# My new Venus Fly Trap rescue :P



## Wolfie305

So I "rescued" a Venus Fly Trap from Lowes a few days ago (according to the VFT forum I visit, plants form big chain hardware stores and never properly cared for and often need some TLC). I love him.

To continue the Skyrim theme I have going for all my critters, I decided to name him "Krosis" after one of the Dragon Priest masks. I think he suits his name. I was going to name him after a dragon, but I figured I would save those names for bettas only  

Here are some pictures and a video of me feeding him




























http://youtu.be/p5LtGtuFV2I


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## SeaHorse

Fascinating! I think I giggled at the same moment you did!! hehehe
How often does it get a bug? and I'm assuming it gets watered like a reg plant? Do you have to mist it to keep it humid?


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## SpookyTooth

Oh he looks good! Is he planted in pure sphagnum moss do you know? Pure sphag can be bad for them due to it being able to retain 20x its weight in water so the 50:50 peat/perlite (or silica sand) is usually recommended; overwatering can cause root rot.

The long, spindly growth should shorten and become more robust as he gets used to your care and the change in his environment. Congrats!


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## Olympia

Aw lucky. I've been meaning to get some more of these, they're epic. Don't have any atm.
I'd get some tweezers, it'd help much faster. I'm sure you know already but the bug has to touch 3 of the hairs inside to trigger the trap.


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## Romad

I never knew about the squeezing part :shock: 

I had one when I was much younger. Not sure if I remember what happened to it tho.


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## Wolfie305

Jackie - They can catch 3-5 bugs a month. Their soil needs to stay moist, but I haven't looked to see if they need daily watering yet. Still learning about their care.

Spooky - I just bought a bag of Peat Moss and Perlite to mix, which is the recommended soil for them. They're currently in the container they came in because I was trying to get the soil on my way up to school (and the pictures were taken this morning).

Olympia - I know xD. And they were, which was weird. Guess it just took him a minute hahaha.


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## Olympia

I guess he's on the slow side?


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## Bombalurina

Now I really want a VFT, despite managing to kill even the most basic fern.  I'd probably remember to take better care of it if it was animate like that...


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## Wolfie305

I have an aloe vera plant that I adore, and I've ALWAYS wanted a VFT so when I found him, I had to get him.


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## SpookyTooth

That's great  I'm sure he'll thrive in your care!


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## Wolfie305

Oh okay good to know. I've been looking at him all day and getting worried I killed him or something D:


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## Amphibianite

Just making sure because I skimmed thing here haha.
You do know that they require Distilled water or natural rain water. Other types of water have minerals and such in it that is bad for them. They only nutrient they should get are from the insects they eat.

Carnivorous plants are a passion of mine  Not that I have many right now <_< >_> Just one huge pitcher plant with no pitchers on it


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## SpookyTooth

I absolutely love carnivorous plants as well! I mostly have pinguicula (butterworts) though, though I do have a couple of venus fly traps (typical and wacky traps) and sundews (most capensis). I'm glad to see more enthusiasts on here!


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## Wolfie305

Amphibianite - Yes, I started collecting rain water for him yesterday (it finally poured) and I'll probably purchased some distilled water as back-up, just in case we don't get enough rain this season.

I just mixed in his new soil (peat moss and perlite - the non Miracle Grow or Scotts kind because those have chemicals/fertilizers) and repotted him. He's a little droopy from the repotting, but hopefully he'll perk back up soon. Any idea how long that usually takes?


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## SpookyTooth

It can take a couple of days to a few weeks. If the droopiness is a literal change in the position of the leaves it might be where the plant is trying to protect its rhizome in which case it'll sort itself out sooner rather than later, if it's more of a "sad looking" droop it could just be sulking from the repot in which case it may take a little longer as its roots adjust to the new soil and it acclimatizes. With the time of year it is you should find it recovers quicker.


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## Olympia

Distilled water?! That's why mine died! -____-
I really want one of these again now that I know this. Will my aquarium light (that's for plants) provide benefits for the flytrap as well if it's beside the tank? 
Sorry, hijacking the thread Wolfie. :3


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## SpookyTooth

It depends on the lumen output and the wattage, really. They require somewhat more intense lighting than aquarium plants - though they can thrive on a windowsill so I imagine aquatic plant lighting should be okay!


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## Wolfie305

You also have to remember that VFT's require a "dormancy" period during the winter season for 3-5 months. Basically, you stick your plant in a garage window or somewhere coldish (with light). They require less water during this period. Without putting your VFT into dormancy, its lifespan is greatly reduced. 

Here is the forum I go on and the article about dormancy. There are a ton of other articles on there that are really helpful

http://www.flytrapcare.com/venus-fly-trap-dormancy.html


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## MaisyDawgThirteen

I know this is a very mature question (sarcasm, lol), but has it ever . . . bit you? lol


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## lvandert

When I had mine it was recommended to be put in a terrarium for humidity. I had mine for a long time before something came along and ate it...


