Take a lot of time to think about what to feed your Venus flytrap before you decide what to feed it. This will help it be happy and grow big, colorful traps.
It might sound dull, but your little plant will be much healthier if you water it properly, give it lots of bright sunlight, and let it sleep for the winter. This will help it stay healthy in the long run.
After you’ve taken care of the most important things your Venus Flytrap needs, or if you just can’t wait any longer, keep reading…
Venus flytraps are cool, and feeding them is fun. What’s more, even the healthiest plant will eventually slow down its growth if it doesn’t catch any prey. Your Venus flytrap will get all the food it needs on its own if it lives outside or if you can put it outside on sunny days.
But here are five important things to remember if you keep your Venus flytrap inside or just want to feed it yourself:
Venus flytraps are carnivorous plants that supplement their nutrient intake by trapping and digesting insects. Their unique snap traps allow them to capture prey, while avoiding expending energy on potential food sources that turn out to be false alarms. While flytraps get some nutrients through photosynthesis like other plants, the additional nitrogen and phosphorus obtained from digesting insects is important for their growth and survival. This leads to the question – how often should you feed your Venus flytrap if you are growing it as a houseplant and want it to stay healthy?
How Venus Flytraps Get Food in the Wild
In their natural habitat of bogs and wetlands in North and South Carolina, Venus flytraps get most of their nutrients from captured insects and spiders. Studies have found that Venus flytraps in the wild successfully capture prey in 25-50% of their traps Their trapping success rate varies based on the local insect population, the size and age of the traps, and the time of year
During the growing season of spring through fall, Venus flytraps are actively catching insects. They start producing traps in April or May and reach peak trapping levels in the summer months when prey is most abundant. Their trapping slows down in late fall and winter as cooler weather means fewer active insects. Mature flytrap plants in the summer can catch multiple insects per week in their larger traps. Younger plants with smaller traps may average 1-2 captures per month in the peak season.
So in their natural setting, Venus flytraps can feed themselves readily without any human intervention. Their snap traps have evolved to be effective at luring, catching, and digesting nutritious insects.
Factors for Indoor Venus Flytraps
The situation changes when you are growing Venus flytraps as houseplants Suddenly your plant relies on you to provide adequate simulated conditions and nutrition. Here are some factors to consider for indoor flytraps
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Limited natural prey: Without access to outdoor insects, indoor flytraps miss opportunities to catch their own food. You’ll need to supplement prey more often.
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Smaller traps: Young flytrap plants may only have 1/4 to 1/2 inch traps that can only catch small insects. Their small traps benefit from extra feeding.
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Fewer insects in winter: Like in nature, your indoor flytraps will likely need less frequent feeding in the cooler winter months when they are semi-dormant.
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Adequate light: With insufficient light, flytraps won’t properly photosynthesize or produce vivid red pigments to attract prey. More light or more feeding may be needed.
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Plant’s age and size: Younger and smaller flytraps have higher nutritional needs for growth than a fully mature plant. Consider more frequent feeding.
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Type of insects: Smaller soft-bodied insects like fruit flies are easier for traps to digest than large beetles with thick exoskeletons. Vary prey size.
So indoor flytraps may need more frequent feeding than their wild counterparts to account for suboptimal conditions. Use the factors above to determine appropriate feeding frequency.
How Often Should You Feed a Venus Flytrap?
Given the variability for indoor growing conditions, there is no single definitive answer for feeding frequency. Here are some general guidelines based on plant maturity:
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Mature plants: Offer prey every 2-4 weeks for plants with traps over 1 inch wide. They have lower nutritional needs.
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Young plants: Consider feeding small prey every 1-2 weeks for plants still actively growing with traps under 1 inch wide. Avoid overfeeding.
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Dormant season: Feed rarely or not at all during dormancy from November to February. Traps are naturally less active.
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Catching own prey: If traps are consistently closing on their own prey like fungus gnats or spiders, reduce additional feeding accordingly.
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Lighting conditions: Boost feeding frequency if plant growth seems stunted and color is poor from insufficient lighting.
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Multiple plants: Feed only 1-2 traps per plant at a time. Rotating gives traps time to digest and recover.
