FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Let me preface this by saying that I have been cultivating carnivorous plants since June of this year:

Honestly, you DO NOT HAVE TO FEED FLYTRAPS. These wonders of nature are just plants, really. The food(bugs, worms, slugs, etc) are just "extras". The bulk of the nutrients are from photosynthesis.

If you were to grow a venus flytrap indoors, and NOT feed it any bugs whatsoever, it could survive as long as it has the 3 VITAL things it needs: water, sunlight, soil.

WATER: distilled, rain water, reverse osmosis or anything with a low(I mean very low)ppm reading.
SUNLIGHT: from four, as a minimum, to sixteen hours of sunlight.
SOIL: nutrient poor soil: peat moss, or long fiber peat moss soil(mixed with either perlite or quartz to prevent the soil from compacting around the roots). NO MIRACLE GRO OR FERTILIZED ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!.

I know that it is very, very tempting to want to feed these buggers, but to be honest: feeding these munchers is not mandatory. Seriously.

Focus more on the soil, the sunlight, the water and your plant will be just fine.(Eating bugs is just a really kick ass way of adding fertilizer, if you want to think of it that way, but it isn't necessary or mandatory at all.)

Actually, I think if you're growing indoors it's probably a good idea to feed the VFTS sometimes. In the wild, VFTs do not grow in the highly sterile environment lots of people provide at home (ie, 0ppm water, washed and rinsed LFSM). They get some nutrients from the soil (not a lot, but some) and a bit more from bugs and probably a vast majority from good ol photosynthesis.

Growing the VFT in what amounts to a hermetically sealed container indoors means it's very rare they'll catch their own food meaning they miss out on the boost outdoor plants get. Giving them a small cricket or two or maybe a wingless fruitfly or something could only be a good thing I reckon. They may respond to a little bit of feeding with increased vigor or size... it's common knowledge now that feeding pretty much any species of Drosera does this.

That said, I'd avoid mealyworms. They have a high fat content which I don't think is good for the health of the traps. To make the insects easier to catch and place on the plant, just throw them in the freezer for two or three minutes.