My condolences! I have had the same thing happen to my VFT's and cobra lily this year. My VFT's were gnawed to the ground and the Darlingtonia pitchers were bitten off. Also found half my aquatic Utric draped over the sides of a plastic tub. I'm blaming the squirrels. Maybe the VFT's weren't the intended target and the spider was? They are in abundance where I hail. I tried a wire basket fitted atop their pots, but now aphids gnarled the VFT's.

I put my VFT & cobra lily inside, at a screened window in the kitchen. That way they will recuperate in peace and get some sunlight through the screen. Now I just have to worry about children bumping into them! At last the cat shows no interest.

Maybe you could buy a series of those sticky glue traps and line the perimeter of your setup?

My Ping was uprooted and cast aside by a Blue Jay yesterday, they also knocked my flytrap over. So birds are a possibility too.

Any hedgehogs in your area ?

Hedgehogs can't climb on to patio tables, though. Do you have armadillos in the UK? Ha ha, oh, their arms are too short too!

I'm sorry to hear about your problem. My cats don't pay any attention to my CP's but the squirrels dig up my outdoor potted plants looking for gold doubloons or something.

Have you seen those wire dome-shaped tents you can put over your food when having an outdoor party that keep the bugs off? Maybe that would work if you get another VFT or save this one.

Best wishes,
Linda

You know, I think joeb004 was right - I found a suspect feather in the VFT's water.. I blame pigeons. So probably not an armadillo, as the chairs were pulled away from the table too, so it'd have needed to be an armadillo with a trampoline.

Bah. I'll stick with Sarracenia for now, I seem to have more luck with them..! Ta for helping me figure it out. ;)

I can't prove it, because I'm never around when things are happening, but I theorize that birds are looking for a quick and easy meal. So when they see a bug partially hanging out of a VFT trap, they are just trying to pluck it out of the trap. I don't think they are after the VFT itself.

What I can't figure out is why I have had VFT's gnawed to the soil surface. Would that be a cutworm or a slug?

Just an afterthought.... what is a grue and why is it fluffy? Every time I turn around, I'm reading of a new UK word or phrase. I've already mastered: carboot, gutted, sprog, snd knackered, but this is new to me.

Yeach, the spider probably looked very appetising to a pigeon, with its legs all sticking out of the trap. Bah. As for chomping the plant down to the ground, sounds like slugs/snails to me..

As for my username, it's not a UK thing, just a geeky reference to the beasties in the old Zork text adventures (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grue_(monster)). :D

Ah, okay... I did a quick Google and came up with this:

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Grue
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Grue may refer to:

Grue (monster), a predator invented by Jack Vance and featured in the Zork series
Grue (color), a portmanteau coined by philosopher Nelson Goodman to illustrate his "new riddle of induction"
Grue, Norway, a municipality
Grue (Freedom City), an alien race in the role-playing game Mutants and Masterminds
Grue Magazine, a horror fiction magazine edited by Peter H. Gilmore and Peggy Nadramia.
Crane (bird), a gruiform
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grue";
Category: Disambiguation

BTW, geeks rule!

Dumb question... did those colloquialisms I listed make any sense to you?

Yup, it all made sense.. well done!

Car boot = equivalent of your car trunk, I think?
Gutted = upset
Sprog = child
Knackered = tired

The thing I have difficulty with is cooking using American recipes.. it took me so long to realise Graham crackers were what we call digestive biscuits! *grin*

You call them 'digestive biscuits'? Wow... for something as tasty that graham crackers are, digestive biscuits are... um... so less than appealing. I presume you use them in one of nature's finest foods - the cheesecake?

What other American terms and phrases sound odd to you and need some translation?

We DO speak the same language, right?

Getting back to grues, and the fluffiness quality of yours, in what other textures do they come?

I love this thread. I couldnt for the life of me a week ago figure what a carboot is.Now I know. And as GI Joe said "knowing is half the battle"

GI Joe? The 'doll' for boys? LOL!