The Venus Flytrap Dionaea Muscipula is a plant that eats insects, it is hence a carnivorous plant.  Its main diet are flies, caterpillars and spiders but it must be said that the plant will eat any small insect that is unlucky enough to get trapped that the plant can use for nutrition.

In the image below we can see a very nice foliage of Venus Flytraps and observe how brightly colored the inner leaves are, this also helps to attract certain insects that are drawn to plants because of their color.  The Venus Flytrap is very industrious !

The plant literally traps insects and then consumes them, it does this via two large open leaf type appendages that have several small sensitive trigger hairs inside and when an insect agitates them, this triggers the flytraps mechanism and the leaves snap shut trapping the insect inside.

The hairs have to be repeatedly agitated by the insects legs or wings and not just touched once or twice, this is to prevent the flytrap from wasting energy by snapping shut every time a small leaf, berry, raindrop or any non edible thing touches it.

The trigger hairs can be seen in the image below, in this plant there are eight of them, ready and waiting to signal the trap to close on its prey.

The Venus flytrap is actually a member of the herb family, it can grow from four to seven sets of traps from its soft pliable stem that accentuates not from roots but instead from a bulb in the damp earth.

The leaves can grow to a size of 10 centimeters across depending on its exact environment relating to specific humidity and the time of year.

The trapping leaf is split into two connected at the base that forms the trap, the inside of the leaf is coated with a sweet nectar covering that attracts the insects to it and the trap will snap shut on the insect in 1/10th of a second.

For people who want to cultivate their own Venus Flytraps then, it is worth mentioning here that the speed in which a Venus Flytrap actually closes is also a good sign of its general health. The faster it is, the better the state of its general health.

There are no muscles or tendons in the plant that make the leaves close, it is thought that that leaves close under some form of built up elastic sprung energy assisted by its sap that may be under pressure. The edges of the leaf trap have got appendages called Cillia  and these will mesh together when the trap closes.

Below is a nice image that illustrates quite well these finger like appendages, these create something similar to the bars of a cage when the insect is initially trapped. It is also suggested that they also allow smaller insects to escape that may not be big enough to be beneficial to the plant and that these appendages  'grade'  the required size of insect that the plant requires.

In a way its as if the leaves are a mouth and stomach all in one, as the food goes into the trap or mouth that closes and then its not swallowed but digested from there.

Below a small grub crawls across the trap, it doesn't close as the grub is too small to trigger the hairs and hence its safe passage is guaranteed and the Venus Flytrap will not waste time and energy on what would not be a very nutritional meal for it.

It may surprise many to know that the Venus Flytrap is not a tropical plant and does not come from the Amazon or any tropical rain forest as one would expect. The Venus Flytrap is in fact only indigenous to the North and South Carolina wetlands in the USA, where it likes to live in peaty swamps and marsh lands.

The Venus Flytrap is not native to any other part of the world whatsoever, however, it may now actually be seen in other parts of the world but only because they have been deliberately planted there.

The plant is quite small and grows slowly.  They can be potted and grown anywhere around the world as long as they get the right amount of light, water and humidity.

The environment is very important to this plants survival, they can survive mild spells of cold in the winter and some horticulturists state that the Venus Flytrap actually becomes stronger during cold winter months as it goes into a sort of hibernation or suspended animation mode where as its metabolism slows right down.

Putting the Venus Flytrap into perspective then, the Flytrap gives off a sweet nectar scent that attracts the insect to it, when the insect agitates the trigger hairs inside the trap the trap will quickly snap shut upon it.

The insect will not be able to escape when the trap closes, even though initially it only closes on the insect to restrict its movement, but after a few minutes the trap closes completely leaving no gap at all, the insect will be sealed in...airtight.

This is actually quite intelligent and scientific of the plant as it understands about germs, because all of the fresh nutrients will be kept in and any bacteria created from air in conjunction with the dead insect is kept locked out.  Nature is often quite ingenious and well thought out.

Below we can see that the two Venus Flytraps in the center of the image have closed up, presumably after the owner has fed them some insects.  This is done by carefully agitating the plants trigger hairs with the dead insect in a pair of tweezers, when the trap closes the feeder can then sharply pull out the tweezers.

The fact that there is no further movement from the insect inside is ignored by the plant, the leaves are now shut and will remain that way for at least 12 hours.

The insect is slowly digested within this leafy tomb over a 5 to 12 day  period.  It is digested via a concoction of enzymes and light acids that are secreted through the glands of the inner leaf.

The Venus Flytrap is as mentioned earlier quite clever too, evolution has taught it that the dead insect will start to decay and decompose over a 12 day period, so to inhibit this, the Venus Flytrap will secrete a preservative in the enclosed trap and the insect will be incubated like this all the time its being digested.

If this little frog isn't careful whilst its scrambling around the outside of this Venus Flytrap then it will become the plants next free lunch.

The Venus Flytrap will not digest hard materials like a spiders outer body and legs which is actually an exoskeleton or a little beetles outer shell, these will be ejected after the initial nutritional goodness from the insects soft tissues have been absorbed. 

After full digestion of the insect has occurred the trap will open up its leaves wide and the remnants will either fall out, get washed away by the next rain fall or get blown out by the wind. 

If something like a berry, dead leaf or other article falls into the trap and it is enough to make it close, then the offending article is 'spat' out 8 to 12 hours later.  If an insect is slightly too big for complete closure of the leaves, even if it was initially killed it is still later rejected, if a larger insect is not rejected then the trap will start to absorb the multiplying bacteria from the dead insect and this will kill the trap, it will die, rot and fall off.

Dinner may be just a little too big for the trap in the image seen below, but sometimes the plant will persevere with it, like a monkey grabbing hold of a nut, once its got it, it won't let go !

Dinner looks just right here and as soon as the fly agitates one of the hairs then its fate will be sealed, literally !

Growing your own Venus Flytrap is easy if you follow all of the correct procedures.  Some of which I will cover here.

Firstly you must get the plants environment right, they should be grown in very bright light but not placed in direct sunlight as this will dry them out and kill them.  A terrarium as seen below is an excellent choice and would provide a constant supply of moisture and be warm enough for growth when kept at between 70 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit.  

A terrarium is where a collection of the same or similar like plants can be grown together, a terrarium can be made out of a fish aquarium, goldfish bowl, a big jar or other suitable vessel of the same style.  Its like creating a miniature jungle where the plants are kept hot and sweaty all day long.

During the cold winter months though Venus Flytraps like to rest in a cool 50 degrees Fahrenheit environment , resting time may be about 3 months give or take a week, in which time the trap part of the plant and most of the stem will wither back.

The soil it needs to grown in has to be a mixture of 70% peat or Sphagnum moss and 30% perlite or coarse pumis. Venus Flytraps are sensitive to chemical imbalances in the earth and tap water should not be used to water them, instead used distilled water or collected rainwater.

If you have no choice but to use tap water due to your circumstances then bring the water to the boil, then pour into an open container and allow to stand for 48 hours undisturbed.

Venus Flytraps do not need to be fertilized, they get all the nutrients they need from the bugs they eat.  So remember to feed an insect to your plant every 12 days or so, you can buy crickets from your local pet store.  

Do not feed your Venus Flytrap with bits of steak, French fries, pepperonis or other foodstuff's we humans like to eat, Your Venus Flytrap will  die if you do.

Do not touch the hairs in the trap just to show your friends how it closes, as this will waste the plants balanced energy resources for no purpose at all and could have long term adverse effects on the plant. 

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