Most carnivorous plants can be grown as outdoors patio plants or indoors houseplants with no dome or terrarium in humidity of 15 percent or more. Temperatures of 90-100 degrees is about the max for most of them and they would not like high winds. Venus Flytraps are very much like garden plants and do best outside in an open pot in the highest intensity sun you can find. If you have to grow them inside, use at least 12000 lumens of florescent light for 12-16 hours a day 4-5 inches from them and place them in a south window with direct sunlight. Even that is minimal light for their needs.

count_d, I purchased my plant from Tony at ExoticPlantsPlus.com the home of Par O Bek Orchids! http://www.exoticplantsplus.com/ thespirals, I keep it growing up by using the metal chain of the hanging basket. By moving some of the leaves to the inside of the chain and letting the plant then rest against it, the plant grows more upwards. Once it gets past the metal chain I have large s hooks which I then use orchid flower spike clips to clip the nep vine to the s hook. You do not need to cut your nep. I do it when it reaches the ceiling which is 3 to 4 feet from the hanging basket. I would not cut it till you have new growth at the bottom of your plant which you say you do. My first time cutting the plant I was about 12" above the soil for my cut. Cutting the plant usually causes more basal shoots to form which will make your plant bushier, as they grow. Also usually a node below the cut will start to grow. Seeing the effects of cutting the plant from the first time, the second time I cut it was much closer to the soil, but I had several new basal points growing which were several inches tall by then. You end up with several new plants to trade away if you try to root your cuttings. Below is a link to rooting nep cuttings. This is the way I do mine and have great success, only have lost 1 cutting. Here is a link that might be useful: Rooting nep cuttings

Ok. Here's the rack in the kitchen: And a close look into the fishtank / terrarium: How much light actually hits a surface is a function of the distance from the bulb. The closer the bulb is to that whatever- The more light that whatever gets. Here's a pic: At 1 foot we've got 1 lumen, right? Let's call that 1 square foot of surface. Now move that bulb 2 feet away from the surface and suddenly that same amount of light is trying to cover four square feet of surface, thus effectively we have 1/4 lumen per square foot. The further away the bulb is the smaller the amount of light you get on the same size surface. So. Those shop-lights at Lowes or Home Depot? They're good for a shop. Not so much for growing plants. The 'standard' shop-light needs 2 forty watt bulbs (not included) so you get 80 watts of output spread over 4'.. 20 watts per foot. Yes, the ballast comes with the light & the whole thing is usually less than $10, but you have to buy the bulbs. Some don't even come with a reflector so 1/2 the light goes... Somewhere else. They're Great for a shop or garage where you want some light over a large area- They suck for a spot where you want every bit of light you can get on a small area. Those little 'spiral' bulbs you see hanging in the pic? 23 watts each from a point source. So I've got 60 watts hanging about 4" from the plants in the terrrarium. If I was using a shop-light sure I could just get one & use it to light the whole shelf on that rack. But if the terrarium is 1' wide so I would only have 1' of shop-light above it.. So 20 watts of light & since I can't lower that light into the terrarium the source would be about 12" away from the plants. Back to the 'light output' pic above for a minute- 60 watts at 4" Vs. 20 watts at 12". With the shop-light I've got 1/3rd as much light output 8" further away... Not good. Plus a box of 4 'twirly' bulbs is about $10... Same price (without the bulbs) as that shop-light. Yes, if you are going to use those twirly bulbs you need the sockets & a cord. I'm using a 12' extension cord- One of those ones with 3 plugs on the end... They're $2 at Home Depot. The sockets can be hard to find- I got mine at the local plumbing & electrical shop for $2 each. Just split that extension cord & slap 'em on: Makes it pretty easy to hang them wherever & raise / lower on a string. Put your hand under the bulb at the plant level- If you can leave your hand there comfortably then the bulb isn't too close & won't burn those plants. So $10 for 4 twirly bulbs + $2 for the cord + $8 for the sockets + $20 for the whole setup. Want a timer? Cheap ones are $5. So $25 for 80 watts of light? That's hard to beat. The whole idea is to get the most light possible as close as possible to the plants. Which is why I bought a 250 watt metal-halide setup for a fishtank.. I'm in the process of building a reflector for it & whence finished I'll replace those twirly bulbs with it. Have to have it about a foot away as it puts out lots of heat, but I'll still have more light hitting those plants. If you are wondering- My 250 watt setup will cost me $40 for the ballast (ebay) & $20 for the bulb- so $60 for the entire light. Now I got the ballast as a "kit".. Had to put it together. Also have to build a reflector & a socket for the bulb- Which has been a bit tedious. With my time & everything call it $100. Not too bad for 250 watts. Years ago I built a big (ish) terrarium with a bunch of twirly bulbs & some shop-lights.. Even a misting system controlled by a humidistat. (there's a how-to coming by special request about controlling something with a humidistat) check it out here if you wish its at the bottom of the page. I didn't seal the bottom very well apparently as it began to leak after about 6 months.. And allll those bulbs created way too much heat which I had to get rhid of which screwed up the humidity. A learning experience. ~Oh. In the plant rack pic? That round circline bulb on the far right? (hiding behind the decrepit passion flower) Ya don't bother with those. They're expensive, only 22 watts and frankly kindof suck. For ease of use + price the 23 watt twirly bulbs are your best bet.

A lot depends on how much you want to spend. To me, dealing with an outage means we maintain essentials, and not luxuries. That means we keep the gas furnace, water pump, freezer, and refrigerator running, and provide a little CF light in each main room. That's it. OK, it doesn't take that much to keep the computer modem and network up, and a laptop doesn't use much energy, so that too. Maybe a small television set. But that's it. I mean it. :) I don't expect to have all the comforts of home when the power is off. If we can comfortably read our books, take showers, and so on - that's enough for us. We can cook regardless, thanks to the gas stove (just light with a match), and the water heater is gas too. Enough power to run an electric space heater - no way would I pay for that kind of extra genset capacity. We have a gas furnace and a woodstove with backup-powered fan, what else do we really need? I say let the whiny family members whine. Running an electric heater is redundant anyway, if your backup power is a genset. You have an engine making waste heat. Why not just duct in the heat from its radiator if you want some extra? As for fuel, I've seen natural gas fueled gensets that sat for years nearly unmaintained, and started right up when they were needed. The downside is that in a really dire situation nat gas service may be interrupted. But if it's that bad, you're also going to have trouble getting more gasoline or Diesel fuel when you run low. And large capacity onsite liquid fuel storage is a hassle, for where to put it, and keeping it fresh and safe. If you absolutely have to store fuel onsite, at least LPG won't go stale or evaporate. You could also go all out and install a grid-intertie PV system with backup battery and (optionally) genset. Then you can (eventually) pay for your backup system through the reduction in your electric bill from the energy your PV generates year-round.