I wanted to get a venus flytrap for my garden as I have always been fascinated by them.. a couple of questions to anyone on the forum who owns one if I may please.

a) Am I OK to keep them in house instead of the garden?
b) What do they need to keep them alive
c) Do they need to eat a large supply of flies to keep alive??

Has anyone got one at home or in their garden?
And do you have any tips for me please.

ThankU

I've got one.

You have to keep them indoors.
They need lots of water (they are a bog plant) so stand the pot in an inch of water.
If you need to re-pot it use spagnum moss and a bit of compost.
They die back in winter (unless you keep them warm)
The odd fly every now and again is enough.

You have to feed them live food, so no bits of bacon or mince, they won't digest it properly, the food has to struggle a bit.

Sounds alright, apart from the flies bit though?
What if I keep it indoors but I cant get any flies into it???

Will it survive on just water or is there any other food I can give it?
Blood etc?? ie: From The Little Shop Of Horrors :)

Hi there - my mum used to have one of these.

They need bright light, but not direct sun - best at 70-95 degress F.
They need good drainage and airation - suggest 70% compost with 30% perlite addendum.
Best fed with rain water (or RO water) as they are very sensitive to chemicals.
On average they will eat 3 or 4 flys per month, they don't need fertiliser as the food provides all they need.
They also need a humid atmosphere so grow in a terrarium or stand them in a saucer of water - remember to use grit in the bottom of the pot or you will waterlog/rot the plant.

The plant needs 'overwintering' - they need 3 months over the winter period kept at 45-50 degrees F - you can remove the bulb from the soil to overwinter it, but I don't know much about this process.

Happy growing:D

Thanks for the help.. we should be getting our new little bundle of joy this afternoon and Im looking forward to it already!

Thanks everyone for the advice and great tips.

You will know if it is happy because it will flower, if that happens you're doing everything right.

Remember though, no dead food, it must be moving, otherwise the trap just rots.

You can feed it anything alive, moths, butterflies, spiders, ladybirds, earwigs, maggots, wasps (particularly satisfying).

Also, each trap is only good for about 3 "snaps", after that it dies, so don't go triggering them for a laugh.

Good link here,tells you all about the little monsters.
http://www.littleshopofhorrors.co.uk/customer/home.php
some of the sarrecenia family are easy to keep.

Ermm... I'm ashamed to say this but I bought one today and I think I've killed it already!!

We went to New Leaf garden cente and bought a venus fly-trap on which the mini traps were all erect and looking grand.

I got it home and tried to replant it into a new bigger pot which we put in water as advised and then filled with new plantgro earth stuff (you can tell I'm a keen gardener cant you!! Eh!), the bulb of the flytrap plant was only really small though so I've pushed it into the new earth as best I could.

I took it upstairs in my house in the new pot and I've watered the traps as they were drooping and now look to have gone dry??? I've kept it on my window sill where the light is beaming straight on it- is this right? Also its getting a lot of fresh air from the window as well.

Have I killed my beloved plant already .. or is there a way to save it??

EDIT: I've not sprung the traps shut though, I did have problems getting to the bulb properly underneath but I had a pair of gardening gloves on if this makes any difference??

Thanks