Just be patient.It can take a long time for them to redden.
And just the traps will turn red, not the petiole.
And green is fine too!

Yeah, I know only the inside of the trap will turn red. Under the right conditions, how long does it take a trap to redden once it opens up?

From this question, I'm really just trying to see if you can have a healthy plant without it being bright red.

I had bought a venus flytrap at wal-mart with green traps.I left it in full all day and by the time it was dark the traps were already light red on the inside!So I would assume it would take 4-6 days if you give it really bright light.
- Adrian

Yeah, mine all get light-ish red, but then tend to stay there.

Would it be possible to leave them in the sun all day?

Yes, a Flytrap can be healthy if it is not red, but the range of health is greater for those that receive more light. As a way of illustrating, redness really is not a means of determining a plant's health, however; a Flytrap with some reddening in the trap is able to attract flies more easily and is indicative of the plant receiving more light than another plant that is green (unless your growing Dentes which do not possess red pigment). That is a general indicator though since not all Flytraps will show the same pattern of redness or even the same degree of reddening in various intensities of light.

Mine take a week or so to develop good, red (actually more of a burgandy) coloration on their traps, however; mine are under 12000 lumens of florescent light since I do not have good conditions to grow them outside right now and my windows are wholly inadequate. Mine obtain red coloration not only on the inside of their traps, but on the outside as well. Some of the smaller plants are shaded by the larger ones and develop only a slight tinge of pink inside their traps. In any event, they are healthy as they are growing, but they are slow and rather weak for Flytraps due to the lower intensity light I can give them as opposed to full sun all day.

Adult plant 1 inch from 12000 lumens florescent light for 16 hours a day.

{{gwi:562762}}

Young plant with 1/2 inch traps under the same light, but about 3 inches from the light. It is growing far enough away from the adult that it gets more light than the other overshadowed plantlets.

{{gwi:562764}}

Mutant Hybrid:
I'm really struck with the difference in the length of the guard hairs between your plants and mine. If you're still reading this thread (or anyone else who would like to comment), do you think this is a genetic difference or related to light intensity/type or some other growing condition? My plants are being grown outdoors with sun most of the day, in a cool climate (first killing frost was last night).

I have grown these plants under long-tube fluorescent lights in the past, but I don't recall the guard hairs becoming shorter. But I always had trouble growing them under lights, so it was only a temporary measure, and I think mine were about 6 inches from the lights, so much further away than yours.

Anyway, interesting difference, here's a close-up of mine, taken 3 days ago (remains of a house-fly in the bottom trap provides a rough scale):
{{gwi:562767}}

Oh don55,
Those short gaurd hair don't grow on typical flytraps.
Those that mutant hybrid has are the 'Dente' form.
The Dente form grows short, trianglular guard hairs.
They are really common in cultivation and you can get some cheap ones at cobraplants if you like them.
- Adrian

I had noticed the differences in cilia between Flytraps.

Actually, mine are stated as being typical form. The Dentes tend not to produce red pigment but you might be thinking of Dentate Flytraps which mine do closely resemble. In this case, all Venus Flytrap cultivars are genetically similar to the typical variety, but their is great diversity in the typicals due to the range of traits that people try to cause to present in their plants over several generations. Mine might have gotten crossed with a Dentate over several seasons or it might just be presenting with genetic potential for a variety of cultivars should I want to keep seedlings and cross them for particular traits, like short teeth or all red traps. Mine also occassionally produced four trigger hairs and double tined teeth (Sawtooth cultivar), common enough in many Flytraps, but to bred that into them over several generations would produce plants that present those traits most of the time. In your case, I would bet you got your Flytraps at a hardware store as those with longer cilia (teeth) or guard hairs are the cloned stock from particular nurseries that tend to have long ciliated traps. Basically, Flytraps are becoming like dog breeds in that a German Shepard and Dachshund look very different from one another but are genetically very similar and can even have puppies together, maybe...

Thanks folks for the quick replies and interesting information!

It's been a long time (15-20 years?) since I got the original flytrap, but I think mutant hybrid is correct that it came from a local supplier such as a hardware or nursery or grocery store.

That "original" flytrap has been multiplied over the years into many more, but all from the same plant. It seems that if I forget to cut off the flower stalk in the spring, then each plant divides into numerous smaller plants after flowering -- a good way to increase plant numbers, but tedious because they all start off much smaller than the parent. If I clip the flower stalk (which is my standard procedure for the past decade or so), then bulb division is significantly reduced, and I end up with much bigger plants.

I don't know much about the various flytrap cultivars, but it seems like this forum would be a great place to learn about that.
-Don

There are many common flytrap cultivars:
Big mouth
Red dragon
Dentate
Red pirrahna(Red like red dragon short hairs like dente)
This is a great site to veiw the cultivars:
http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq2680.html
I highly recomend this site because it has pictures of all the cultivars.
Please let me know if you visit the site.
- Adrian

Thanks Adrian.
Yes I visited the site... since I'm a member of the ICPS I guess I should have thought to visit their website myself. Anyhow, great link, lots of good info. It also answered my next question... how big can a flytrap get? This year, mine seem to have peaked at about 32 mm, which is pretty typical (most years they peak anywhere from 30-33 mm, biggest I've ever had is 39 mm). Those appropriately-named B52s, which get to 50 mm, sound pretty interesting.
-Don

carnivorousplants:

Yeah I visit that site quite a bit too. I like the distinction they make about the Green Dragon and Dentate Flytrap cultivars. For some reason, I thought that Dente was the all green form. I never paid that much attention to the cultivars myself since they are all just Flytraps to me. Anyway, I must have seen a mistakenly labelled plant that was actually a Green Dragon.

