Hello all! I’m new to the group as of (checks watch) 39 seconds ago. I went back to my local nursery on payday to grab a sweet looking monkey pitcher plant I had been eyeballing and the worker said “I’m so mad at myself. I forgot to water, but I’ll give it to you for half off.” I thought about it, but I’m new to carnivorous plants, they need special water, no fertilizer, very specific conditions, and was worried about buying a plant that’s already half-dead looking. So they had this smaller one that was pretty similar looking but only labeled nepenthes, and it looked a lot healthier. I’m bummed but I wanted a new friend to hopefully help with little gnats. I googled the photo and it said this was a “nepenthes x ventrata” variety. I’m in Washington, I have 5 pets, and a drafty or hot 126 year old house depending on the season. It has to go in my kitty-free-room, and I struggle with heating and cooling. I thought about the more humid bathroom but the door closes more of the day than not to keep the tropical divas happier. But I went ahead and bought a small space heater and humidifier. I have Harold (😂) hanging near my window, with a sheer curtain between. The heater is set to 65°, but it was at 40° in my room before - so an improvement. Come summer I’ll have to break out the A/C unit but I can likely set that to 65° too. 🤣 I did give it a good watering as it looked dry as a bone. The nursery said it was potted with moss etc. so that should be good. I kept it in that pot, with a little plastic catcher underneath. With that background: 1) Is that species identification correct? 2) Any advice is appreciated. I did some googling but I like to talk to real people. 3) Google said: - Not to cut off the pitchers unless they were completely black or brown, but you can see the tops are brown and crispy. So …. Is it still catching bugs, or no? - That you can fill the pitchers with distilled water, but I don’t know if I’m supposed to do that? Or how dire it needs to be before I do. - That it’s a pretty easy plant to care for, just let it be and keep it moist ish and the right humidity. Is a humidifier underneath and my space heater enough? Thanks all!