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Prey size: Match prey size to trap size. Mealworms and crickets can often be cut in half to feed multiple traps.
The actual optimal feeding frequency for your plant will depend on your specific growing conditions and the plant’s needs at that time. Pay attention to signs of healthy growth and color in addition to trap closures when assessing your plant’s feeding regimen.
What to Feed a Venus Flytrap
Venus flytraps are insectivores, meaning they are adapted to digest insects and spiders. Some appropriate prey includes:
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Live insects – Small crickets, mealworms, fruit flies, soldier flies
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Dead insects – Flies, mosquitoes, earwigs, beetles under 1/3 the trap size
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Freeze-dried bloodworms, krill, brine shrimp (rehydrate before feeding)
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Pieces of cooked egg, very lean meat or fish (occasionally, avoid oils)
Avoid feeding non-insect items like processed people food, dairy products, or oils that can harm and clog the sensitive traps. Always match prey size to trap size for successful digestion. For dead prey, you may need to gently squeeze the trap to trigger closure and initial digestion.
Live insects are ideal when possible, but frozen or freeze-dried options from pet stores can work well too. Vary the prey types to give your plant a balanced nutritional profile. Avoid overfeeding the same traps repeatedly as it can deplete the trap over time.
Methods for Feeding Traps
There are a few options for getting prey into your flytrap’s traps:
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Tweezers/forceps – Use blunt tip tweezers to place prey directly into the trap’s center. Avoid damaging trigger hairs.
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Straw or pipette – For small prey like fruit flies, you can suck them into a straw and blow into an open trap.
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Small dish/cap – Place prey in a bottle cap and hold open trap over it, tapping gently so prey falls in.
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Waving prey – Wiggle or wave small prey like bloodworms over traps so they seem “alive” and trigger closure.
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Toothpick – Use a toothpick or skewer to spear and lower prey into the trap if needed.
Position prey in the middle of the trap, away from trigger hairs. Once the trap closes on the prey, your work is done! Avoid reopening closed traps to add more food. Let the plant fully digest one item at a time.
Signs of Overfeeding Venus Flytraps
While supplemental feeding can benefit Venus flytraps, it’s possible to overdo it. Here are a few signs that your flytrap may be getting more food than it needs:
- Traps turn black and “melt” closed, dying back after eating
- Traps remain weakly sealed after feeding and fail to re-open
- Plant growth seems stunted and new leaf production decreases
- Traps become smaller and malformed over time
- Leaves appear light green, limp, or elongated from etiolation
- Red pigments in traps fade or fail to develop
If you observe these warning signs, cut back on feeding frequency, only feed larger/healthier traps, and make sure lighting, water, and dormancy conditions are also optimal. Give your plant a “fasting” period to recover if it seems stressed from overfeeding. Then resume more moderate feeding tailored to the plant’s needs.
Feeding is Not Always Necessary
While supplemental feeding is helpful for indoor flytraps, it’s also important to note that it isn’t strictly required for their survival. Flytraps can live just fine through photosynthesis alone given adequate lighting, proper dormancy, and good growing conditions.
Many growers choose not to hand-feed their flytraps at all. As long as your plant appears vigorous and healthy with good coloration, you can let the traps catch prey on their own without intervening. This also allows you to observe your flytrap’s fascinating carnivorous behaviors in action!
Listen to Your Plant
Determining the ideal feeding regimen takes some careful observation of your plant’s growth patterns, trap formation, coloration, and closure rates. Pay attention to visual cues from the plant itself each time you feed it, and adjust your frequency and prey amounts accordingly. With experience and attentive care, you can provide your Venus flytrap a diet that allows both the plant and its captivating traps to thrive.
