Blog

Buy The Savage Garden, by Peter D’Amato. In my opinion, this is the single best book on carnivorous plants you can buy today. Its chapters on Dionaea are brilliantly detailed and great for beginners. Available on Amazon.Notes: Map data sourced from the USDA PLANTS Database, eFloras.org, Encyclopedia of Life, and Barry Rice’s website. If you spot any mistakes, please click here to send me an email.

Finally, there are the mutants. These are typically the result of tissue culture mishaps, and some are deformed to the point of being unable to catch prey. They are seemingly loved and hated in equal measure; while some growers enjoy the novelty, others find them grotesque!If grown outside, Venus Flytraps will catch more than enough food for themselves. If you keep your plants indoors then you can feed them with dead or live insects, but you should do so only once you’ve taken care of all their other growing requirements.

They do not require a terrarium to grow, although they can appreciate the higher humidity of the enclosed environment. They can be happy in terrariums provided you respect their winter dormancy requirements and provide sufficient light. Artificial lighting can work well, particularly high-powered fluorescents such as T5 growlights.During the growing season, you should stand the pot in about 1 cm of water (about ⅓ inch) and avoid watering from the top. They prefer to grow in soil which is wet, but not completely waterlogged. During winter they require less water, and the soil should be kept just damp.

The Venus Flytrap’s reputation for being difficult to grow is undeserved. Follow this guide and you’ll soon be growing huge, healthy specimens of this magnificent plant.Venus Flytraps need direct sunlight for healthy growth. If you’re growing your plant indoors choose a bright sunny windowsill – preferably south-facing if you’re in the US or UK. Insufficient sunlight will cause your flytrap’s leaves to become weak and spindly. Most forms of the Venus Flytrap will tell you they’re receiving sufficient sunlight by turning the insides of their traps red.

The traditional compost mixture for Venus Flytraps is sphagnum peat moss mixed with either lime-free horticultural sand or perlite, to a ratio of about 2:1. I sell bags of an excellent ready-made Venus flytrap soil on my shop. Alternatively, you can buy this compost mix on Amazon worldwide.Another critical point which is often overlooked: Venus Flytraps need pure water. Like many other carnivorous plants, they evolved to grow in damp, low-nutrient soil, and giving them bottled, filtered, or tap water can result in a build-up of minerals that will eventually kill your Venus Flytrap. You should avoid fertilisers for similar reasons. Your best options are rainwater, distilled or deionised water, or water produced by a reverse osmosis system. I’ve outlined your options in more detail here.

Venus flytraps grow extremely well in conservatories and unheated greenhouses. Temperatures in the Carolinas frequently hit 30°C (86°F) during summer and drop below 0°C in in the winter (32°F), and so Venus Flytraps are perfectly happy in the many temperate climates – including the UK and much of the US – provided they are protected from the elements.Fully grown Venus Flytraps flower in Spring, but unless you intend to harvest seed, you should cut off the flower stalk once it’s reached about 5 cm tall. Flowering can be exhausting for Venus Flytraps, and most plants will grow more vigorously during summer if prevented from flowering.

Cultivars are generally selected for colour, size, or mutation. The first group, particularly the all-green and all-red forms, are among the most popular. These include Dionaea ‘Justina Davis’, which remains completely green even in full sun, and Dionaea ‘Akai Ryu’ (also known as ‘Red Dragon’), which develops a striking maroon or burgundy colouration over the entire plant. Particularly large varieties include ‘Slack’s Giant’ and ‘South West Giant’, the latter of which originated in the UK.Growing Venus flytraps from seed takes a lot of patience! It takes many years for seedlings to reach adult size, and for inexperienced growers it can sometimes be challenging to keep them alive. What’s more, eBay and Facebook are awash with fake seeds and scams! If you’d like to give it a try, always buy seed from a reputable specialist nursery. I sell Venus flytrap seed kits on my shop, as well as seed variety packs containing a mixture of less-challenging species.

