Hi caelyth,
Those leaves dying are just part of it's life cycle,
it will produce new leaves as soon it gets some warm temps.
And the drying tendrils are common and caused by the dryness of winter.
Since nepenthes are tropical,you can bring them inside for the winter.
You can leave the dead leaves on if want,but I usually clip of them off.
- Adrian

Hello caelith,

Also make sure that the plant gets plenty of light in winter. A Nepenthes that does not get enough light will stop pitchering or simply fail to produce more pitchers. A 12 hour florescent shop light with 40 watt cool white tubes in a twin mount would provide 6000 lumens for the plant and keep it going well over winter if your windows do not give it long enough photoperiods.

You could fertilize it to kick start its pitchering process, but be careful with fertilizer. Only use 1/4 strength or weaker foliar feed... almost any regular fertilizer would do, but the best would be Orchid blood meal that is water soluble. Only use it about once a month until you see pitchers growing in. Just don't get any in the soil. Overfertilizing the leaves could cause leaf burn and damage new pitchers too.

Nepenthes often loose lower leaves and move their growth point up, leaving a brown woody vine as they grow longer. Cutting them back can reduce the incidence of mold.

I would definitely bring the plant inside and placed under artificial lighting. Neps are characteristically Equatorial, so they need a photperiod of between 11-13 hours of light everyday... or theystop pitchering. Neps are also broken down into lowlanders and highlanders. The highlanders live in a higher degree of day/night temperature fluctuation than lowlanders. The N. ventricosa is a highlander and can tolerate more variable conditions thatn most, thus being an easier plant in the genus to cultivate.

You could fertyilize, but it isn't neecessary. some people use Osmocote pellets and other a afncier foliar feeding (which I know little about). Many treat Neps similarly to orchids, in terms of soil, fertilizers, lighting, and temperature. Mine are simply at a window sill, with a fluorescent light over it, especially for the next sevral months, since I am in Western NY. I used to have them in hanging baskets, as others do. So there are indoor options.

thank you so much for your replies! I will trim back the dying leaves. Its mostly affecting a few lower leaves, so it could just be natural die off. I'm just typically bad with plants, so I am a bit paranoid :) I may try a little bit of fertilizer too, since I dont have the pitchers to drop bugs into.

What about re-potting? Right now its in a hanging basket, but as I said before it has doubled in height. Should it get a larger pot, or do they not have very expansive roots?

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y198/Caelyth/thebigpitcherplant.jpg
a picture of my baby before it lost its pitchers. You cant really see the leaves, but it basically has grown a whole second tier.

Hi caelyth,
Most nepenthes don't have very large root systems so I don't think you should repot them unless the the soil is bad.Your nepenthes is likely ventrata, a hybrid between N. ventricosa and N. alata.Your nepenthes is one of the easiest to grow and also one of the fastest growing.
- Adrian

My foot across N. sanguinea only has 2-3 inch roots. They will not need a large growing space, but a wide pot helps with humidity and bracing for the lower leaves.