Frequency of Entities:
how often: 17
venus flytrap: 16
feed: 15
trap: 14
plant: 13
prey: 11
insect: 8
digest: 5
indoor: 5
nutrient: 4
bog: 3
carnivorous: 3
catcher: 3
growing: 3
lighting: 3
photosynthesis: 3
wild: 3
age: 2
capture: 2
coloration: 2
dormancy: 2
frequency: 2
habitat: 2
health: 2
insectivore: 2
mature: 2
mealworm: 2
nutrition: 2
overfeed: 2
phosphorus: 2
season: 2
supplement: 2
nitrogen: 2
adequate: 1
april: 1
beetle: 1
benefit: 1
bloodworm: 1
brine shrimp: 1
cap: 1
carnivore: 1
cricket: 1
cue: 1
december: 1
diet: 1
dormant: 1
dying: 1
earwig: 1
egg: 1
etiolation: 1
exoskeleton: 1
experience: 1
extra: 1
eyecatchy: 1
fall: 1
fasting: 1
fat: 1
february: 1
finely: 1
flake: 1
flies: 1
forcep: 1
freeze-dried: 1
fruit flies: 1
fungus gnat: 1
growing season: 1
guideline: 1
handfeed: 1
healthy: 1
houseplant: 1
ideal: 1
indoor growing: 1
intervene: 1
krill: 1
larvae: 1
leaf: 1
lure: 1
magnesium: 1
maggot: 1
massage: 1
matcher: 1
may: 1
melt: 1
moderately: 1
moist: 1
mold: 1
mosquito: 1
new: 1
november: 1
nutrient: 1
observer: 1
october: 1
overfeeding: 1
parameter: 1
pay attention: 1
pest: 1
pet store: 1
pipette: 1
place: 1
planting: 1
poor: 1
potassium: 1
product: 1
rainforest: 1
rehydration: 1
regimen: 1
reopen: 1
requirement: 1
restart: 1
retailer: 1
revive: 1
root: 1
rotten: 1
scale: 1
sealed: 1
september: 1
shrimp: 1
sign: 1
silkworm: 1
simulate: 1
situation: 1
skewer: 1
slow: 1
slug: 1
snail: 1
soak: 1
soda: 1
soldier fly: 1
sour: 1
spider: 1
starve: 1
stimulate: 1
straw: 1
stunt: 1
suboptimal: 1
sufficient: 1
summer: 1
supplementation: 1
tapping: 1
territory: 1
thrive: 1
thrips: 1
toothsick: 1
tweezer: 1
unhealthy: 1
vegetable: 1
visual: 1
vivid: 1
warning sign: 1
water: 1
wave: 1
weather: 1
wetland: 1
wiggle: 1
winter: 1
worm: 1
How often should you feed a Venus flytrap?
You can feed a Venus flytrap every month during the growing season as long as you take care of all its other needs. Just put bugs in three or four big open traps and rub the hairs together like I said above. Your plant will love you for it.
The best foods for your Venus flytrap:
The Venus flytrap menu: mealworms, bloodworms, and crickets.
- Freeze-dried mealworms are a healthy food source for Venus flytraps. You can buy them at many pet stores and reptile specialists. For about £5 or $8, you can get small tubs that hold enough food to feed dozens of plants for many years. For smaller plants, you might need to cut a mealworm into a piece that is the right size for the seedling instead of leaving it whole. Just add a few drops of water to the worm to make it drinkable again, use kitchen roll to soak up any extra water, and then put the worm into the trap. Follow the steps above to gently touch the trigger hairs with your cocktail stick. Yum! .
- They are called “bloodworms,” which sounds gross, but these tiny freeze-dried worms are a great food for Venus flytraps. You can buy them at most pet stores and aquariums. They are cheap, healthy, and easy to find. You can buy small pots from Amazon. Just take a small amount of dried worms, add a few drops of water, and use kitchen roll to soak up any extra water. Then, use a cocktail stick or toothpick to pull out a small “meatball” that is about a third the size of the trap. Put it in, and then do what was said above: use your cocktail stick to gently touch the trigger hairs.
- If you can find dried crickets that are small enough, adult Venus flytraps will love them as a snack. Tubs of dried crickets are cheap on Amazon. Just put one in each trap, making sure that its antennae don’t stick out and stop the seal from being complete. You can gently squeeze the sides of the trap or use a cocktail stick or toothpick to move the trigger hairs.
All three of these foods are suitable for other carnivorous plants as well as Venus flytraps (Dionaea muscipula). Most species do well with bloodworms, but sundews (Drosera) and butterworts (Pinguicula) do especially well. Mealworms and crickets, on the other hand, tend to do better with larger pitcher plants like Sarracenia and Nepenthes.
An all-red cultivar of the Venus flytrap awaiting its next meal.