1. First create a terrarium by cutting the milk jug, about
ten centimetres down from the top. Cut all the way around to create
an opening just big enough to re-pot your CP.
2. Fill the bottom of the jug with sand, about five centimetres
high.
3. Overlay the sand with the peat or sphagnum moss, filling
the jug to a little more than halfway.
4. Dig a hole about 2.5 centimetres deep. Carefully
remove your Venus flytrap from its little pot and place it in the
hole. Carefully pat in more moss around the plant’s base.
5. Pour the distilled water all around the moss. The sand
and moss need to be moist to create the humidity the CP craves.
Tap water can kill it.
6. Cut open the bottom of the sandwich bag. Fit the bottom
of the sandwich bag over the jug’s opening and tape it to
the jug. The Ziploc top can be opened and closed for giving your
CP some air—or for feeding! (You can use any clear plastic
bag if it’s big enough. Just fit the open end over the jug,
and tape it down. Cut open the top, and keep it taped shut, or use
clips.)
7. Place the plant near a fluorescent light. Venus
flytraps need 12 hours of “sun” and a relatively constant
temperature. Open the bag every other day to give your CP some fresh
air.
8. Once a week, catch a fly or spider, or some other yummy
bug and feed your CP. Just open the plastic bag, put it in. The
CP will do the rest! If you’re really keen, catch some food
and use tweezers to feed it to your CP. With a Venus flytrap, just
place the insect or spider in the “mouth” of one of
the leaves—it should snap shut. If you put anything in the
“mouth”, it will snap shut, and then open again, but
it’s best to avoid stimulating it too often. Each trap will
“eat” two or three times before it falls off and a replacement
grows. |
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