Venus Fly Trap

[LrdGeno]

awesome! did you leave it in the pot? I'm thinking about getting a terrarium for mine, or building one. I'm learning about this little guy, but I'm not sure how to make a home for him. Any suggestions?

[MrMistery]

I do not know what a terrarium is. I keep mine in a pot. the plant likes sun light and lots of water(once a day is my recomandation). And plenty of flies

[mith]

It's a greenhouse of sorts

[LrdGeno]

yeah, it's kinda like a greenhouse that keeps it humid and keeps the bugs inside so it can get live ones. I've read a few things, but they all say different stuff about soil requirements and the guy at the plant store wasn't much help either!

[MrMistery]

Dionea is an extrem plant. It can live on soils with a very low concentration of nitrogen, that's why it catches insects. So it can deffinetly live on normal soil. If you can live on bread, you can live on cakes, right?

[LrdGeno]

that's true, cake is definatly good. We looked at premade terrariums and I think we found one we liked. But it's like $40! HA, anyhow I think we're gonna get it so we can keep ours away from our cats!

[MrMistery]

When the plants grows big enough, the cats will fear it

[LrdGeno]

That would suck pretty bad, but it would be neat to watch a cat get eatin by it. I looked at the links that someone posted, and it had a soil mix, but my dude is still kinda little. His traps arn't turning red either, but he still looks healthy... so I'm not sure what's goin on with him. gonna try that soil mix when we buy the house for him and see what happens

[tina1167]

My wife just bought me a venus fly trap, and i really don't know anything about them. Does anyone know where I can find some information on feeding them, light requirements... etc?

They originate from the Carolinas...they thrive in warm, moist environments. If you decide to keep in indoors, it will need a terratarium. (I don't think I spelled that right)
A glass bowl with a cover, with air holes for it to breath. Repot only if you can get the exact soil it requires. Peatmoss, with sand. 80% peatmoss...20%sand. If you have it indoors you will need to feed it bugs. It only requires a 2-3 a month. It especially likes little slugs. They are easier to digest. It eats spiders, flys, ants..ants tend to be harder to digest so save the plants energy..try insects with no exsokeleton.
Only plant in ground if you have the right soil. I just bought one myself, I live in the New Hampshire, Southern Maine area. The soil here is not mossy, moist soil. SO I am keeping it in the original container, with the original soil..and keeping in a little bit of sitting distilled water in a small bowl. If it gets bigger i may try to repot. It is really humid here right now, and will be until probably late September so I am keeping it outside on my front porch. It will have a little bit of morning sun. Once it gets colder I will bring it in and make it a little terratarium., We will see how it does. Good luck with yours! I think they are the neatest plants. A plant that eats bugs. I wish we had more of these around here, where the mosquito poplulation is rediculous.

[mith]

Would earthworms work? They don't have a skeleton and are quite squishy

[MrMistery]

I think they are too big. But I saw a picture in a book with a Dionea that was digesting a frog, so i think the traps grow as the plant grows. Mine is still only a baby

[LrdGeno]

Mine is only a baby too. I've been feeding it flys and I think it caught all the gnats in my house because there arn't any more. But the traps still arn't red, and it's getting plunty of sunlight. So now that I know I need a terrierum I'm gonna go buy one. The peeps here only sell peet moss by the cubic yard, so that sucks. Anyhow, thanks for the confermation on the soil mix, that's the one that was on the site I was reading about. I want mine to get big enough to eat a frog, 'cause that would kick arse.