How to take care of a carnivorous plant

by Elaine Aparecida Queiroz

The Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) is the most common carnivorous plant, probably for its looks (it's got some traps that look like jaws) and because it makes feeding bugs a real show. However, it requires some special attention, for it is a very special kind of plant. Here are some steps for taking care of your little monster:
Step one: Buy a Venus Flytrap that does not look damaged, without a flower and whose traps are opened.
Step two: Add some sphagnum to the top to keep the soil moist.
Step three: Put a small dish under the vase and add some distilled water (or rain water) to it. Keep the dish always full because these plants are big fans of humidity.
Step four: Let it get some sunshine! It just loves it!
Step five: If your plant is not getting bugs on its own, feed it! You can catch some bugs by placing a transparent plastic bag over the bugs, very carefully, so they won’t notice it. Give it one or two living bugs weekly. If you can't give them alive, place the dead bug over a trap and simulate it is moving using a toothpick very carefully. The trap won't close for a still bug.

Tips and Warnings:
-- Buying a Venus Flytrap, or any other carnivorous plant as well, can be a little hard specially if you live in a small city. Many plant shops treat them like a regular plant, selling you an already damaged plant. The best option is to buy it from the Internet; there are some online shops specialized on this kind of plant which delivers it at your home.
-- Do not feed it meat or any other food. Remember it is a plant and feeds only on insects and arachnids.
-- Making the jaws close just for fun is not funny at all to your Venus flytrap! Reopening the traps takes too much energy away, which your plant did not get from any bug, and the plant gets weaker.
-- Do not add any kind of fertilizer to the soil; these plants are used to nitrogen-poor soils and that's why they feed on bugs. Mineral water and water from your sink, that contains chlorine, are bad too.
-- When winter comes, the Venus flytrap have a dormency period. The traps will stay closed as if the plant is resting. After this, a long stem might start growing up to become a flower. Cut it off before the flower is formed or the plant will lose lots of energy for keeping it and the traps won't work anymore.