If you grow your plants on a windowsill or in a terrarium during the growing season, you will need to move them somewhere colder – sit them next to a window in your garage or shed, for example. Plants growing in unheated greenhouses can remain there over winter.As the days shorten and the temperature drops, your plant’s leaves will start to turn black and your plant will die back to the rhizome. This is normal, and you can safely trim off any dead growth. The end of the winter dormancy period is a good opportunity to repot – and even divide – your plants if they require it before growth begins in March. A 10 cm (4 inch) pot is sufficient for adult plants.

The single species of Venus Flytrap – Dionaea muscipula – has been bred horticulturally for many years. Growers have created hundreds of varieties, known as cultivars, and many of these are now available for sale.Venus Flytraps require a cold winter dormancy between November and February. You need to mimic the conditions of their natural habitat, which means providing a cold resting period. Much like you need to sleep every night, Venus Flytraps need to go dormant over winter!

An alternative peat-free growing media is pure long fibre sphagnum moss. I’ve had good success growing my own flytraps in pure sphagnum, and while it can be more expensive than a peat-based mix, it’s one of several peat-free solutions you might try.

All Venus Flytraps consist of a small rosette of leaves (called petioles), each of which ends in a trap. The traps of adult plants are typically around 2.5 cm in length, but can reach up to 5cm in some of the giant flytrap varieties.Venus Flytraps attract prey using sweet nectar. Touch a trigger hair twice, or two hairs in quick succession, and an electric charge closes the trap, its interlocking teeth forming a cage. The insect’s struggles will seal the trap, at which point digestive enzymes dissolve the victim’s soft tissues. The trap reabsorbs this nutritious soup, and – after about a week – reopens, using the carcass to attract new visitors.In order for Venus Flytraps to properly digest prey, the trigger hairs need to be stimulated after the trap has closed – this is to prevent the plant from wasting energy trying to digest non-edible matter which may have fallen into the trap. After dropping a dead insect into a trap, you can stimulate the trigger hairs with a toothpick, or by gently massaging the sides of the trap with your fingers. Carnivorous plants, including pitcher plants (Sarracenia) and Venus flytraps (Dioneaea muscipula), are unusual and fascinating plants to grow, and are especially popular with children. They are an excellent choice for a conservatory or sunny windowsill. There’s no need to use fertiliser on your carnivorous plants – they get all the nutrients they need from the insects that they catch. In fact, fertiliser can kill the plants, which typically grow in nutrient-poor soils.

Carnivorous plants are, surprisingly, not able to deal with greenfly, so use traps or biological controls to control them. Carnivorous plants can also be susceptible to red spider mite, which thrives in hot, dry conditions. Improve air circulation in the greenhouse and boost levels of humidity by standing bowls of water on the benches between plants. If you’re growing lots of plants, you could try releasing the predatory mite, Phytoseiulus persimilis on to your plants.Cut off dead flowers with scissors – and in the case of Venus flytraps and pitcher plants, cut off the dead traps if they go black – this often happens in autumn and winter.

Most carnivorous plants grow in boggy soils with acidic, or ‘ericaceous’ compost. Most ericaceous compost contains peat, but there are several peat-free ericaceous mixes that have come onto the market in recent years. Keep this well watered and ensure it never dries out. Choose a bright, sunny spot to grow your carnivorous plants in summer and move to a cool, frost-free place in winter. Remove faded flowers and leaves as you need to. Carnivorous plants grow best in a low-nutrient medium, such as peat or a specialist compost, known as ericaceous compost. If you would rather not use peat for environmental reasons, you could try Moorland Gold, which is derived without damage to peat bogs, or a peat-free ericaceous potting mix. Hardy carnivorous plants thrive in warm conditions with plenty of bright light in spring and summer, so grow them on a sunny windowsill, in a conservatory or on a sunny patio.In the wild, hardy carnivorous plants grow in boggy ground, so their compost needs to be moist at all times during the warmer months. Sit the pot in a saucer of water and keep it topped up. Alternatively, block drainage holes so that water cannot drain away. Keep the compost just moist during the winter rest period.

