I just got a venus flytrap?

Question

i just got a venus flytrap and it hasent opend up yet

had it died or is it still eating something.

how long dose it take for it to open after it eats something?

Answer 1

i had a venus fly trap and it took a long time for it to open back up the plant wats for the bug to rote then eats it

Answer 2

DO NOT FORCE FEED THEM

Answer 3

It usually takes a day or two for a trap to open if it was closed with nothing in the trap.  If it has captured an insect, it can take up to two weeks before it has completed digesting the insect and reopens.

Here are some other tips for keeping your flytrap healthy that you may find useful:

You do not need to feed your fly trap anything other than sunlight. If you do feel like feeding it, don't feed it anything other than insects. The crickets that you feed your reptiles would be fine as long as they are small enough to fit in the traps and allow the traps to completely close. The rule of thumb is that the insect shouldn't be larger than 1/3 the length of the trap.

There are three major points to keeping a Venus fly trap healthy.

1) Sunlight - at least 4 hours of direct sunlight a day

2) Water - rain, distilled or reverse osmosis water only

3) Soil - Nutrient poor soil such as peat moss

Venus fly traps like lots of light. Try to give it at least 4 hours of direct sunlight a day. The more you can give it the better. It is best to grow your fly trap outside where it can get plenty of sun and catch its own food.

Venus fly traps need clean water. Usually tap water will not do. It is best to use distilled water, rain water, or reverse osmosis water. Venus fly traps need water with a TDS (total dissolved soilds) measurement of 50 ppm (parts per million) or less. In order to get this, you probably need to use distilled water or reverse osmosis water or rain water. Their soil should be kept wet at all times. It is best to use a tray and set the plant in about 1/2 inch of water. Humidity isn't that important. Fly traps can live fine in low humidity conditions. I have about a hundred plants and I live in Colorado where the humidity in the summer is very low. They do great so long as they get plenty of sunlight and clean water.

I would guess that your plant came potted already, so the media that it is potted in is probably fine. But if you need to repot it, which wouldn't be a bad idea, you should use a combination of peat moss and perlite.

Good luck with your fly trap and enjoy growing it!

You can read more about how to care for venus fly traps here:

http://www.flytrapcare.com

And if you have more questions, feel free to join the forum and as them there:

http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/