Here it is! I could have bought one for just $7. It comes with a couple of insects for its next meal.
I was afraid I’d unwittingly starve it, though, so I bought a small cactus instead. I have always loved cacti and this one is really cute. I feel like a cactus is a perfect symbol for my personality.
Well, maybe it’s good that you don’t have a venus fly-trap personality.
My geography teacher claimed that most people who buy carnivorous plants kill them by overfeeding.
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This is too funny. They probably project their own gluttony onto the plants. I’d totally do that, too, because my life’s motto is that there can’t be too much meat. 🙂
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There really is a sort of weird, almost creepy novelty factor with this plant, and carnivorous plants in general. Heck, the traps even look like mouths….
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My friend’s son wanted a carnivorous plant for his 6th birthday and it was nearly impossible to find in Montreal. I went to a local food&flower market and got a ton of weird looks when asking if they had these plants..
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Come to visit us, and we’ll buy as many as you need. 🙂
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I have a personal fascination with carnivorous plants and have a small collection including 8 different ‘breeds’ of venus fly trap. You can get them in green, red and even black, with loads of different leaf configurations. Just make sure to read up on how to care for them because they are VERY picky when it comes to substrate! Sphagnum moss or peat is practically a must (or any zero-nutrient loose soil – most online carnivorous plant stores sell bags of specialist soil at pretty reasonable prices), and venus fly traps should never be fertilised! Their root systems are extremely fragile and not built for sapping nutrients from the soil – that’s what the traps are for. It’s easy enough to avoid overfeeding them because VFTs can actually survive with no food at all! Water and sunlight alone are enough to keep a VFT alive; insects are sort of akin to protein pills. A good rule of thumb is to feed it one or two insects each month. That way your plant will definitely get all the nutrients it needs (and more), without ever being in danger of being overfed.
Also remember to always have the plant in around 1 cm of standing water. This means you’ll need a small bowl or saucer in which to sit the plant, making sure that there are holes in the bottom of the plant pot so the soil can absorb the water.
Another thing to watch out for is that the water should be pure water. Tap water, depending on your location, will usually be full of heavy elements for purification purposes. These chemicals will, over time, build on on the plant’s root system and kill it. That’s why you’re much better off using either distilled water, dehumidifier water or really soft tap water – just make sure to test it beforehand.
That being said, I feel that carnivorous plants are a much more rewarding hobby than normal plants such as orchids or flowers. Carnivorous plants actually do something!
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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