FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I recently had an infestation of snails in my garden. Rather than smash them on the sidewalk I’m wondering if it would be safe to put them into the pitchers of my nepenthes? Does anyone have any experience with this?

I’ve fed snails to my plants before, but only small ones. Some I squished before I used them as plant food, just in case they tried to eat their way out.

I’d be afraid the plant would be the one being eaten in this case.

I bet you could mash them up first and feed without problems. Or freeze them.

PlanT640847401 wrote:I bet you could mash them up first and feed without problems. Or freeze them.

Freezing them would be a good idea to kill them before you put them in just in case they can chew their way out. It will also help them be digested faster by damaging the cell membranes while becoming frozen.
However, the calcium carbonate of the shell might be an issue, potentially too much calcium. But you could try one in a pitcher and see how the plant reacts. I'm sure that snails make up a part of their diet in nature, so they may have evolved to handle calcium better than other carnivorous plants.

Panman wrote: ↑Sat Jul 09, 2022 5:13 pm I don't have any experience with nepenthes eating them, but my rosea ate at least one that was 3/4 of an inch across the shell. My flytraps chowed down on the smaller ones with no problem. My mass flytrap pot was a bit macabre last fall with the bleached shells of dead snails scattered about.

Wow! That is a lot of snails!
I have on multiple occasions dropped snails (much smaller ones) into larger pitchers (4+ inches tall). I have done a few at a time and the pitchers don’t seem to mind.