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## Boscobear

*Venus Flytraps*

I live very near the area where the venus flytrap exist naturally, meaning it has not been transplanted there. An area between North & South Carolina. The students from Clemson U. went into this protected reserve a few years ago, and tattooed the root systems on these flytraps growing there. This was done to try to halt the poaching of some of these beautiful large plant systems. 
I have a few plants that have been growing out back of my house for a couple decades. Do not forget, they need to feel some winter weather. They need to feel a short cold spell. It does not do a deep freeze here, just a little cold, a few days during the winter where it may drop down to the middle 20's for a few hours at night, and then back to the 50's during the day. The plant needs this so it comes back stronger in the spring.
My plants live on the bank of the Lake I live on. Just a few feet from the water. They also have Pitcher plants in the area that thrives here along with the Venus Flytraps.


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## Wolfie305

MaisyDawgThirteen said:


> I know this is a very mature question (sarcasm, lol), but has it ever . . . bit you? lol


LOL!! I used a pair of scissors the last time I fed him, so I haven't been bitten yet. However, their "teeth" are very soft so I can't imagine it would hurt. They have three little spikes inside of their traps though, so I'm not sure how those would feel o.o


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## Olympia

I think it'd be worse for the fly trap.. you'd probably have to rip it off. 
I went to home depot today but they had no fly traps. -sob-


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## lvandert

those are just trigger hairs on the inside, they dont hurt lol. Think if they were hard when you squeezed them they'd cause damage to the plant. Although I never squeezed mine, but then again I fed it live baby crickets...


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## newarkhiphop

what kind of camera do you have?


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## Wolfie305

My camera is a Nikon D3100. I was using my kit lens for those photos.

Olympia - I had no luck with Home Depot and went to like 1849384923839293 of them. Went to Lowes and they had a bunch.


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## Olympia

Yea, Lowe's is good for weird stuff. That's actually where I plan on looking next.
I've been researching carnivorous plants and there's so many cool kinds. I like the sundews, they look like it just rained on them.


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## Finch

I love my carnivores. I have VFTS; nepenthes; American pitcher plants and a ping. Check out terraforums.com for a ton of great info on all kinds of carnivorous plants.


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## nel3

i got a VFT today, its only 2 inches tall and 1 1/4 inches wide. 10 traps are open on the plant. i have yet to transplant or change the soil. apparently they need distilled or RO water. i live near an airport so i dont know if the rain water is safe. i do have a 5g jug of distilled and ozonised water, im presuming its safe water for the plant. must i keep the plastic cage on it for its whole life or make a better place for it to live in? im planning to get some 4inch pot with proper soil and put the current plant with its dense soil in there. the plant is in full sunlight for half the day and indirect light the rest of the day.


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## Wolfie305

No, take it out of the little plastic container it comes it, I think they package them like that because the traps grow horizontally outward and might get ruined during shipping.

As for pots, they like 6-8in deep pots so their roots have plenty or room to grow. For mine, I put some rocks at the bottom of the pot and then filled it with 1 part Peat Moss and 1 part Pearlite - the recommended soil.

Yes, they can only be water with rain or distilled water.


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## nel3

Wolfie305 said:


> No, take it out of the little plastic container it comes it, I think they package them like that because the traps grow horizontally outward and might get ruined during shipping.
> 
> As for pots, they like 6-8in deep pots so their roots have plenty or room to grow. For mine, I put some rocks at the bottom of the pot and then filled it with 1 part Peat Moss and 1 part Pearlite - the recommended soil.
> 
> Yes, they can only be water with rain or distilled water.


thank you very much Wolfie, i'll get the cover off today for the VFT. would most hardware stores carry the proper soil? i do know there are premixed soils but they do contain a fertiliser. the soil i have would've been perfect had it not contained plant food/fert. the water that i have purchased has been distilled and around 2ppm of any sort of minerals at max specs.


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## Wolfie305

I couldn't get my soil at the hardware stores. Had to go to a little nursery/pet food supply place to get mine. 

Definitely make sure it doesn't have fertilizers and other chemicals in it, as it will kill the VFT D:


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## nel3

thank youWolfie, i found 5L of prlite and 28L compressed spagnum at the hardwarestore. its the season the stores stock up on it. bit of overkill as 28L spganum moss is more than enough to fill a 4-6 inch pot. not sure if i should put the plant in a 4 or 6 inch pot as its in a 2 inch pot atm. i fed one trap some bloodworms, didnt find a live insect.


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## Wolfie305

Don't feed it too often, it usually does fine on its own. I think once they eat a certain amount of bugs the trap dies or something (which is okay, but yeah xD).


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## Jupiter

This is helpful! I bought one myself like several months ago, and I'm still not all too sure what it needs besides the fact that I shouldn't be giving it tap water and that it should stay moist. 

They're pretty great though, aren't they? Although tbh i don't generally have much interest in plants. 

For example, I didn't know they produced flowers! But mine did a couple of weeks ago, I thought that was cool.


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## nel3

Wolfie305 said:


> Don't feed it too often, it usually does fine on its own. I think once they eat a certain amount of bugs the trap dies or something (which is okay, but yeah xD).


thank you, i might feed it some BW once a month but i usuallu reserve the BW for the betta.


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