If the traps on your Venus flytrap are no longer closing, it may be because curious fingers have poked at your plant too often. Each trap only closes around five times in its lifetime, so resist provoking your plant.When it comes to caring for temperate carnivorous plants, including sundews and pitcher plants, there are three important things to keep in mind. In this Golden Rules video, Nigel Hewitt-Cooper of Hewitt-Cooper Carnivorous Plants reveals his three top tips on the temperature, water and light that carnivorous plants need to thrive. Tap water can harm carnivorous plants. Use distilled or filtered water, water from a boiled kettle that has been left to cool or, ideally, rainwater – you could leave a bucket outside to collect it or use water from a butt. Speed of closing can vary depending on the amount of humidity, light, size of prey, and general growing conditions. The speed with which traps close can be used as an indicator of a plant’s general health. Venus flytraps are not as humidity-dependent as are some other carnivorous plants.

Germination: Use a mix of 50% peat moss, and 50% sand or perlite. First, rinse the sand. Once cleaned, mix the sand with dampened peat moss, and gently press the mixture into a container. Flatten the surface of the soil. Gently place the seeds in the surface of the soil, do not bury them. Then, use a spray bottle to dampen the soil and the seeds. Place the container in a bag to retain moisture. Keep the container in a warm room, about 80-85F, or about 30C is ideal. Keep the seeds in bright light, but not in direct sunlight. Keep the soil consistently moist, not completely saturated, but it is important that they never dry out. The seeds can be a little slow to germinate, so patience is required, and they will typically germinate within 5-8 weeks.

Most carnivorous plants selectively feed on specific prey. This selection is due to the available prey and the type of trap used by the organism. With the Venus flytrap, prey is limited to beetles, spiders and other crawling arthropods. In fact, the Dionaea diet is 33% ants, 30% spiders, 10% beetles, and 10% grasshoppers, with fewer than 5% flying insects.

If the prey is unable to escape, it will continue to stimulate the inner surface of the lobes, and this causes a further growth response that forces the edges of the lobes together, eventually sealing the trap hermetically and forming a “stomach” in which digestion occursThe Venus flytrap (also referred to as Venus’s flytrap or Venus’ flytrap), Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States in North Carolina and South Carolina. It catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids—with a trapping structure triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, the trap prepares to close, snapping shut only if another contact occurs within approximately twenty seconds of the first strike. The requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a safeguard against wasting energy by trapping objects with no nutritional value, and the plant will only begin digestion after five more stimuli to ensure it has caught a live bug worthy of consumption.Unfortunately, one of the mouths was broken, but otherwise it was very well packaged and delivered on time. I expected a rather low plant but mine is quite high “nothing wrong with that” but I expected it to be slightly different.

Das Paket wurde vom Kurier auf die Seite gelegt, obwohl es eindeutig als zerbrechlich gekennzeichnet war und mit der Seite nach oben liegen musste. Die vier Pflanzen haben überlebt, weil du sie so gut verpackt hast! Außerdem erhielt ich noch am selben Tag eine Antwort auf eine Frage zur Pflege. Herzlichen Dank!

J’en suis très content, je l’ais reçu en bonne état et bonne santé, malgré à une long distance les plantes carnivores on tenue leur voyage, et bien emballais je vous en remercie beaucoup.

Carnivory.eu is highly recommended, everything is nicely packaged and delivered exactly as indicated. What I do regret (and this is certainly not intended as a negative criticism) is that there is so much plastic (bubble wrap) around the plants to ensure that they arrive in good condition. It would be nice if there were a more environmentally friendly solution for this.

