carnivorous plants

[halfwaynowhere]

I think I want to set up a small terrarium with carnivorous plants, using a ten gallon tank. Problem is, I have a bit of a black thumb when it comes to plants. I've done some research on CPs, and definitely think that its something I want to do. Any suggestions for lighting, substrate, and types of plants that would do well together in a 10 gallon tank? I don't want to get anything bigger than that for now, because I don't even know how successful I'll be, and don't want to spend a lot of money on a setup that I'm not going to end up using. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Steven Valys]

http://www.blackjungle.com/bogintro.htm
Everything you want to know can be found throughout their website.

 

[Crono]

The online bible

http://www.sarracenia.com/faq.html

 

[BishopiMaster]

first of all do some research and tell us which specific carnivorous plants you want, then come and ask back at arachnoboards. carnivorous plants can be really tricky if you dont have the right information. dont let that fool you that theyre hard though! they are really easy. also cobraplant.com is an awesome website with very knowledgeable people, check it out. they only sell carnivorous plants with a few exceptions.

 

[OTwolfe]

we got ours in a handy little kit. from www.thinkgeek.com It came with a "greenhouse" container, moss "dirt", seeds and lots of directions. we are currently wintering them in the fridge. It's a basic kit, but still cool.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

first of all do some research and tell us which specific carnivorous plants you want, then come and ask back at arachnoboards. carnivorous plants can be really tricky if you dont have the right information. dont let that fool you that theyre hard though! they are really easy. also cobraplant.com is an awesome website with very knowledgeable people, check it out. they only sell carnivorous plants with a few exceptions.

I'm still researching what I want. I know that I want to have a few different types of plants that can all live in the same conditions (ie, all require wintering, or none).
Thanks for the links, I've got plenty of reading material now!

 

[Frédérick]

drosera species are great because they will make a nice shining mat all over the peat of your tank. drosera rotundifolia, intermedia, anglica are all North American droseras that will benefit from a winter period. this is one of my favorite genus. but if you're more into orchid like setups, go for nepenthes, they're awesome too. you can PM me if you want!

 

[The Bear]

I love growing plants but have had no success growing one in a terrarium. They are much easier in plastic pots. Try it though maybe its just not my thing other people do it all the time.
If you get tired of reading watch this

http://www.expertvillage.com/video-series/185_carnivorous-plants-video.htm

 

[halfwaynowhere]

well, cobraplants.com doesn't recommend the use of terrariums, but I don't see how else I would be able to do them without one, just because of lighting requirements, and keeping them away from pets (my cat thinks he's a vegetarian). I figured wintering could be done by moving the terrarium outdoors during the winter months, but I'd like to have the plants in my room during the rest of the year. I think that eventually it would be fun to do an outdoor garden, but I'm more interested in house plants at this time.

 

[K-TRAIN]

well, just remember that most carnivous plants dont actually need to be "fed" they get some energy from insects and some from the sun. too many insects use up too much energy and can in turn kill the plant. thats pretty much all i know im just getting into carnivorous plants myself.


like it was stated above http://www.blackjungle.com/ is a great source of info. plus you can buy from them.

i know alittle more about venus flytraps, so im not 100% sure if what i said applies to most others. it makes sense though.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

i've read that they don't really need insects, and thats not the main reason i'm interested in them. I think it would be cool to feed them insects every now and then, but honestly, just the fact that they can and will makes them absolutely fascinating, and getting their basic needs met first is obviously priority.

 

[andy83]

You should look into some Utricularia species. They form a moss like sheet and have all kinds of pretty little flowers.

In general, from my limited experience, most tropical carnivorous plants enjoy decent light and good air flow with bog conditions(well draining but pretty moist substrate). They also don't need fertilizers as mentioned earlier and I don't use tap water for them. There are a ton of great websites out there.

Here is a pretty good one:
http://icps.proboards105.com/

Have fun and let us know what you get.

P.S. Insects will naturally find their way into the different traps. So, you don't have to go out of your way to feed most species.

 

[UrbanJungles]

First you have to decide whether you want to keep highland or lowland species...will your terrarium be cool or warm? Then research what types of CP's thrive in those environments and you can start your collection from there.

A 10 gal is a bit small IMO, I use 20 gallon tanks as the smallest size. CP's all need good strong light, I like to use compact fluorescent kits on my terrariums. In a ten gallon tank things will get too hot too fast & CP's don't like heat. I use a sphagnum moss bed as my base and leave the plants in the pots on top of the moss. Be sure to use distilled or reverse osmosis water...you don't want any kinds of minerals at all in the water. Create a good tight fitting lid for the terrarium as you want to keep in as much ambient humidity as possible in the terrarium, ventilation is not overly important unless it affects temperature.

If you keep a highland tank you may want to hook up an ultrasonic fogger to the tank to bring the temperature down and humidity up at night...without this the plants won't thrive. I recommend you do a lowland tank and start with some cool pitchers like Nepenthes ampullaria. Cape sundews are easy to start with as well. Any of the US native CP's will need a winter dormancy period to thrive.

Stay away from Aussie Pitchers (Cephalotus) and Highland pitchers like Heliomaphora...these have tough requirements.

Good luck.


This is one of my highland tanks in the bottom of the right side shelf, you can see some of the larger pitchers in the pic. I used this in another thread to illustrate something so please excuse me if you've seen this pic already on this board.