Bugs crawls all over the place, they sneak into places you don’t want them to sneak, they poo in places you don’t want them to poo, they laugh at you from places you don’t want them to laugh at you, they bite you in places you don’t want them to bite you. And, they make your programs misbehave.

I hate bugs.

I do, however, like Hubert.

[img[Hubert at 19:25

/cp/hubert_0607_1.jpg]]

So, here’s [[Hubert being fed a firebug

/cp/hubert_0607.avi]].

Hubert is a Venus Fly Trap (aka “VFT”, or //dionaea miscipula//). VFT’s have sensitive hair in the middle of their trap: after one hair has been triggered twice, the trap closes within half a second or so. The delay and the repetition is designed so that false positives, such as a drop of rain falling, do not trigger the flat.

After the trap starts to close, there is an additional delay before it closes completely: first, it traps the bug inside, then it ‘checks’ that the bug is still moving inside the trap, even though the trap is only half-closed. This allows very small bugs to escape, in which case the flat re-opens in the following hours: digestion is very expensive in terms of energy, so the VFT only spends it on a large enough bug.

If the bug is big enough to be trapped, it will keep moving inside the trap, ensuring its doom: the trap seals slowly over the next hour:

+5min:

[img[Closing 2

/cp/hubert_0607_3.jpg]]

+9min:

[img[Closing 3

/cp/hubert_0607_4.jpg]]

17min:

[img[Closing 4

/cp/hubert_0607_5.jpg]]

37min:

[img[Closing 5

/cp/hubert_0607_6.jpg]]

The trap will then remained sealed for about a week before opening again. All that is left of the bug is its exoskeleton. Unfortunately we’re going on holiday soon and Hubert has been moved to a pond in the suburbs, so the re-opening of the trap will be shown another day.