I bought this little guy the other day, and I placed it on the window ledge inside my house, and I found it on the floor, so I put it back in its original package. But my concern is, how do I keep the soil humid and how do I feed it? First timer here
You don’t need to feed them really, they will catch stuff on their own.
1 like Got it, thank you. What about the soil?
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yes they will catch their own food if they are outside! inside, you can catch any insects you might find around your house and use those, or buy live insects! as long as they fit in the traps, pretty much any kind of LIVE bug will work. Plants with Krystal has some great videos on these guys. she buys mealworms from the store and feeds once a month. one insect will feed the whole plant; theres no need to feed multiple traps! on to watering! they are bog plants, so you can either water every few days, or have them sit in rain, distilled, or reverse osmosis water! (any kind of chemicals or normal fertilizer will kill your plant.) i prefer to do the ladder, so i had mine in its nursery pot inside of a coverpot with no drainage. you can also use a tall cache tray. fill the container with a few inches of your water, and refill as needed! they like more light than most people may think. they do best with six or more hours of direct, full sun! they can still survive with less than this, but their colors will be less vibrant and growth will be slowed. hope this helps!
3 likes Thank you very much, very helpful
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Brightest light possible (south facing window) sitting in a dish of water, don’t let it dry out, don’t worry about feeding exactly like what’s said here. Don’t keep it in the package air flow is more important than humidity. Humidity isn’t super important.
2 likes Thank you so much for the information, this helps
0 likesPosted another one this morning. Will copy and paste for u. I’ll copy and paste u some info I sent a friend. For the flytraps. Apparently u need distilled water, minerals in the soil or water will kill the plants. Some say to leave the plants sitting in an inch of water so that it’s constantly moist. I dont. I just water it more regularly than a normal plant. Guides I’ve read say they can go 1-2 months just on photosynthesis but it’s good to feed them actual bugs like 1-2 times per month. Some guides say to have one trap actively feeding at all times. It’s all pretty interesting. Says it takes a week for the trap to reopen after feeding. For the feeding they have these little hairs inside the mouth. Gotta touch em multiple times within like 20 seconds to get the actual trap to close. Then the trap needs to feel the hairs being stimulated again after the trap is closed, otherwise it won’t register the item as food and reopen the trap after about 12 hours. So some guides say use a toothpick to stimulate it again once it’s closed. I try to massage the trap from the outside very gently to stimulate the hairs after a seal. I have two that will eat fine and two that kinda struggle. Depending what you’re feeding it you may have to soak the food first. You also want to be sure that whatever it’s eating is small enough that it can fit into its mouth completely. The trap needs to be able to close and make a seal. I’ve been using a mixture of fish food and the plants seem to enjoy it so far. The pruning is interesting. Idk how to explain it really. But the leaves will turn black and you literally like chop the head of the plant off at the neck so the healthy body can continue to photosynthesize. “The black part of the leaf is dead and not producing anything other than mold and fungi. So, with a sterilized razor ( clean with Meth. spirits and water), cut the little stem between the trap and leaf. As long as the humidity is not too high, and no presence of fungi or spores, then the cut shall heal quickly.” I think they stay pretty small cuz the traps die off after a certain amount of feedings. Like 3-5 feedings or so I guess. Been trying to figure out if you can increase the number of active traps just by alternating feedings or if there’s another set life span. They go dormant in the winter. Apparently there’s all kinds of different varieties too. I’m not sure the ones from Walmart do it, but the mouths of the trap are supposed to turn more red depending on how much sun they get which I think is kinda cool. The ones I have haven’t turned red yet but they also get artificial light so i dont know if they would. Hopefully that answers most of the questions u have.
2 likes Thank you so my, this is actually very specific and clear
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Just cause no one mention you CAN feed them dead bugs (dried blood worms from fish store, dried maggots, ect.) however you will have to make sure every trigger hair (little hairs in the trap) is touched and once closed you have to gently massage the sides of the trap so it thinks the bug is still moving and confirms to close. Don’t worry though it’s not as hard or scary as it might sound. Good luck and have a nice day!
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