A beautiful, fly-eating Venus Flytrap (Dionaea Muscipula) from North America for in the house or garden. This impressive plant is probably the most special plant in the world. (Dimensions: ø 8.5 cm x ↕ 10 cm) More information “At first, I had my doubts about ordering plants via the Internet, but after endlessly searching for carnivorous plants in shops, I gave it a try. I could not have made a better choice! The plants arrived nice and well protected and despite the delay in the post they are all still healthy! I am very happy with them!” I received this little plant as a gift with my order, which is super nice in itself. I am very satisfied with the quality of all the plants I have ordered and this one is also very nice. The plant is small, but really has a lot of fall. I have long hesitated to take one home because I always found the quality of the carnivorous plants at my local garden center to be poor. I am so glad I decided to go for this one. He does very well in the house and has already managed to attract several flies. In the summer it will get a place outside on the terrace.Super impianto. Sembra bello e impressionante. Di solito lo si vede solo al momento della scoperta. E fa il suo lavoro. Sono molto soddisfatto. Per questo motivo ne ho ordinati altri.

A beautiful, fly-eating Venus Flytrap (Dionaea Muscipula) from North America for in the house or garden. This impressive plant is probably the most special plant in the world. (Dimensions: ø 8.5 cm x ↕ 10 cm)

The Venus flytrap grows alongside other carnivores in boggy, open savannahs. For many years, misinformation spread that stated flytraps were hard to grow or required very stringent horticultural requirements. Fortunately, this couldn’t be farther from the truth! The Venus flytrap is a hardy plant, capable of being grown outdoors in nearly every state in the USA (some winter accommodation may be required for harsh northern winters and for desert summers). Our plants grow outside in the burning Texas sun year round and have even taken cold fronts down to 15 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter with no ill effects. See our Venus flytrap growing guide for more information.The “Akai Ryu” (translates to Red Dragon from Japanese) variety is one of the strongest growing red varieties out there. We highly recommend it for beginners and experts alike.Sorry, no additonal information on this Araflora plant. Additional information about this plant will become available later. The symbols below will give you some indications for this plant. We are working hard on adding valuable information as soon as possible.

The Dionaea muscipula ‘Red piranha’ ‘Starter’ , a young plant of the Venus fly-trap mutant species grown in a 5-centimetre pot. The Dionaea muscipula ‘Red piranha’ ‘Starter’ is an easy-to-grow Venus fly-trap mutant that will develop at great speed if given the proper care. The shape of its teeth is unique: they are short and triangular and remind one of the blood-red teeth of the piranha. The Dionaea muscipula ‘Red piranha’ ‘Starter’ is also a distant descendant of the Dionaea muscipula ‘Dentate Traps’. Moreover the Dionaea muscipula ‘Red piranha’ ‘Starter’ can by enough exposure to the sun turn completely red on the outside. However, often a thin lime-green edge remains visible at the growing point of the teeth.No plantcare information of Araflora available. The plantcare symbols below will give you an indication about the product. We hope to have text available soon.

