Adequate lighting is very important to keeping a Dionaea muscipula healthy. During their active growing season, Venus Fly Traps should receive a minimum of 12 hours of light (also known as a 12 hour photoperiod) with a minimum of 4 hours of direct light. In general, the more direct light the plant receives the healthier the plant will be.

The best place to grow Venus Fly Traps is outside year round. If you do this, choose an open area to put your plants in and you won't have to worry about making sure that the plant gets adequate light. They will get all the light that they need. Also, they will catch their own food if they are outside. If you really want to keep your little friend inside, then be sure to place it in a south, east or west facing windowsill that gets at least 4 hours of direct sunlight a day. Another alternative is to use artificial lighting. Venus Fly Traps can be very successfully grown in terrariums with artificial lighting. You can find many different kinds of expensive "plant" lights at your local nursery or hardware store, but many growers find success with regular fluorescent lights. If you use fluorescent lights, to ensure that the plant gets enough light, keep it within 8 inches of the light. The closer to the light the plant is the better.

Below is a picture of a setup of typical Venus Fly Traps in a terrarium. Notice the fluorescent lights just above the plants. In the photo, the plants are approximately 2 inches from the light.

If you just bought a Venus Fly Trap from the hardware store or other retailer where the plant was receiving very low intensity light and wasn't in direct sunlight at all, then you might want to slowly introduce the plant to direct sunlight or its leaves will probably burn. Start off by giving it an hour or so of direct sunlight for a few days, then increase the exposure to sunlight to a couple hours for a few days and continue to increase the Venus Fly Trap's exposure to sunlight until you can just leave it out in the sun all day. Alternatively, you could just put the plant in direct sunlight right out of the store. All of its leaves will probably burn and turn yellow or brown and then eventually black, but it won't be long before it starts sending out new leaves and these will be acclimated to the sun just fine. However, there is a small risk of killing the plant if you do just throw it out in the sun.

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flytraps
written by Tonya Marley, May 04, 2008

I just bought a flytrap and i dont know if its going to eat, do they just start eating?

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It will catch its own food
written by Matt, May 04, 2008

If you grow your flytrap outside it will catch all the food it needs on its own. It will also be able to get plenty of sunlight, which is important.

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