Q: Should I transplant my Venus flytrap out of the mini-terrarium it came in?


Red Trap A: If you bought your Venus flytrap in a store, it probably came in a little plastic terrarium; maybe a pot with a little plastic domelike lid. Does it need to stay in this little terrarium forever? You have to decide for yourself.

Whatever you do, it should be to increase the likelihood that the plant is in conditions like it would expect from coastal North Carolina or South Carolina.

If you live in humid Georgia (USA) or Townsville (Australia) you do not need the mini-terrarium lid. But if you live in dry places like western Nebraska (USA) or Nagpur (India), keeping the plant in a mini-terrarium will help provide much-needed humidity.


Bottle terrarium You can make an inexpensive terrarium for your plant by modifying a 2 liter bottle of the kind that your favorite soda beverage (or drinking water) comes in. Cut the bottom off and you will have a nice little terrarium (as in the photograph to the right). If you cut off the top and the bottom to give yourself a tall transparent cylinder, and you will have a chamber that will will allow for air circulation, which might be good, but the humidity will tend to be lower.

One thing you can do to help a Venus flytrap in a tiny pot stay healthy is to not overwater it. Keep the plant wet, but do not keep the pot sitting in more than a few centimeters of water. A deeply submerged pot cannot get enough oxygen. Water your plant frequently, but do not make it sit in too much water.

If you want to upgrade the size of your plant's growing area even more, you should look at the FAQ entries that talk about terrarium construction.

If you have questions on how to transplant your Venus flytrap, look at my transplant instructions.

Page citations: Rice, B.A. 2006a.