CARNIVOROUS TERRARIUM
CARING FOR YOUR
WELCOME
You’ve started your journey with two of the most fascinating plants in the world, Venus Fly Traps and Pitcher Plants. With the right care, your open terrarium will thrive indoors and showcase their unique insect-catching abilities.
LIGHT
In their natural environment, Venus Fly Traps and Pitcher Plants grow in open bogs and wetlands where they receive full, direct sun for most of the day. This strong sunlight fuels their growth and gives them the energy to produce healthy traps and pitchers.
Indoors, it’s difficult to match that intensity with just a window, so your plants rely on a supplementary grow light.
Keep the light on for 8–12 hours per day (using a timer helps keep it consistent).
Place your terrarium in a bright spot, but avoid direct midday sun through glass—it can create a “magnifying glass effect” and overheat the plants.
The goal is to mimic the long, bright days of their native bogs, giving your plants the light energy they need to thrive.
WATERING
In nature, these plants live in nutrient-poor, waterlogged bogs where the soil is always damp and flushed clean by rainwater. The constant flow prevents minerals from building up.
To mimic this:
Always use distilled, rain, or reverse osmosis water. Tap or bottled water has minerals that harm roots.
Keep the soil consistently moist, like a bog, but not flooded.
Use your squeeze watering can to hydrate the soil evenly.
Mist lightly if the air feels dry, but avoid soaking leaves and traps too often.
FEEDING
These plants evolved in soils too poor to support normal plant growth. Instead, they supplement their diet by catching insects:
Venus Fly Traps use modified leaves that snap shut.
Pitcher Plants produce nectar-filled tubes where insects fall and are digested.
Indoors, they can survive without insects, but they’ll grow stronger if fed occasionally:
Venus Fly Trap: One small insect per week is enough (never feed more than one trap at a time).
Pitcher Plant: Drop a small insect into a pitcher once in a while.
Never fertilize nutrients from fertilizer will burn their roots.
Dormancy (Winter Rest)
In the wild, these plants are native to regions with cold winters (like the Carolinas for Venus Fly Traps). In winter, shorter days and cooler temperatures trigger them to rest. They die back above ground, but the roots stay alive underground, ready to regrow in spring.
To replicate this indoors:
Provide a cooler period (35–50°F) for 3–4 months.
Reduce the light hours and water less often, keeping the soil just damp.
Do not feed during dormancy.
In spring, return to full light and regular watering, and watch them come back stronger.
Troubleshooting
Brown traps or pitchers? This mimics nature, old leaves die off to make room for new growth. Trim them away.
Weak or pale plants? In the wild, this means too much shade indoors, it means increase your light.
Mold or algae? In nature, wind keeps bogs airy, indoors, reduce misting and improve airflow.
Soil drying out? In the wild, water seeps in constantly, indoors, water immediately with distilled water to keep conditions damp.
