The Venus Fly Trap Terrarium

It's time for another experiment, the Venus Fly Trap Terrarium! A lot of you have been asking me to do a carnivorous plant terrarium for some time and here's one of them. As I expressed in the video, the likelihood for success here really isn't all that high given the nature of these plants. However, I do think that if I play my cards right I can get this to work.

Venus Fly Traps require very specific care requirements. I tried to cover the basics the best I could in this video, but if this is something that interests you, I highly recommend doing your research ahead of time (as you should with anything). I really didn't cover all that much, just enough to explain what I was doing. Also, I'm not an expert with these types of plants, but I tried my best to make a terrarium that I felt could sustain these plants.

Lastly, as I said in the video, I will document the whole process (on video) and release a follow up video in early-mid spring. If we can this thing going long-term, I will follow up with a more in-depth video. I will also do a less experimental, tropical carnivorous plant terrarium at some point in the future.
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If you are completely new to terrariums then I recommend checking out the lineup of videos I have linked below. It may seem daunting at first and you may initially fail, but if you keep at it, terrariums are pretty simple and really fun! That said, understanding the fundamentals is key and these videos will help you with that. From there, you should be able to take your skills and make something amazing!

If you want to support me and are looking for some gear to make your own terrariums, then check out the affiliate links below. Theses are the same tools you see me use in my build:

#flytrap #venusflytrap #terrarium #serpadesign

[kingcobrajfssepaboosterclub]

“Naturally, I felt sorry for the plants.”

Haha ly man

[Camimae]

“Naturally, I sorry for the plants because no one wanted them” I DO THIS ALL THE TIME!!!! If I pick up a piece of produce at the store and then try to put it back and pick another one, I feel bad for the first one and keep/love it.

[RachelOLeary]

I am so glad you mentioned their dormancy requirements right away. I look forward to seeing how this progresses. There are a bunch of sundews or even pings that are amazing as windowsill/terrarium plants should you want to revisit it.

[cheesenipspartymix]

Edit: Woah never thought anyone would be bothered to read my rambling. Thanks guys!

Good job, you really did your research and it looks great! For feeding them, I would recommend using smaller bugs though, because if it's sticking out the trap in any way, while the plant may be able to extract some nutrients from it, the trap will definitely go black and rot from the bacteria entering it. This is especially a problematic for mold growth in a close humid environment like a terrarium. I know from experience. Some flytraps do better with food that's a great deal smaller than the traps. I use freeze dried bloodworms for feeding betta fish as you can give them enough to fill the traps, but not too much, and measure it out. If you feed them these though, make sure to massage the traps so they are triggered multiple times, or else it won't recognize it as prey and will just open up again and the food will rot/mold.
Moss is actually very beneficial for CPs. So long as they don't have ferts attached you don't have to worry about contaminants, because it grows alongside carnivorous plants in the wild. I have a pot with a sundew that's been taken over by star moss I think, and I'd say it's probably one of my healthiest plants. The moss prevents all mold/algae growth by taking it over and "eating" it, and I only have to water the plant like once every few weeks, because it holds moisture so well. This will be great for flytraps, because they are extremely drought intolerant. Leave them a day with dry soil and you'll find them black and shriveled.
Good choice on keeping the container open, I have found that flytraps prefer much dryer and less humid conditions than any other Carnivorous Plant, even sarrencias which are another north american CP.
And don't worry too much about dormancy. If you skip it once, it's not gonna shorten the lifespan of your plant by a substantial enough amount to notice. I skipped it with my flytrap seedlings before as I decided they were too small to recover from it. Often commercial growers skip dormancy as they grow the plants in-vitro, or just give the plants so many nutrients that that they grow year-round. It's a large debate between CP growers whether or not flytraps will have a shortened lifespan without dormancy, but they are technically immortal, so? Anyways, if the plants are put near a window they'll quickly notice the temperature changes, and at the same time appreciate sun (as they look extremely light-deprived), and figure out when it's time.
I'm just being a know-it-all at this point haha, but I hope this info is helpful to anyone who reads it.

[shishilanpasalan]

IM TIRED OF DRINKING WATER, I WANT MEAT I WAN TO CHEW

[mr-nonsense]

Honestly, I feel like they are simple to care for. I've had a 10 gallon terrarium with Venus fly traps. They were planted in peat moss and plenty, plenty of water. Cover the tank with plastic wrap and place a grow light, and they are good. In winter, I just turned off the grow light and kept them near a window, where it's cooler but there is some light. Now, I have one Venus flytrap in a pot that sits in a container filled with distilled water on the windowsill. Grows like a charm.

[joemonko]

This guy and ants canada need to do a project together

[BiteMyShinyMetalss]

Ah this takes me back... I did this with a fish bowl and the Venus Fly Traps grew amazing. I used a strong light source so the traps turned fiery red. And the moss that you added came by itself in mine, peat moss is full of dormant moss. It was beautiful.

[nourrashad]

It’s hard to imagine these plants as plants, I always see them as little animals lol

[SerpaDesign]

Per request, I finally did a Venus Fly Trap Terrarium! I don't know if it will last and to be honest my expectations are low, but I sure hope that it does. I'll do the follow up video for this in late April – early May. As requested, I will also do a less experimental, tropical carnivorous plant terrarium at some point in the future. Let me know what you think, will this terrarium last or no?

[littlemorelela]

I love venus flytraps. I had one as a child but it died because I didn't know how to take care of it.

[TheDro]

good luck! I hope they survive for you. I planted some old pitcher plant seeds last year but unfortunately they never grew. I also had another terrarium I set up that seemed dead and now, over 6 months later it's finally beginning to grow life!

[lydia]

I accidentally killed mine as a kid because I gave it a piece of my hamburger.

Aaaanyways.... They're such cool plants, and they have some really stunning varieties

[carterhicks]

Yes! I never knew I wanted to see a venus fly trap terrarium but now I'm really glad you did it.

[cheesenipspartymix]

As a grower of many carnivorous plants, my heart leaped the moment I saw the notification for this! That being said, I'll be carefully inspecting your facts.... 👀

[puppetplant]

Try a frog tank with a small fish pond inside

[Muni_Puni]

4:50 normal people: *using fanbrush to put on highlighter*





Serpa Design: *uses fanbrush to brush sand*

[trevorthelegend]

Carnivorous plant keeping is an amazing and rewarding hobby.

[David-scir]

In the Carolina's where they grow wild, it's not easy to find these anymore. I've seen them in the wild back in the 70's... but many of their habitats are now
golf courses and retirement communities around the Wilmington and Myrtle Beach areas :( I found a huge colony of these once near Conway SC. The
bog also had large populations of Drosera and Sarracenia Flava... it was amazing! I'll add, I also encountered an eastern diamondback rattlesnake in that bog!

Commercial ventures grow these by tissue culture (much faster) and in no way harms the
wild populations (few that are left).

[ScienceProject]

Damn it looks so difficult to assemble the terrarium through that tiny hole on top