Trap size has been about 31-38 mm for me as well.

hello,
i have a pitcher plant along with 2 sets of venus fly traps evenly spaced out away from the pitcher. i've had the nemethis (pitcher) for 2 weeks now and it hasnt grown a single trap/pitcher since then. i believe i am accidentally watering it too much. i have also just rescently brought the two sets of vft's along with a tank and a light that produces vitamin D along with other nutrients. for fertilizer, i have miraclegrow potting mix along with a layer of natural coconut fiber (naturebed). im watering it from the corners of the tank, but i fear as if im watering it too much. in otherwords.... HELP!!! oh and... should i buy a heat lamp for the tank? okay... what would you prefer me use/do in my condition for the betterness of my terrariums?
-Chris

Hello,
I done something really stupid. Okay, here's what I did. My Venus Fly Trap had dirt in its trap and I tried to squeeze it vertically to have it open its trap to release the dirt. What do you know, the trap opened and the trap flew off the stem and well... is broke. How long will it take for a new trap to develope in place of the one I 'broke'? Oh that and I have another question, I have set of VFTs that are green and look 'ripe, i guess the word is'.. and the traps are fully developed, and partially opened. So, I put a cricket in the trap and it didn't clamp. Is it still growing and not yet ready to trap food yet or is there a problem?

Hi chrisv,
The damged trap will not grow back, but it will develop many new ones.
It takes my flytrap 4-7 days to form a new trap.Don't worry about the traps that don't close, store-bought flytraps sometimes produce traps that don't close since they are tissue cultured.Now for the nepenthes, your plant just has to get into stable conditions, then it will start to make new pitchers, which will usually take a week to mature.Nepenthes don't like their soil as wet as other carnivorous plants.Whatever you do, don't fertilize the soil.You can only fertilize the leaves or pitchers.If you have it in fertilized soil, repot it immediatly.It is'nt neccecary to buy a heat lamp since the humidity of the terrarium will provide enough heat.A lamp is only neccecary if you keep the tank where there is'nt enough light.The soil for nepenthes should be moist, not soggy.
- Adrian

chrisv 89,

Also, the Venus Flytraps will not need a terraium to grow as they are not tropicals. They do not have to have high humidity. The miracle gro moss and coconut fiber will kill your Flytraps in a couple of weeks. Fertlizer as carnivorousplants stated, rots carnivorous plant roots and kills them since they live in unfertilized acid soil. The moss to use comes in a big square bale of dry moss that states premium Canadian sphagnum peat. Little bags of moss and soil usually have fertilizer and is not good for carnivorous plants.

I think the reason you placed the Venus Flytraps in orchid mix is that the label on the pots you buy in stores gives all the wrong information so that the plant will die and you have to go buy another. Throw the label away and look up some good info about your plants at places like this forum, cobraplants.com, californiacarnivores.com, and books like Savage Garden by D'Amato.

The Nepenthes is a tropical and can be grown indoors in a bright window or under florescent light. Just be patient and give it time. It will not mind being in coconut husk, but fertilized moss will harm it too, so repot it in unfertilized moss and use the coconut husk as drainage mixed in the moss well.

For the Venus flytraps, repot them into unfertilized moss with half perlite or horicultural silica sand for drainage. Get the Flytraps as much light as possible as they are more like garden plants and thrive in direct sun outside. Slowly acclimate the plants to low humidity by placing a clear plastic bag over them after you pot them in a regular pot with drainage in the bottom. Punch holes in the plastic bags every 3 days until the bags are so full of holes they do not hold humidity after two weeks, then take them off.

Acclimate the Flytraps to high light by placing the pots in a morning sun window while they have bags on them. After the bags are off, place the Flytraps in an all day sun window for a week, then place them outside or place a strong florescent light over them about 4-6 inches from the leaves and of about 6000-12000 lumens for 12-16 hours a day.

Water the plants with distilled, rain, or reverse osmosis water only as tap water usually contains too many minerals that will kill your plants.

Terrariums are not necessary for carnivorous plants of most species and can lead to mold and bad drainage of water, as you are experiencing. The Nepenthes can also live in a pot as the Venus Flytraps are, just place a bag over it and slowly acclimate it like you can for the Flytraps to low humidity and it will be fine. Just be patient and give the Nepenthes time. It will need to be watered like a houseplant every 3-4 days and no water left in the tray.

The Flytraps will need about 1/4 of their pot in water so they stay moist as they like more water than the Nepenthes.

In winter, the Nepenthes will need to stay indoors and warm with plenty of light for 12 hours a day to keep healthy.

The Flytraps will need to go dormant in winter as they are temperate plants from North Carolina. In November they will slow down in growth if given sunlight and go to sleep when the first cold hits them. Keep them about 40 degrees in temperature all winter and when Spring days grow longer, they will come out of dormancy and start growing again after February. Venus Flytraps do not need to be fed... especially if they have little light and fertilized soil to contend with. Get them good light and unfertilized soil first, then be patient. After the plants have what they need, they will be able to grow properly and catch flies on their own.