DO NOT feed your Venus Fly Trap anything other than insects. Under no circumstances should a Venus Fly Trap be fed something that it couldn't catch on its own in nature. First of all, this will likely make the trap turn black and die if it actually forms a seal around the meat and starts to digest it. Continually feeding a Venus Fly Trap stuff like chicken, beef or pork could actually end up killing the plant.

Secondly, it is unlikely that the trap will even seal completely to begin the digestion process because it requires live prey on the inside of the trap struggling to signal the trap to seal.

The only things you should feed your Venus fly traps are insects. Any kind of insect is fine. Flies, beetles, spiders, wasps, earwigs and pretty much anything that crawls or flies and is an insect is good.

The reality is that you don't actually need to feed your Venus Fly Trap anything other than lots of sunlight. If you grow it outside, it will catch all the food it needs on its own and get plenty of sun.

Comments (12)

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food other than bugs
written by carole, August 25, 2008

i don't know what to feed my fly trap .is their any other food's i can feed it (not bugs)?

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Re: food other than bugs
written by Matt, August 25, 2008

See the first sentence above "DO NOT feed your Venus Fly Trap anything other than insects." And also the last paragraph: "The reality is that you don't actually need to feed your Venus Fly Trap anything other than lots of sunlight. If you grow it outside, it will catch all the food it needs on its own and get plenty of sun."

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written by Tommyr, October 12, 2008

VFTs do NOT need to be fed. They will get all the bugs they need while outside. Actually, they get the majority of their food from Sunlight, bugs are like desert for them.

They should not be grown inside, they will not last long inside.

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written by nevada, April 11, 2009

my dad thought beetles were poisen to a vft thanks forn the tip

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written by latoya, May 01, 2009

i touched my venus fly trap and he mout close will it die it hasnt opened yet and i am worried there is also a black one in there i think it is dead should i cut ioff from the rest of them i six in all some havent opened yet.

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Thaks
written by gg, May 16, 2009

Thanks for the tips i just got mine yesterday. so i wanted to figure out how to take good care of it. i am also doing a science project on it. this will help me alot!!!! Thanks again!!!!!

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What to do!?
written by lizardman, July 14, 2009

We live in a northern climate, so it's hot outside right now but it will get snowy and cold in the winter. How can we keep our flytrap alive inside? Also, we tried to feed it a smear of aphids and we hit the trigger hairs to make it close and it won't! Any ideas? We got the tips about the water and we will start feeding it purified water right away. We only found your website today and so we'd allowed the flower stalk to exist for about a month. Many new little flytraps are coming up, but the old ones look weak and we don't have that gorgeous red colour at all.
Ideas?

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thanks
written by Jade, August 18, 2009

Thanks for the scoop! It will help! I think if you can't put them outside, just put them in front of a window that gets sun and feed it bugs once in a while

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wrong
written by Joe, November 04, 2009

SPIDERS AREN'T INSECTS!

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confused?
written by Tiffany Chambers, December 07, 2009

ok so i find this comes into controversy with the actual care packet i got with my Venus Flytrap. it clearly states to NOT used purified water, that tap water works just fine and that if bugs are scarce that some other meat (hamburger, hotdog, etc.) may be used. now i have hand fed this plant of mine and it is doing very well. it being winter and all sunlight is hard to come by. so this article leaves me with alot of confusion on the care of my plant.

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Re: confused
written by Matt, December 07, 2009

Tiffany,

Where did you get your care packet from? It's fairly well known that Venus flytraps need clean water (low in dissolved solids) and should not be fed anything that they wouldn't catch on their own in nature.

Matt

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Another Type of Food
written by Umut, June 18, 2010

I learned that if there's not a lot of bugs, you can give your VFT some fish food pellets.

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