What is the best way to care for a venus flytrap?

Answer 1

If you are going to grow carnivorous plants then you need to do it right from the start. You can keep them outside in full sun or in a terrarium, but I recommend that you not keep them in thier origional container because their roots need room to grow and there is not enough air. Also, if you are going to keep them in a terrarium then make sure you do not put the terrarium in direct sunlight. What a lot of people do not know is that carnivorous plants do best outside in the open air and in full sun. They are cold tolerant up to 20 degrees and actually need to be winterized and go into hibernation in order to do well next season. If your temps drop below 20 then you can keep them in an unheated garage or garden shed. If you keep them in a terrarium then you can force them into hibernation or dormancy and I will give you the site that explains how to do this. As for watering, carnivorous plants are bog plants and their soil needs to stay moist all the times. If you grow them in a terrarium this should not be a problem, however, if you grow them outside you will need to place them in a saucer of water and make sure you keep the saucer full at all times. As for feeding them, check out the expertvillage video I've included and it will answer all your questions.

carnivorous plant NoNos:
No meat of any kind. Meat rots and it will kill them
No fertilizer of any kind. Pot carnivorous plants in a 50/50 mix of peat moss and perlite only.
No straight tap water. Use filtered tap, aged tap or distilled (preferred)

Here are some sites that will help you with just about everything you need to know about growing carnivorous plants. Good Luck and have fun.

Information:
http://www.cobraplant.com/venus-flytrap.html
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/carnivorousplants?starvote=2&pid=153840
Contains a Section on dormancy:
http://www.the-venus-flytrap.com/venus-flytrap-help.html

Expertvillage videos all about carnivorous plants:
Feeding and more:
http://www.expertvillage.com/videos/pitcher-feeding.htm
Building a terrarium:
http://homegarden.expertvillage.com/videos/terrariums-selecting.htm
Propagation and more:
http://homegarden.expertvillage.com/videos/carnivorous-plant-propagation-division.htm

Answer 2

It needs to stay moist but not wet. Best way is to keep it in a little planter with holes on the bottom and put it in a jar full of rocks and water. You don't want the dirt to go into the water, just to stay above it, and preferably kind of seal off the jar so all the water doesn't evaporate. that will keep the dirt kind of moist and then water it occasionally. It likes sunlight so make sure it gets plenty of sun every day. It will go to sleep during the winter but come back to life next spring. I've heard ppl say you can feed them little pieces of meat but mine didn't seem to like that. Most people feed them drops of sugar-water. Alternatively you can ***** your finger and feed it drops of your blood but if it mutates into a large, talking, man-eating plant that goes on a muderous rampage, I assume no responsibility.