FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I feed my flytrap a fly and the trap closes. it doesnt look like it is sealing completly. the next day i look at the trap, and it is open. this has happened a few times with dead flies and live ones. and it has happend with a brand new trap! twice! It cant digest them that fast can it? what does this mean? help!!

Hey plantfreak1. An insect must be squirming in a closed trap for about 20 minutes before the trap begins to seal up. As the insect squirms, it is constantly activating those inner trigger hairs thus telling the trap to continually shut. If you put a recenty killed bug or one that is vaguely squirming in the trap, very gently massage the outer lobes of your trap. This simulates the consistant squirming a live bug would be doing. Do this every 5 minutes or so up to 20 minutes. You should see a good seal developing. Digestion of the insect should take about a week, give or take.

Hope this helps !

any other tips? i need information like a cactus needs sunlight.

I would simply say to learn the basic care of a VFT, look no further than the opening page of this webside. All you need to know about growing VFTs are there. Matt (the creator of this website) has shared his experiences with these articles as do many well experienced CP growers in these forums. In any case, if you have a grey question that isn't truely black and white in those opening articles, simply ask away in these forums. You're bound to get an answer and some helpful advise along the way .

U can let it close and then take ur fingers and pinch it closed softly like 10 times and that works. The older the trap, the faster it will close and seal.