Question
Hi! I got a cape sundew in the mail a few weeks ago and it lost all of it's dew. After a few days, the dew returned. So i caught a fruit fly and i put it on the leaf. The fly easily escaped. How come?

Answer
Sometimes insects are able to escape from the different types of traps of carnivorous plants for various reasons. If a Drosera is sprayed with a mist of water, it may dilute the "dew" enough to substantially reduce its stickiness, allowing the insect to escape. Also, at various times because of stress, transplanting, air that is too dry, sun that is very intense, the dew on Drosera can dry up for the most part, allowing insects to escape easier.

Not having seen exactly what happened in the case you describe, it's hard to say conclusively what the cause might have been.

You might ask the Drosera experts at CPUK Forum, and may receive a variety of good answers or comments--

http://cpukforum.com/

Best wishes,
Steve