Venus Fly Traps (VFTs) are unique carnivorous plants often kept indoors, possessing specialized leaf structures to capture and consume insects. Unlike most common houseplants, VFTs cannot rely solely on the surrounding environment to fulfill all their nutritional requirements. When grown inside, they often fail to catch sufficient prey on their own, making manual feeding necessary for long-term health. This guide provides clear instructions for supplying your indoor plant with the supplemental nutrition it needs to thrive.
The Necessity of Feeding an Indoor VFT
Venus Fly Traps naturally grow in bog environments where the soil is highly acidic and nutrient-poor, particularly lacking in nitrogen and phosphorus. Like all plants, VFTs produce their own food and energy through photosynthesis, using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. They developed the ability to trap insects as a form of supplemental nutrition to compensate for the deficiencies in their native habitat.
The insects they consume are essentially a biological fertilizer, providing the necessary minerals for robust growth, stronger traps, and a more vigorous overall plant. While an indoor VFT can survive indefinitely on light and water alone, it will exhibit slow growth without this nutritional supplement. Regular feeding allows the plant to reach its full potential size and maintain a healthy appearance.
Selecting Appropriate Prey for Digestion
The size of the prey is the first consideration, as the food must fit entirely inside the trap so the two lobes can form a complete, airtight seal. A good rule of thumb is that the insect should be no larger than one-third the size of the trap itself. If the food is too large and prevents a tight seal, the trap will not digest the meal properly. The prey will often rot, causing the trap to turn black and die prematurely.
Appropriate food sources include small insects like houseflies, crickets, or ants, along with commercially available freeze-dried options such as mealworms and bloodworms. Never attempt to feed your VFT human foods like cheese, meat, or candy, as these cannot be digested and will cause the trap to fail. Avoid insects with hard shells, such as certain beetles, because the plant’s digestive enzymes cannot break down their tough exoskeletons.
The Step-by-Step Manual Feeding Process
When manually feeding a VFT, you must use dead or freeze-dried prey, as a live insect’s movement is generally required to trigger the trap’s full digestion sequence. If using freeze-dried food like mealworms or bloodworms, rehydrate them first by soaking them in a small amount of distilled water. This makes the food softer and more palatable for the plant.
Use tweezers or a toothpick to carefully place the prepared food directly onto the red, sensitive inner surface of the trap. Once placed, gently manipulate the food to make contact with at least two of the tiny trigger hairs (trichomes). This contact will cause the trap to snap shut. The initial closure is only a partial seal, allowing the plant to detect if the captured item is food or debris.
For the digestive process to begin, the trap must form a complete, airtight seal around the prey. To initiate this final seal, manually stimulate the trap further by gently rubbing the outside of the closed trap or lightly pressing a toothpick against the sides for about 30 seconds. This action mimics the struggling of a live insect, signaling the plant to tighten the seal and begin secreting its digestive enzymes.
If the trap does not seal completely, it will reopen within 12 to 48 hours, and the undigested food must be removed to prevent mold or rot.
Feeding Frequency and Dormancy Considerations
A Venus Fly Trap does not need to be fed frequently, and overfeeding can stress the plant. During the active growing season (typically spring to fall), it is sufficient to feed only one trap on the entire plant every two to four weeks. A single digested insect provides enough nutrients to benefit the whole plant for a significant period.
Each trap has a limited lifespan and can only open and close about three to five times before it permanently withers and turns black. Because of this natural limitation, only feed traps that are fully open, healthy, and have not been triggered recently.
Feeding must cease entirely in the winter months when the plant enters its dormancy period. The plant is conserving energy during this time, and manually forcing a trap to close will cause unnecessary stress. This stress can be detrimental to its health.