FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello all!
This is my first post on this forum, so forgive me for any mistakes

I have recently ( a few days ago) purchased my very first venus flytrap. The plant was sold at a local supermarket together with sundews and purple pitcher plant. They were simply advertised as ''carnivore plants.'' I bought a venus flytrap and a purple pitcher ( I dearly regret not buying the sundew! ). I inspected all the plants offered at the store, and none of the vft were in too great condition. I wasn't sure how soon I'd get the chance to buy one again, so i hurried to buy them. Now I admit I might have bitten off more than I could chew.
Namely, the plant gas begun wilting. I have taken it out of the plastic dome and placed it on the window. The window doesn't get direct sunlight, so, for a couple of hours a day, I place it on the balcony so that it may get direct sun. I must add that I am currently on vacation, so I'm residing in a seaside town with high temperatures and humid air. I have watered it with distilled water, and recently managed to free it of the tall container so that it may be in a plate with water ( once it had stopped ''drinking'' i took it out). The pot is quite small, and I have tried inspecting the rhizome, but I'm afraid of causing too much stress. Some heads were already black, but now more are turning yellow. Being misguided and worried, I fed two heads as the result of reading an old botany book. Alas! Too late did I notice that the book also advises one to feed it red meat ... As I'm not that uneducated, the food in question were two small ants ( I made sure they were smaller than 1/3 of the head) and I have noticed they have loosened their grip on the, already dead, ants.
All in all, the plant might have suffered either sunburn or short lack of water. I made sure to stress it as little as possible. There are still young leaves sprouting, so I'm hoping that the adult leaves could wilt but that the new ones stay healthy.
So what should I do? Could repotting help? Or perhaps less direct sun exposure? I'll provide pictures below.

Thank you in advance!

Being store bought plants, you would want to acclimate them into direct sunlight in a span of an week to an month. The soil also looks a little suspicious to me, get it checked and make sure its something that is nutrient free. Worst case scenario, its some mineral rich soil and you would need to replant it. If its not the case, I recommend keeping it in its pot for a few weeks till it starts to recover. Venus flytraps adore light and will take as much as you can get it, but like I said, acclimate it so it wont get sunburned. Start with 30 mins to and hour of light in the beginning, and slowly work your way up. And the motto for watering is not wet, but moist. Like a wrung out sponge. not a soaked one. And for the first few weeks water from the bottom to top, not top to bottom. Its a stressed plant, so there might be a chance for rhizome rot if watered from the top while stressed. Dont bother with feeding for now, just focus on giving it the optimal conditions. Just to make it easier, here are some bullet points.
1. Slowly acclimate to sunlight to avoid sunburn, when acclimated properly, give them as much direct sunlight as possible
2. If the growing medium isnt peat moss, sand, perlite, or any other nutrient poor soil, the minerals will burn the roots
so you will need to repot. There are alot of videos out there, but I recommend gently taking the whole thing out of the pot for minimal disturbance and removing all the soil from the plant and soaking the roots of the plant in distilled water for about 30 mins to further remove any soil. Get some orchid moss and repot the plant in that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J66xvISKYgk
orchid moss is long fibered sphagum by the way if you are confused.
3. Moist not wet, and water from bottom to top by putting it in a tray with distilled water 1/4 of the way up.
4. Dont worry about feeding until it starts to pep up
5. Dont stress it out by touch it, triggering the traps, etc
There is alot better information to be found in here
http://www.flytrapcare.com/venus-fly-trap-growing
Im in no way shape or form an pro at this, so if I am wrong the great peeps in this forum will correct me
And if i may ask, what is the hardiness zone in where you are living in? This will be important to the flytrap
Make sure to research on your own as well, and happy growings nick

Many thanks, saltyop!
The hardiness zone of the area I'm in is 8-9 (mediterranean), and when I'm back home it'll be 8a, if I'm correct.
Today is sunday, so most shops around here are closed, but as soon as monday rolls up, I'll take the plant to the local agriculture shop to discuss new pot size and planting medium. This looks to be 100% peat moss, but I could be wrong.
My best, albeit uneducated, guess is that it got sunburned. The more I read up, the less I know . Many internet sources seem to contradict eachother and books tell me to feed it.... hamburgers . This seems to be the safest place to do research, which I should have done prior. I hope the little thing can hold out 'till then. The last thing I want is to be an irresponsible plant owner.
Thanks again

No problem nicky. Thanks for your swift reply. The hardiness zone you are at is perfect for flytrap so you are in luck btw. People here would lose a limb for that, cause that means much less maintenance. It does indeed sounds like it was sunburned, and glad to hear thats it's a hundred percent peat moss, that will do fine. High temps and good humidity sounds wonderful, just remember that flytraps are not bog/swamp plants. Moist not wet. I hope you are planning to keep it outside, because that would mean you get to take the full advantage of your hardiness zone and most of the time flytraps will grow best outside. I wish your fella the best, and don't let him get on a american diet
ps. googled Zagreb, Croatia cause curious and damn you live in a beautiful town, your flytrap is loving the view no doubt

Thank you! I'm sure he'll love the 12th floor breeze

It looks like it was in shock from being moved to lower humidity. I know you said it is humid there, but if the plant was probably acclimated to 90-100% humidity and just got dehydrated when you moved it out. There may also be some signs of sunburn, but it looks pretty good overall. I have a new one in the process of acclimating that is looking much worse right now.

saltyop wrote:The soil also looks a little suspicious to me, get it checked and make sure its something that is nutrient free. Worst case scenario, its some mineral rich soil and you would need to replant it.

It looks like sphagnum peat they're commonly sold in to me. They're sold in small containers not meant for extended growth though, so better safe (to repot) than sorry anyway.

Thank you for your reply, xr280xr!

The plant seems to have stopped wilting. The last of the yellow leaves died off, but the rest is looking quite green, so I'm super happy. Glad to hear whats happening is sort-of normal
Just to make sure, would you wait until the shock wears off to repot, or would it perhaps be better to wait through fall and winter before the end of dormancy?

Glad it's doing well! I prefer to put them in a bigger pot right away before the shock but I guess I would guess it would be best to wait until near the end of dormancy as long as you're careful not to let it dry out and not to get too frozen in the winter. Those are much bigger threats in a small pot than they are in a larger one.

I know I'm late to the party but your plant seemed like it wasn't in any danger. Again, like what xr280xr said, it looks like your plant was just adjusting to low humidity. All in all, your plant looked very healthy, even if it looked a bit limp!

I'm glad to hear that your plant stopped wilting. I would repot immediately. It looks like your plant is in pure peat moss which is not ideal and again, your plant looks very healthy so I wouldn't worry about anything. If you're really concerned about any risks, you can wait a week but I don't think you have anything to be concerned about.

Many thanks, Alan, and sorry for the late reply!
I'm thankful to everyone who gave me advice. I must admit I was a bit disheartened when it began wilting, but now I'm sure everything will be alright
Tomorrow is when I'm heading home. I'll try to make the car ride as stress-free as possible for the plants. The pitcher plant will most likely go into the little dome it came in, but the vft may be sitting in my hands the entire ride.