Food: Venus Flytraps obtain few nutrients from the soil, relying on their traps to catch insects and other prey (yes, it’s not just bugs!) to give them the micronutrients they need for long-term health and growth. Bugs and other animals are a dietary supplement (like a vitamin pill) that help the plant to grow faster, but are not required in ‘human’ quantities for the health and survival of the plant; they still absorb and store energy from the sun (photosynthesize), just like other green plants. We recommend feeding your plant live or freshly killed food items (think juicy…not a dead ‘husk of a bug’ from your windowsill!) that are no more than 1/2 the length of the trap in which you are placing it. This is so that the trap can completely seal up around the food; after all, if the trap can’t completely close, the food may mold and kill that trap. Contrary to myth, do not feed your plant hamburger; it will kill the plant. Never use fertilizer on your carnivorous plants’ soil. We know of growers who will use a bit of very weak orchid fertilizer on the leaves of their plants, but we have not found this necessary here in the Houston area. We have plenty of food!3) Keep in mind that YOUR CONDITIONS WILL DIFFER GREATLY DEPENDING ON YOUR GROWING ENVIRONMENT AND WHERE YOU LIVE! Someone growing a Venus Flytrap in Minnesota will need to care for their plant very differently than someone who lives in the arid deserts of Arizona!Humidity & Air Circulation: While VFTs can tolerate somewhat lower humidity if they are slowly acclimated to it, they all prefer higher humidity environments, and will stop producing traps (or may even die) if they are grown without enough humidity. Higher humidity helps the traps to produce more prey-attracting nectar, and if the humidity is too low to do this, the plant may not even make traps! Lower (but not stagnant!) air circulation over the plant will aid in the maintenance of humidity. This climate is often achieved by placing the plant inside a plastic or glass dome with air holes to allow for air transfer. This can be something as simple as a 2-liter bottle or cheese ball container! If a dome, cover, or terrarium is not available, frequent misting with pure water may assist in increasing humidity. Keep in mind that direct outdoor sunlight while under any cover or container may result in the plant’s death, due to high temperatures; these enclosures can act like a miniature microwave oven!PLEASE NOTE: The care information we have placed here is specific to Venus Flytraps (or Dionaea muscipula in ‘geek speak’), and may not be valid for other types of carnivorous plants. For a more basic understanding of the care and maintenance of carnivorous plants, and an appreciation for how easy they are to care for, we suggest that you also read our General Carnivorous Plant Care page first.

Light: Venus Flytraps enjoy 14 to 16 hours of bright light, either from being outdoors if your conditions allow, or if indoors from a supplemental lighting source of some sort. If growing the plants indoors, we typically recommend bulbs in the 5500K to 6500K color range, and placed 12 to 18 inches from the plant(s), depending on the particular light system you use. The amount of light will determine plant coloration. If VFTs are grown in insufficient light, they will produce overly long, thin leaves, and the traps will be the same green color as the rest of the leaf. As the light increases (and depending on the variety of flytrap), the red coloration intensifies. However, since the red coloration absorbs more heat than the typical green color, if the lighting and heat is above a certain point (which will depend on your area), this can cause the plant to stop producing the red coloration. We have found that VFTs grown outdoors here in the Houston area will grow very nicely, but even on varieties known for having nice red traps, they will be more yellowish green due to the increased sunlight and heat. Over the course of time, this can be fatal for these small, tender plants; so temper your desire to grow them outdoors with a bit of caution and TLC! Above all, remember to slowly acclimate a flytrap to any changes in condition…especially lighting. While they can take bright indirect light, it’s best to start in a lower light environment and slowly increase the amount or intensity of the light gradually to allow the plant to adjust to the environment.

Watering: As with all carnivorous plants, VFTs require pure water of some sort, such as distilled, reverse osmosis (RO), or rain water. Bottled water and spring water from the grocery store are not recommended, as these both contain salts and minerals to make them taste better to us humans. Regardless of your growing method, keep the soil moist but not waterlogged at all times. Do not use tap water or your plant will die over the course of time. Treated tap water contains chemicals and dissolved solids which build up in the soil and will certainly affect the health of your carnivorous plant. Also, never let your plants dry out; place them, pot and all, in a tray or saucer, and add ¼ to ½ inch of water to the saucer. Don’t pour the water directly onto the soil, as this can cause the soil to wash up onto the growing point of the plant and stress it. Rather, allow the water in the saucer to be absorbed by the soil before you add more water to the saucer, so that moisture can be kept in the soil but the roots have a chance to ‘breathe’ in between waterings. The soil around the base of the plant should always be damp to the touch, but the saucer can and should be allowed to go dry before adding more water. Remember: Do NOT let the soil dry out. You are better off using tap water if absolutely necessary, rather than letting your plants get too thirsty! A quick note if you are growing your plants directly in soil (no pots) in a terrarium: be very careful not to overwater your terrarium…it takes very little water to replace the small amount that evaporates over time!A bit of information about Venus Flytraps and their care in general: Venus Flytraps (VFTs) are native to an area called the Green Swamp, which is near the coast at the border of North and South Carolina. The areas where VFTs and most other carnivorous plants usually grow are primarily bogs and fens, where they grow in very moist, acidic, nutrient-deficient soil. They have been planted by humans in other locations (Florida, California, even other countries!) and have become naturalized; but the Green Swamp is the only true ‘home’ for these iconic plants. They are heavily protected in the wild, and each individual plant that is poached from the wild is considered a separate felony offense! In our opinion, why would anyone want to take one from the wild, when you can get nice healthy plants in pots from PetFlytrap.com! While there are many different cultivars (named identical clones of VFTs, like ‘B-52’ or ‘Alien’), they all share the same general characteristics and growing requirements. Since these are temperate plants, they do best if given a winter dormancy, similar to what they would get in their native habitat. However, if they are given the proper conditions, they can ALSO Be grown quite well as indoor terrarium plants with no dormancy. More on that later.

