It also looks saveable to me. My advice would be to repot. I keep my Venus fly traps in pure sphagnum. Home Depot carries a bag for$5. For aesthetic reasons, and practicality, I like to keep my carnivorous plants in clear glass containers. I've found that those small clear $4 fish bowls from Michaels make great containers. It allows me to check the moisture levels at all times at a glance. But it's not needed. I personally use RODI water from a local fish store. but whatever you use make sure it's pure. I water when the moss is damp but not dry. Every month I drop about 3 pillbugs in each container and let them crawl into a random trap. Lastly is light. Fly traps like a lot of light. I keep mine in full sun outside. They get 8 hours of direct sun. So put them in the brightest spot available, and get a light. I personally use the Jansjo desk reading lamp from Ikea. it costs $8 and has worked for a variety of my growing needs. a desk lamp with the right bulb works just as well. anything else.... hmm... brightest spot, media, watering... Ooh. And I'm sure you know but they need a winter rest.

The advice of not letting your VFT flower is always suggested because most people are not experienced or are new in growing CP, so these people barely have their VFT thriving. Flowering takes a lot of energy and if your plant is week, it can die. But if you have your plant growing very vigorously, theres no problem. I always let them flower, never had problems. When I was a beginner, of course I lost my pants until I was told to cut them off. Now I have no worries letting them flower. I had one VFT grow a flower stalk this late of the year but once I started to induce dormancy, the stalk aborted and died. That VFT is now dormant. To induce dormancy, just place it in a cool part of your house and give it less light. Now, most summer leaves will die and stop functioning, also your VFT will start to produce some smaller traps with sluggish movement if you trigger them. Those are winter leaves. Once the plant is dormant, cut down on the amount of water, just keeps its media moist to keep the bulb from drying out. I keep my dormant bulbs in a pot and simply place it in the coolest room next to a window. They will receive some sunlight but its not enough photoperiod to break their winter dormancy. I always let my VFT grow on the same media for 2 years before transplanting them on a fresh media. Or you can dig out your bulbs after it has become dormant, cut the old leaves to avoid rot, wrap it with moist LFS moss to keep the bulbs from drying out, place it in a Ziploc bag, and then put it in the fridge (not the icebox!). Always check now and then to make sure you keep the LFS moss moist but not wet and you can check on the condition of your bulb. The bulb should be white and crispy. Come spring you can plant them on fresh media to begin its new growth season. Good luck!

They sure can, with a little TLC. I myself only have "textbook" knowledge on flytrap care, I am new to growing carnivorous plants and still keeping to those without a dormancy requirement. For now at least. I think you will find this link very helpful. http://www.thecarnivoregirl.com/winter-is-coming-a-guide-to-venus-flytrap-dormancy/ They do not die, so much as go dormant. They still need some care during this time (water, but much less, and light), and outwardly may appear dead, but below the surface slumber and await the return of warm weather.

I think your fly trap is just adjusting to the trauma of having multiple growing locations in a short amount of time (and having to live under that plastic cover at the store). I would be surprised if a fly trap rotted as I don't think it is possible to over-water them. You aren't suppose to let them completely dry out. The traps don't last very long and they do turn black. As long as you are seeing new growth, your fly trap is fine. Do not give it tap water because of the salts in tap water (although mine got some tap water last summer when it didn't rain for two months). My fly trap is not "upright" either, but it has grown in circumference. Mine doesn't go dormant during the winter either and I leave outside year-round. I just make sure it stays moist. I would think in your zone, it would do best outside. I don't feed mine bugs either and it does just fine. I assume it eats some on its own, but I don't really know. I do know it tried to eat a couple of snails last summer that crawled onto it. I picked them out of the traps because I knew it could digest the shells. Hopefully, yours is doing better by now.