My venus fly trap mouth isnt closing?

Question

im trying to feed my fly trap a dead ant. I move it aroun in the mouth with a tooth pick by the hairs in the mouth but it wont close. The mouth grew and opened up about a month ago is it to young of a mouth to feed? Whats wrong

Answer 1

The Venus Flytrap begins its hunt for dinner by secreting sweet-smelling nectar. When an insect lands on the head of the trap, it looks for the source of that yummy smell and walks right into the plant's open jaw. If the plant is lucky, the insect will promenade around the trap long enough to touch two of the usual three trigger hairs 2 located inside the jaw. When it does, the trap quickly snaps shut, trapping the victim inside. The victim's struggles only stimulate the plant to shut tighter, sealing the mouth and filling it with digestive enzymes3 rather like saliva. These enzymes dissolve the hapless insect, turning it into supper for the Venus Flytrap. After five to ten days, the trap will reopen, having licked the plate clean, so to speak, leaving only the indigestible skeleton behind.

Remember these points:

Never feed your Flytrap more often than once a week. Every ten days is even better.

Artificially springing the traps, (with your finger, for example) drains the plant's energy, and can cause the head to become less sensitive and possibly die.

Live food is preferred, as the struggling insect aids in the digestive process. However, dead bugs can be fed to your flytrap providing they died of natural means - ie, not by pesticide. Crickets can be bought in the local pet shop and cut up to be fed to your plant. You can feed them to your plant using tweezers. Try to avoid touching the plant yourself.

Make sure that whatever you feed your plant is no larger than around a third of the size of the trap you are feeding it to. Large insects, as well as some ants, can cause leaf-burn, killing the trap and stressing the plant.

P.S.--After reading this info, your plant is not too young but the ant needed to be alive to stimulate closure and may have been, relatively, too big.  Also, you may have caused some damage to the sensitive trigger hairs. If the plant is out in the open with access to tiny bugs, it doesn't need your help to feed but if it's in a terrarium, then it needs you to supply it's food.

Answer 2

you don't need to feed it.  It will feed itself.  If you want to test its closing ability, touch it with your finger tip. Likely a dead ant would not have the right proteins needed to get that thing to close.