Things You'll Need:
- Bugs
- Tweezers
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Step 1
Understand that Venus Flytraps get nutrition from their soil, water and light just like any other plant. They don't have to have a fresh bug every day to survive. However, feeding a bug to your plant every so often will be fun, educational and provide some extra nourishment to the Flytrap.
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Step 2
Feed your Venus Flytrap bugs or small larvae only. Food meant for humans or animals will kill the plant very quickly.
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Step 3
Hold a piece of food with a pair of tweezers. The bug can be alive or recently killed if you are afraid it will escape the plant before the trap closes. Gently put the bug inside of the trap and withdraw the tweezers when the trap begins to close, leaving the insect inside.
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Step 4
Give your Venus Flytrap food only in an open trap and once per week, at the most. You don't have to feed your plant anything but water in the soil; however, it will grow faster if you do take the time to feed it. You can feed each trap only once a month, or once a year if you wish.
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Step 5
Stimulate the trap to accept dead bugs, if this is what you have fed it. A trap has visible trigger hairs inside of it that can tell whether the food is alive or dead. If it decides the bug is dead, it will reopen in about a day and not digest the food. To stimulate the trigger hairs, immediately after giving the bug to your Venus Flytrap, insert something very thin into the trap between the cilia such as an unbent paperclip. Very gently touch a few of the hairs. This will make the plant think it has captured a live bug.
