FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I got my venus fly trap about 2 weeks ago and it is growing quite a bit, but it is not red. It has a few red spots like on the center of the leaf and the edge of the trap. Is there any reason why there is so much green and so little red. Im growing it indoors in an old aquarium. Its getting lots of light. Im using a flourescent light if that has anything to do with it. Please let me know what i need to do to get the solid red color.

Day 1


Day 11


Since its in an aquarium, these are the best pics I can get.

Red varieties (and many other cultivars) don't really show their true characteristics the best until later in the growing season. Also, a switch to natural light could help if you have the opportunity.

hey. I.ve just ordered myself a little red dragon. Awaiting delivery! Cant wait! Do let me know how you get on with yours. Regarding your plant, mayb you could attach a pic. That would help the guys answer your question accuratly. See you around. Oh.. I wonder if my new one will be rather green as well , if its to do with the time of year?? Hmmm ... Emma

I know Adam posted pictures of his Red Dragon as it was coming out of dormancy. The new leaves that it was putting out were green (it had some older surviving leaves from dormancy that were red). Don't worry about it, it will probably color up later on in the growing season.

Ya one of the leaves are completely red, it was the only leaf that it had when I got it. It seemed kinda deformed because the trap wasn't tilted back. It was still facing the center of the plant. That leaf is starting to die, but new leaves are growing very rapidly.

Hello and welcome to FlytrapCare.

It appears that your plant is under artificial lighting and that it is actually quite far from the lights as well. Both of these things will probably prevent your plant from getting a lot of color. Though, as many others have said, it should color up better later in the growing season (assuming it's getting natural sunlight).

Should I take it out of the aquarium and put it in a pot and have it grow outside. I want it to look as good as possible and be as healthy as possible. There isnt really any safe place in my house due to my cats. It is only about 6 inches from the light, is that too far?

Jarhead11 wrote:Should I take it out of the aquarium and put it in a pot and have it grow outside. I want it to look as good as possible and be as healthy as possible.

If you want it to look as good as possible and be as healthy as possible, then yes, you should definitely take it out of the terrarium, pot it up in a deep insulated pot (insulated beverage cups work well) and put it somewhere that gets a ton of sun.

Water it with distilled water enough to keep the soil moist but not sopping wet and by July your plant will look incredible.

thanks Matt. I live in Texas so do you think it could effectively be grown outside? And do you recommend growing them outside or inside?

Even though I'm not Matt, I'm actually a mind reader So, Matt says:

Yes they can be effectively grown in Texas and if you have the ability you should grow your VFTs outside. They'll get better sunlight and will be much less prone to getting mold growing with them.

95slvrZ28 wrote:Even though I'm not Matt, I'm actually a mind reader So, Matt says:

Yes they can be effectively grown in Texas and if you have the ability you should grow your VFTs outside. They'll get better sunlight and will be much less prone to getting mold growing with them.

Thank you very much. Tomorrow, ill get my VFT in a pot and have it growing outside in a sunny area. How big do Red Dragon VFTs get?

Jarhead11 wrote:How big do Red Dragon VFTs get?

They're an average sized plant. The traps get to be about an inch in size and the overall plant size is somewhere in the 6 inch range (from one side of the plant to the other) on a full grown plant.

are you in the united states? sorry i didnt read th4e whole post and am typing freakishly fast, but if you do pot it and put it outside and it will love you.

when i got my red dragons they were mostly green with a little red.

once they got plenty of light the transformation was amazing