Soil: VFTs are temperate plants, meaning they prefer a more typical looking (dark) soil mix. We primarily use a mix of Sphagnum peat and coarse-grade sand, but any mix that is 2 parts Sphagnum peat and one part sand, perlite, or a mix of the two, will do just fine. Some growers even add a bit of orchid bark or long-fiber Sphagnum (LFS), but these ingredients are more expensive and we have not found them to be necessary at all. Our Standard Soil Mix, which contains Sphagnum peat and perlite, is a wonderful choice. If you are in an area where you can grow VFTs outdoors, this is a wonderful way to grow them, and allows them to experience natural conditions, such as dormancy (nope, not yet…more later!). However, we recommend placing a ‘topping’ layer of Long-fiber Sphagnum moss or coarse-grade sand on top of the soil. This helps keep the soil from being splashed up onto the growing point of the plant if there is a heavy rain event. Above all, you want a soil mix that is acidic, and it must be open enough to provide for good aeration and drainage. In our Standard Soil Mix, the Sphagnum peat provides the acidity; while the perlite helps to keep the soil from getting too densely packed, and provide for good soil drainage. If peat is used without a means of drainage, the roots of the plant may begin to rot. Replacement soil mixes or individual ingredients can be purchased from PetFlyTrap.com in the Supplies section. If you purchase your soil/ingredients from other sources, be certain that they do not have added chemicals, fertilizers or surfactants in them, as many name brands do. NEVER use potting soil or any nutrients of any kind in the soil: compost, fertilizers, anything that guarantees big beautiful plants. These plants get
nutrients through their leaves and traps, and fertilizers in the soil may cause the roots to die off and kill your plant!Regarding general VFT care, they can be grown successfully both outdoors and indoors; the key is providing the appropriate environment. For those with good outdoor growing conditions, place the pot(s) in a shallow saucer or dish. For indoor growing, a terrarium, enclosed grow rack, glass vase/bowl, or similar humidity-retaining method will help keep your plants happy and healthy.

Need for added humidity is very specific to your home growing environment. Often, no additional misting is needed as long as you are careful with water. The moist growing environment will create some very localized humidity for the plant. If the dryness of your home, particularly in winter, causes the water dish to dry too rapidly, you can keep your plant in a terrarium-like setting. A terrarium with adjustable ventilation works best or the added heat build up in the summer may cause your plant to wilt.

Your Dionaea is fast-growing. It can use up its space in a container after a year or two and will need to be re-potted. When you notice that the plant has filled the entire container or new traps are failing to develop, it is time to re-pot. You can divide the plant at the same time if you wish. Spring is best. If you have a slower growing plant, it should still be re-potted every two years so that the growing medium is refreshed.

