones I would chalk it up to ignorant fearless adolescent behavior.  But we had a large adult grey in the backyard just the other day.

I wish I had something more interesting to post.  But I don’t.  So I’ll leave you with some moisture evaporating up off the trees into fog.

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August 3rd, 2009 – Venus Flytrap and Fly

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This little fly sure is tempting fate:

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July 6th, 2009 – Venus Flytrap

So my carnivorous plants have been rather neglected while I’ve been on modified bed rest.  When I only have a limited amount of up and about time, I’ve had to prioritize.  And they haven’t fallen too high on the priority list.   As I’m sure can be witnessed in these photos.  Still, I got to get outside for a short bit today so I took photos of a handful of things, including one of my venus flytraps.

Here it is in bloom.  It was hard to get a good photo of the bloom because the wind was blowing a lot and the bloom is on a very tall stem.  This was the best I could get, given the wind.

July 6th, 2009 - Venus Flytrap bloom

and next is one of the base of the plant.  Complete with grass (!) growing in it’s pot.  Oh my.

July 6th, 2009 - Venus Flytrap

At least two of the traps have a nice happy red color.
Notice the left overs from previous meals… the left over bits from a fly and a daddy long leg.

Venus Flytrap

Here is a photo of one of my carnivorous plants.  A venus flytrap, in a happy state.  It’s not my best photo of this plant.  I apologize for the overdone flash, but this was taken outside at night, in total darkness.