Hello sutalli, Venus Flytraps are North American plants that go dormant in the winter and are best grown outside in full sun. They are just like any other plant except they require acid soil (sphagnum peat moss in the dry bales and regular perlite or horticultural sand with no additives to any ingrediants in 50/50 mix of moss to whichever drainage material you choose), no fertilizer in their soil media, and soft water like distilled, rain, or reverse osmosis water. Hard water, fertilizer, copper based, and soap based products would all be harmful to the plant as would any salts or minerals that add calcium, magnesium, potassium and such, not to mention the non-mineral nitrogen byproducts in fertilizer, to their soil. It is safe to say that almost all carnivorous plants are deadly allergic to fertilizers in their soil. Venus Flytraps live in peat bogs in North Carolina, getting full sun, temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit in summer max and down to 30 degrees or so in winter. From November to February they go dormant and rest, living off of their rhizome like root starch reserves, sometimes called a bulb. You could make a mini bog for them by digging up a section of ground, placing a pool liner in it, and filling it with the acid soil mix. You could create a water section with stones or other materials, like ceramic or plastic, just make sure that they do not have any dangerous minerals like lime that cement or some other materials might have. That water section could be like a moat around the plants or on one side of the bog setup. Just make it so that it is well drained and does not waterlog the plants. You might just bury the pots in the bog so you could dig them up whenever you want. The winters in Georgia get a little colder than in North Carolina, so you might want to think about mulching or covering the plants during really cold winter days below 30 degrees to keep them from freeze drying. What type of pitcher plants did you buy? There are five different genera of pitcher plants. There are the North American Sarracenias and Darlingtonias, Asian Nepenthes, Australian Cephalotus, and South American Heliamphora. Each has it's own environmental quirks. The Sarracenias are temperate plants like the Venus Flytrap and can be placed in almost identical conditions except the Sarracenias like even more water. Venus Flytraps like their soil always moist, but their roots above the water line. Sarracenias like their root tips right in the water and their soil very damp. Other than that, they go dormant and like full sun like Venus Flytraps. Nepenthes are tropicals, so would require very different conditions. In any event, the last place a Venus Flytrap should be is in a terrarium inside. They can adapt to low humidity just fine and need bright light. Closed terrarium conditions also increase the risk of mold and infections. More Venus Flytraps die in terrariums inside than in pots outside. The reason that people think that Venus Flytraps are tropicals is that the hardware stores often sell those weak little flytraps in the barely lit indoors tropical section with humidity domes over them. A couple of weeks after buying them, they often die from light starvation and mold infection. What company did you buy them from?

I realize that it has been at about 5 years since this post has been put up haha, I had a question on what I should do if my VFT flowers, I do not want it to flower because it makes the plant very weak and most VFT die after flowering. I found this after surfing the web for about an hour yet, I haven't found an answer. Do NOT put your VFT in a dark area with no sunlight, it will die. It will continue trying to do photosynthesis, and furthermore, like I said it will die. Instead, put a sealed bag over it and put it in the fridge over the winter, NOT the freezer. Make sure to keep the soil moist. http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq2380.html I have read this entire site and it has helped me in many ways. I hope that if you have any questions it'll help, and also, should I cut the stem before it flowers? :P

Flytraps will not eat dead insects. Once an insect is trapped the bug needs to move around more to trigger the trigger hairs a second time before it will seal up and eat the insect. You do NOT have to feed carnivorous plants. They get most of their energy from SUNLIGHT. That is why they are not indoor plants. They NEED 6 hours or more of sunlight a day during the growing season.

You need to acclimate it to the outdoors, full Sun. These are not indoor plants. Once night temps get to 40 and stay around 40 you will need to put it either in a cool basement, unheated garage or your fridge for the winter. This post was edited by tommyr on Tue, Oct 1, 13 at 17:30