FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I bought a a baby Venus flytrap on Sunday, and the traps aren't even an inch long. I crushed a large black ant, and fed it to my fly trap the day I got it. The trap closed, but the next morning, the trap opened again. When I came home in the afternoon, the trap closed again slightly. I know it can eat because when I put it outside for sunlight, I'm pretty sure it caught a bug. Help!

A trap wont fully close on its own by placing a dead insect in it, if you put a dead insect in it you will have to gently massage the closed trap to make the trap think there is something moving inside.

Also ants don't totally dissapear you still see their exoskeleton in the trap after it opens back up.

branpera wrote:Also ants don't totally dissapear you still see their exoskeleton in the trap after it opens back up.

Yeah, I know that, but it's the whole ant. Like, nothing was eaten whatsoever. Thank you though!

Did you recently repot the plant?
It takes energy from the plant to close and open traps, if recently repotted, it would be
weak due to acclimation to it's new invironment and the traps may act funny.

I noticed that after potting a plant, the traps are sometimes inactive and will not shut
even if a live fly goes in.
Traps that got shut in shipping will either open half way, or turn black.
When the plant gets acclimated, the traps start to work but each one will open and
close a certain number of times, then it will die off and be replaced by younger ones.