Carniverous plant terrarium, anyone have one ?

Darkst4r

Darkst4r

Darkst4r

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I've been looking at starting a carnivorous plant terrarium and was wondering if anyone on here has one ?

I want to grow Venus Flytraps properly (I've had a couple but they always went black and died). I was thinking about using a small reptile terrarium with artificial lights as the room I want to grow them in doesnt get much direct sunlight.

Was also thinking about putting some other species in there and maybe a small water feature to make it look tropical and jungle-esque !

Any tips on a decent compact light unit suitable for growing these plants or what kind of substrate to use would be great. Also other species of carnivorous plant I could grow alongside the Flytraps would be cool.

It's a bit of a weird subject I know so I'm not holding my breath for replies but maybe one or two of you have some knowledge on the subject !:)
 
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I know it sounds counter-intuitive but if you feed them flies and meat they actually die. I tried to grow these as a teenager and they can get the majority of their nutrition from their roots, with the occasional small fly providing bonus additional nutrition for the plant. Anything big like a bluebottle was too much for them and would kill that trap or the plant. Bits of meat was way too much for it.

They like warm and humid and nice wet moss to thrive in. I don't think they have any special light requirements, but setting up an environment with lights would definitely provide the warmth and humidity.
 
No, bits of beef. Stuff with proper blood in it. Manly plant needed manly meat :p
 
Jonny69 said:
I know it sounds counter-intuitive but if you feed them flies and meat they actually die. I tried to grow these as a teenager and they can get the majority of their nutrition from their roots, with the occasional small fly providing bonus additional nutrition for the plant. Anything big like a bluebottle was too much for them and would kill that trap or the plant. Bits of meat was way too much for it.

They like warm and humid and nice wet moss to thrive in. I don't think they have any special light requirements, but setting up an environment with lights would definitely provide the warmth and humidity.
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I have read otherwise. The reason the plants developed into carnivores in the first place is because they do not get enough nutrition from the soul where they natively grow ( highly acidic peat bogs and swamps in Carolina USA). I have also read that providing fertilizer or nutrients to the soil is very bad for them.

Although I have read that if insects are too big it can kill them. If a bigger fly gets trapped that it cant manage it will usually re-open and spit it out, however if it doesn't it can prevent the trap from closing fully, allowing bacteria to form inside and so killing the plant that way. Also I have found out that venus flytraps enter a dormant stage which can make them appear dead, only to start re-growing again a few months later (oops!).
 
The "prey" needs to be moving to activate the plants digestive mechanisms. Feed a dead fly to a venus fly trap, and it will kill the trap.
 
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I'd be interested in seeing how you get on with this! :)

I've had a few Venus Flytraps in the past and they all went black and died too.. Probably through me trying to force feed them as they looked hungry!
 
I've had a few VFT and found them very easy to keep and IMHO have to disagree with Jonny regarding flies killing them. Each trap will die after they catch insects maybe after 3 or so occasions but the plant certainly won't die.

They need plenty of light and during summer need to stand in water constantly. there's other species very easy to grow as well such as sundews and I've also a pinguicula (sp?) on our window cill inside which is incredibly hardy.

Edit: Just remembered other good ones I've grown are pitcher plants. During the summer with plenty of insects, these things get full fairly quickly, if you are near them you hear a fair bit of buzzing coming from the flies trapped inside.

Most of my plants were bought from here.
 
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Jonny69 said:
I know it sounds counter-intuitive but if you feed them flies and meat they actually die. I tried to grow these as a teenager and they can get the majority of their nutrition from their roots, with the occasional small fly providing bonus additional nutrition for the plant. Anything big like a bluebottle was too much for them and would kill that trap or the plant. Bits of meat was way too much for it.

They like warm and humid and nice wet moss to thrive in. I don't think they have any special light requirements, but setting up an environment with lights would definitely provide the warmth and humidity.
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We have a venus fly trap that almost always has it's traps closed due to all the flies it catches (NZ climate!). It is like a monster and has grown massive! Quite the opposite to dying when it catches food. It was meant to die over winter apparently but didn't and just kept on catching the flies.

We only give it distilled water and not tap water though which is one thing that can kill it. It just sits in a tray of distilled water which is topped up when nearly empty and it thrives.
 
As said feed it distilled water or tap water that has been left out for at least a day. Also don't help it with it's feeding. Just pop it outside for a bit and it'll be fine.

My one survived being covered in snow for most of last winter!
 
Totality said:
We have a venus fly trap that almost always has it's traps closed due to all the flies it catches (NZ climate!). It is like a monster and has grown massive! Quite the opposite to dying when it catches food. It was meant to die over winter apparently but didn't and just kept on catching the flies.

We only give it distilled water and not tap water though which is one thing that can kill it. It just sits in a tray of distilled water which is topped up when nearly empty and it thrives.
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Got any pictures ?
 
You could probably house them in a paludarium, that way you get to keep fish too :D

I am looking to set one up in the near future. My aquariums are great, but a well set up paludarium looks top notch!
 
My (not very successful) experience was pre-internet days and most of the information I got was from word of mouth, so probably not all that reliable :p
 
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