FlyTrapCare Forums

This seems like a common question but I couldn't find the answer after searching around.

I've lived in a dorm for almost 2 years, and over the course of those 2 years I've seen maybe one fly and a couple gnats, so I think I'm going to have to bring outside food in. So how often should I feed it? Catching bugs and keeping them alive in a container to bring in to the VFT should be no problem.

Thanks

If your VFT gets tons of sun 6+ hours including the noon hour, you could feed every single trap and it should be fine. Caterpillars and other soft bodied insects are the best. That amount of sun will ensure that the VFT can metabolize the bugs faster than they can rot. If your plant gets less sun than that, I would cautiously only have one bug being digested by the plant at one time. If the traps are not turning black, I would increase the frequency a little.

A recommended size of prey is 1/3 of the trap size. But my plants can devour things of any size since they get 8+ hours of direct sun (7am till 7pm).

Hope this helps

Assuming that your plant gets plenty of good light, you don't ever need to feed it.

But what's the fun of having a VFT then?

i have about 5 hours + direct sunlight a day. but when i feed mine, i do it one trap at a time. e.g. i feed one trap a small garden spider, i wait usually the rest of the day to see how quick it reacted to the food inside its trap. then i might feed another trap that same day or usually the next day. i leave a break after 2 to 4 feeds for old traps to die and new ones to grow. but it always depends on your fly trap and how it is looked after, e.g number of hours of sun.

I just let the plant do what it wants to do...

if it catches something, it catches it, if it doesn't it doesn't...
no point in giving it flys.. U just lose traps that way...

If you really want, you can get crickets from any well stocked pet store to feed it. Better that way, then yoou know no pesticides have been used.

Adam wrote:But what's the fun of having a VFT then?

I know for many people, that's the appeal. For me, I just love looking at them, taking photos of them and seeing how healthy and beautiful I can make them.

I think they look the best with all of their traps open and you can see their nice red coloration. If they are well fed, you don't get to see that.

Luckily I'm on the south facing side of the dorm so I get sun into my room for most of the day. I guess I'll just have to experiment with it and maybe feed it a couple times a month since I don't get a ton of sun and putting it outside isn't really an option.

I just let my plants get on with it. Some VFT's struggle to catch there pray like Cup Trap and Cudo but both of these plants grow very well without food.

you don't really need to feed your venus flytrap.. some people think that feeding them will give them energy but the truth is that the plant get's energy form direct sunlight.. this is where they get confused.. they think there pets or animals because animals get energy form food..but there PLANT'S all plants get there energy form sunlight it's called photosynthesis the process the plant take to make suger for energy.. they use bug's for a source of fertilizer so thought out your plant's life they don't need to be feed but that's up to you but what you really need is sunlight for energy.

i still dont get what the different is over feeding your plant, and the plant overeating by itself.
anyone got and explanation?

kevinqwe wrote:i still dont get what the different is over feeding your plant, and the plant overeating by itself.
anyone got and explanation?

Venus Flytraps can live on sunlight alone although they may not be at their best. Insects they catch supply all kinds of nutrients that Venus Flytraps can't get from their native soil nor from the sun (by photosynthesis). Insects round out the diet of Flytraps, just like all kinds of vitamins and other things in small amounts round out the diet of humans, although humans could probably live on just rice or potatoes or a very limited diet of some kind.

A very healthy Flytrap that lives with plenty of sun and not too much water (they need water and need to be moist, of course, but too much water tends to make them grow fast but weak) can catch and digest insects in all of its still functioning traps and be fine. A weaker plant grown indoors in less light may become a little stressed if it is given too much to eat at one time, that's all. To a weak plant, just one bug supplies a big boost and is sufficient to help it become more healthy or robust. For a mature healthy Flytrap grown in plenty of light, they can be voracious, eat lots of bugs and become more and more healthy, vigorous and robust.

I live in an area of the country that has hundreds of dairies. Hundreds of dairies breed billions and billions of flies. My Flytraps get a whole lot of high desert sun and catch a whole lot of flies. When I place a tray of flytraps outside, within 15-20 minutes there are flies all around them, sipping the nectar the Flytraps produce (just beneath the cilia ("fingers" or "teeth"). Even the ones that manage to escape a trap or two come back for more and usually eventually get caught.

Anyway, just be conservative when feeding a newly transplanted Venus Flytrap, or one that has been grown in stressful conditions, or a small one or one that has been grown too wet or with too little light; and then feed it more as the conditions improve and the plant's health improves.

Everyone has their own comments and advice, so remember that these are the comments of just one grower. Everyone grows their plants differently, and Venus Flytraps do adapt to and thrive under a wide variety of conditions.

Best wishes,
Steve

but can they get injured by overeating themself?

No, whatever they can catch on their own is fine.