If your plant becomes sickly, it probably isn’t receiving enough sunlight. It needs bright, full sun or supplemental lighting, to make it grow healthy and strong. A gently lit windowsill is too dim for your plant to survive. Consider adding a full-spectrum, horticultural, LED light to supplement the natural sunlight. Other common problems are a build up of salt in the growing medium if distilled water isn’t used, root rot if the growing medium is too wet and roots becoming completely dry, even briefly.Dionaea grow tiny white flowers in early spring. It’s best to remove them before they bloom, because flowering takes a lot energy from the plant and can reduce the number of leaves being produced.Offering this plant enough light is a big challenge in its care. Strong direct light is crucial to maintaining a healthy plant. Full, direct sunlight (at least 6 hours per day), from a southern exposure is best and most owners will need to consider supplementing with artificial light, especially in the low light months of winter. If your plant is small, a single horticultural LED light may be all you need, kept on the plant for 12 to 16 hours per day. Without the right light it will deteriorate quickly.Leaves turn black and die after a few months. No need to worry! On a healthy plant the leaves only last this long and are replaced by new ones. You can cut off the dead leaves when they are completely black.

Feeding your Venus flytrap dried blood worms: You can buy dried blood worms for your plant from your local pet store. Reconstituted dried worms, available as a fish food, are a reliable and easy to obtain food for your plant. Check the label on the product to make sure there are no other additives. Add a few drops of water to some dried blood worms so that they get soft and meaty, then squeeze out before giving a blob about ⅓ of the size of the trap. Massage the trap gently so the plant thinks that the feed is alive. The International Carnivorous Plant Society has a great fact sheet linked in the side column with photos about feeding blood worms to a Venus flytrap and information on how to get your trap to fully seal and digest its food.Because of this low nutrient environment, the Venus flytrap has adapted to an unusual feeding strategy. The traps on your plant are modified leaves and should be fed regularly (about once a week to two weeks). Plants can survive for extended periods without being fed but they will grow more slowly. If your plant is being kept outdoors in the summer, it should be fine catching prey on its own. Your Venus flytrap has water requirements that are probably unfamiliar. This plant needs to be kept in potting medium that is like its wetland native habitat, always moist but never soggy. That requires the correct planting medium (see Re-potting, below), a container with a hole in its bottom and a dish of about ½ to 1 inch deep water sitting under the pot. In its natural habitat, Venus flytrap consumes mostly ants and spiders as well as grasshoppers, beetles and other insects that crawl across its traps. Do not feed your Venus’ fly trap meat! Live prey, such as flies, spiders, crickets and slugs are appropriate food. Live meal worms or crickets purchased from the pet store are a great option. Ants may not have enough nutritional value as a steady diet and sometimes come into contact with toxic substances as they scour your home. Caterpillars are not a good choice as some can eat their way back out of the trap.

Do not give a trap any food that is bigger than about 1/3 the size of the trap; larger insects take too long to digest and can cause bacterial rot that kills the trap. It responds to the movement of an insect to avoid wasting energy on consuming non-food sources. When the insect is placed in the trap, the insect’s movement will stimulate the trap into the digestion phase, sealing itself for the process. The plant’s trap may stay closed from a few days up to several weeks while digesting its dinner.Venus flytrap color will be green in your home, but with bright light, plants can grow more reddish in color. Some Venus’ fly traps cultivars are selected to have more naturally red color, like Dionaea ‘Red Dragon’, D. ‘Red Piranha’, and D. ‘Colin’s Red Sunset.’ It is that red color, along with a lightly, sweet scent, that helps to attract prey in the wild.

Dormancy will occur naturally as the hours of sunlight diminish in the winter and temperatures get cooler. Around November, your plant’s leaves will begin to die back unless you supplement your plant’s natural light with grow lights and keep it warm. To give your plant a period of dormancy, allow the light to dwindle naturally and gradually reduce temperature to about 45 to 50 degrees, stop feeding and limit water to keep the growing medium just barely moist so that the plant can take a rest. You can cut off the leaves once they are completely black. It will be ready to resume growth around March and you can ease it back to its usual habitat and routine.You do not need to remove your plant from the small covered container in which you bought it. Just take off the protective plastic cover. If you do want to re-pot your plant use care to follow its requirements in the Re-potting section below.

