Venus Fly Trap

While the Venus Flytrap is carnivorous, it isn't dangerous to humans and will not bite your finger .

The Venus Flytrap is a plant that does not make its own food, but rather feeds on insects.

Venus Flytrap plants are found in areas with very damp soil that

typically doesn't provide the nutrients

needed for it to survive. Insects provide

the missing nutrients.

How It Works

When anything touches these hairs, the two lobes of the leaves will snap shut in less

than a second, trapping whatever is inside .

The leaves of Venus' Flytrap open wide and on them are short, stiff hairs called “trigger” or

“sensitive hairs.”

It lures its victim with sweet-smelling nectar.

If an insect is too large, it will stick out of the trap. This allows bacteria and molds to grow on the insect. Eventually the trap turns black, rots and falls off .

If the object isn't food, e.g., a stone or a nut, the trap will reopen in about twelve hours and 'spit' it out.

It dissolves the soft, inner parts of the insect, but not the tough, outer part

(exoskeleton).

The trap compresses tightly around the insect and secretes digestive juices, much like those in your stomach, and an antiseptic juice. This juice purifies and keeps the insect from decaying over the few days it is in the trap.

At the end of the digestive process, which takes from five to twelve days, the trap reabsorbs the digestive fluid and

then reopens .The leftover parts of the insect, the exoskeleton, are blown away by the wind or washed

away by rain.