I bought one last weekend. I’ve always wanted one, and when I saw that they were only €4.75, I brought one home.
So, anyone else got one?
I had a look at a flytrap website, and from it I understand that: they only need a couple of insects a month; the insects have to be alive and wriggling to trigger the secondary snap and digestion response; in the absence of rainfall (I have to keep it indoors) I need to clean the insect shells out myself.
Questions it didn’t answer were: what happens if you overfeed them do they grow to terrifying dimensions*? How do you clean the mouths out - brushing or water spray would cause the mouths to snap shut, wouldn’t it?
This one’s got about 10 mouths(? flowers?) and since it’s been in the house it’s started sprouting 3 more. Seems quite healthy at the moment. I fed it a woodlouse (not sure what you call them in the US. I knew them as doodlebugs when I lived there) - but I believe this is a crustacean not an insect. I presume this is OK? Any good methods for stunning, but not killing, big flies?
*I have, of course, called it Audrey. And I’m guessing that everyone else calls theirs Audrey too.
Seriously-- you don’t have to hand feed them. They do great on their own. Overfeeding can kill a flytrap. And any protein source is good; it doesn’t have to be insects or arachnids.
THE most important thing in my view is to water it constantly, and use DISTILLED water. They are native to swampy ground, and the reason they’ve evolved into insectivorous plants is because of the lack of root-accessible nutrients in mossy bogs.
They also go dormant in the fall, and in the winter cut back any dead leaves or traps, and put it outside (or in the back of your refrigerator). They need some cold to stay dormant. In the spring the traps will grow back.
Keep an eye out for deformed traps. That’s a sign there are mites about, and they can kill a plant quickly. Make sure that any new houseplants you may buy that are near the plant are clean and healthy. That’s how my own Audrey died. (Audrey II is a healthy one.)
BTW, there are all sorts of insectivorous plants that are easy to raise, and growing them becomes rather addictive.
I came in here to link to the California Carnivores website but I see it’s already been done.
You really don’t need to feed them. It’s a plant, not a pet. I kept mine in a window in front of the trash can in the kitchen and it caught quite a few flies during its short lifespan (put it in the fridge for “hibernation” and it got moldy. rip).
We have them out in the wild here in NJ which I think is pretty cool.