There are differences of opinion regarding whether winter dormancy is necessary among Venus flytrap experts. In their native habitat, these plants do become dormant in the winter and it is a natural way for the plant to rest and restore itself. If you have trouble offering the plant the light it needs to continue healthy growth in winter or if your plant seems as though it could use a rest, you may want to give it a winter of dormancy.Normal home temperatures in the 65 to 75ºF. range are appropriate. Protect this plant from challenging micro-climates by keeping it away from heat and air conditioning vents and drafty doors and windows. If it gets cold in your home, the plant will slow its growth and eventually become dormant. See Winter Dormancy below for temperature adjustments if your plant will be grown with a winter dormancy period. The leaves may look different in spring and fall than they do
in summer. Your plant may grow more elongated. upright leaves on longer petioles in summer. Use a pot with a hole(s) in the bottom and tall enough to keep the planting soil surface a minimum of two inches above the water line in the dish. (Four inches tall is usually sufficient.) The right potting medium will help your Venus’ fly trap live a longer life. It should be half, good-quality (horticultural), sphagnum peat or peat moss and half coarse, horticultural sand. The wrong type of peat can have too much mineral content and the wrong sand may have mineral and clumping problems. You can add ½ inch of the sand on the top so that only the roots and bottom of the bulb are in the potting mix. The sand layer will keep most of the plant out of contact with moisture to reduce the chance of rotting and discourage fungus gnats from making themselves at home.Dionaea muscipula is very sensitive to the type of water you use to care for it. Use distilled water, rainwater or reverse-osmosis water. Tap water and even bottled or filtered water will probably have too much dissolved salt for the plant and can kill it.

You don’t need to feed each trap on a plant every time you feed, just one or two. It is fine to feed the same traps repeatedly. They will eventually die after repeated digestion but that is natural. New ones will replace the old!

*Populations of Venus flytrap are under threat in the wild and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is evaluating whether protection under the Endangered Species Act is warranted. Most of the reduction in numbers is due to habitat loss, pollution and techniques of fire suppression. Habitat has been lost to commercial, agricultural and residential uses and fire suppression has made areas of habitat dense with competing flora.The plant arrived in excellent condition (as usual). After about 2 weeks traps began to die before they were fully developed and I was beginning to worry that I would loose the plant. But then it started to produce new traps and it almost back to where it was when it arrived.

This flytrap features red leaves and traps. Young plants are bright red throughout. As the plant matures, it turns maroon with a green margin along the edge of the traps. This variety hates root disturbance during the growing season; it’s best to repot this plant in early season or when it’s dormant. In winter, it will drop all of its leaves, leaving nothing to show. In summer, give the plant lots of sunlight to maintain its red color. Lots of sunlight. Lots.I was so surprised and happy to receive such a healthy Flytrap with large traps. In early May I had ordered this same Red Dragon flytrap from another seller and the traps were very small and haven’t grown.It came packed so good and perfect! It has done great and I already had a flower coming out of it, which I did snip off… but thought that was really cool! I will only buy from this company I tried 5 and this was the best!

Even with a mistake on the mail carriers end, and a bit of delay in delivery; my gorgeous trap made it here! I potted them over my lunch break, and can’t be more obsessed! It arrived quickly, and very well packaged. Thank you for such a gorgeous, healthy, resilient venus fly trap! I can’t wait to see it grow!

I really liked my new Akai Ryu, only I would have liked them to offer the service of coming in pots since during the trip they dried up a bit and then I had to prune them. Although I know that in about two to three months I will have some super beautiful plants.This is my third VFT variety that I’ve gotten from CPN and I haven’t been disappointed! The plant came well packaged and protected and has opened up nicely. New growth is already showing and I’m excited to add it to my little collection!