# Holy Cow! I Found A Venus Fly Trap At Home Depot!



## Mr.Scorpion (Sep 28, 2005)

So I obviously picked a few up. Researching as we speak. Seem to be quite interesting. So if you live by home depot and it has a garden section...


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## surena (Sep 28, 2005)

Yeah, They are very cool. I have owned a few. I have also tried to get them grow from seeds, but no luck. Remember that the cold temp can kill them very easy. Good luck with it.


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## Empi (Sep 29, 2005)

I love those things. Just don't over feed them...


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## Predator (Sep 29, 2005)

They have these at lowes,  I had thought of buying a few and seeing how they do in my emperor scorp tank.


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## Empi (Sep 29, 2005)

Predator said:
			
		

> They have these at lowes,  I had thought of buying a few and seeing how they do in my emperor scorp tank.


I was thinking the same thing. Emp tank would be the ideal set up for them. They would probly get smashed by the emp unless you were to plant them right in the middle of the tank. That would be awesome though. Poor scorpion would have to compete with the plant for food.


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## Wade (Sep 29, 2005)

Venus flytraps (and most other carniverous plants) require very high light level to thrive. Natural sunlight is best, or failing that, reallt intense full-spectrum artificial light. They also need really damp, virtually wet, conditions.

The scorpion might not appreciate that.

Wade


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## Sibeleen (Sep 29, 2005)

I would agree with wade.
I have worked with full spectrum HID lighting for a couple years with other type of plants that require mostly the same conditions.
Venus fly traps can thrive with a 200W HPS (high pressure Sodium) light and can get bigger in artificial light than natural sun light (depends where you live offcourse) since the amount of lumen can be controlled.

SiB


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## Fini (Sep 29, 2005)

Here is a VFT care sheet from California Carnivores (the coolest nursery ever!).

http://californiacarnivores.com/vft_growing_tips.htm


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## psionix (Sep 29, 2005)

surena said:
			
		

> Remember that the cold temp can kill them very easy.


  

not exactly, they need to be wintered or it will die.  also don't 'feed' it, let it catch it's own food and keep it wet at all times.  if you have questions PM and i'll help you out.  

good luck


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## Buspirone (Sep 29, 2005)

I've grown 3 VFTs this summer in my back yard. I purchased them from lowes and transplanted them into larger pots. You have to water them with distilled water or tap water that has gone through a reverse osmosis filter. Any water with even moderate mineral levels will eventually kill them. My next big step is letting mine go dormant and find space for them in my refridgerator until march and see if I can avoid a fungus or mold killing them. THere are some really good sites out there with info. The one listed so far is very good. There are a couple good forums on carnivorous plants out there:

http://www.petflytrap.com/cgi-bin/ib312/ikonboard.cgi

THe bulletin board software is a bit outdated but the site and forums has ALOT of knowledgable and experienced plant enthusiasts willing to share info and help out a newb: 
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/carnivor/

Some care sites:

http://www.strato.net/~crvny/sa03005.html
http://www.pitcherplant.com/care_sheets/flytrap_care.html
http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq2000.html
http://buckeyecarnivores.com/VFTFromSeed.html


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## Arlius (Sep 29, 2005)

When I had a VFT every time it ate, it would digest the fly or whatever for awhile, but then it would die (the actual trap where the insect is) it would turn black, shrivel up and die... happened every time it ate something, never once had a successful reopen. They are tough plants to keep alive IMO.


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## Mr.Scorpion (Sep 29, 2005)

Mine seem to be doing fine. It has been the 3rd day.


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## Galapoheros (Sep 30, 2005)

I bought my VFT at HomeDepot too.  I've had them for at least three years now.  I put them in straight peat moss.  Now a green moss has grown all over the surface.  I leave them outside all year long.  They require the cold temps in winter.  The leaves will die back.  It will come back in the spring.  They will live longer if you get the temps down in the winter.  Their main diet for the ones in my backyard are spiders.  The traps the plants have obviously look like nice little homes for spiders.  I have rarely seen any other kind of dried corpse in a reopened trap.  I've read that it's normal for a trap to last for two or three trappings and then will naturally die off and turn black.  Always keep wet.  Mine flowered this spring but I don't think they seeded.  I will take a picture later.  I don't have very many, maybe five.


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## Thoth (Sep 30, 2005)

In high school, I used to have a terrarium tank with all sorts of carnivornous plant: pitcher plants. butterworths, sundews and venus fly traps. did well for a few months then thing started dying off, might try it again. (maybe as part of a t.blondi setup or not) I got them from Carolina Biological . (Funny thing, is I paid about the same price from them years ago)

IME the home depot vts either thrive and last or die off in a week.


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## Galapoheros (Sep 30, 2005)

Ok, here they are.  Been real easy and relatively maintenance free.  I just water them about every three or four days (I live in central tx, US)  I said I used straight peat but I think I added a little sandy soil.  Just a little.  These have been on my back porch for three years.  They haven't seeded but I have new plants.  I'm not sure about this but it seems like I remember reading that they also propagate by short rhizomes.  One leaf in the picture had caught a small wasp sp.  Since I'm seeing new plants, maybe the surface will fill with the plants.  I used to know the life span of these,  can't remember.  But if I'm getting new plants from the old ones..... maybe I won't have to buy any more.  If I'm wrong about the rhizome thing, let me/us know.  Also, if you have a small man made pond in a yard, you could put something like this in the pond on some bricks so the bottom is in the water all the time.  That's assuming the pot has holes in the bottom.  Wish I had one.


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## Galapoheros (Sep 30, 2005)

Thoth said:
			
		

> IME the home depot vts either thrive and last or die off in a week.


Yea, two of the plants I had did die soon after I bought them and the others took off and didn't need me much after they got established.  The ones that died were in the corners of the rectangular pot.  They never looked like they were healthy so I think they had some kind of rot/disease going on when I bought them.  I don't think they like that little closed cup they are being sold in but a good way to transport them I guess.


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## Empi (Oct 1, 2005)

Those are some nice ones David. After seeing this thread I have been thinking of making a vivarium with vft's and maybe some other carnivores plants. I would also like to add some frogs into mix..I wonder though if the vft's will eat the frogs. That would be some weird stuff if a plant could catch and eat a frog..


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## Thoth (Oct 1, 2005)

Cool flytrap setup.

With pitcher plants, a frog getting caught is a possiblity. If you have something small like a mantella, poison dart frog or a small green tree frog they can get trapped in some of the larger species of pitcher plants.


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## Empi (Oct 5, 2005)

I picked up a vft today from the nursery. It already caught two flys in my room. Pretty cool!


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## surena (Oct 5, 2005)

Does anyone know if the VFT can catch fruit flies ?


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## psionix (Oct 5, 2005)

surena said:
			
		

> Does anyone know if the VFT can catch fruit flies ?


yup, and ants.  they just have to hit the trigger hairs enough.


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