Maggots
Most people feed their Venus flytraps with flies. Those disgusting little bugs that buzz everywhere and are generally a nuisance are both a good size and nutrient level for your plant. However there are issues with feeding flies to your plant including:
- they’re hard to get into the trap without killing them first
- if you place them in with a pair of tweezers you need to forcefully wrench the tweezers out which risks damaging your plant
- They leave a hideous carcass behind
- Catching them is difficult
Maggots on the other hand have none of the above problems. They’re easy to get into the trap, just pick them up and drop them, they leave no carcass behind as their squishy bodies are almost entirely digested by the trap and they’re slow moving so are easy to catch.
Of course maggots don’t generally live around the home unless you happen to live in a cesspool, in which case I suggest turning your computer off and cleaning your house from top to bottom right now! If you don’t live in a cesspool and are planning to feed your Venus flytrap with maggots you are either going to have grow your own, track down a rotting piece of meat covered in them or buy some. Maggots can often be purchased at pet shops or fishing supplies stores.
Growing your own maggots is pretty easy though. Just get a small jar, place a piece of meat in there (chicken works good) and leave it outside for a while. Eventually a few flies will land on it, leave them there for a few hours to make sure they’ve done their thing (laying eggs) at which time you should get the flies out of there (shaking the jar usually works). Pour a little water inside, or add some wet cotton wool and put a lid on it with a few holes punched in the top. After about a week you should have some nice healthy looking maggots growing in some gooey sludge. Scoop the maggots out, wash them with a little water to get the smelly rotten meat off and take them to your plant. Gently place the maggots in the center of one of the traps and they’ll usually trigger the trap immediately. The trap will close around the maggot and voila, it’s feeding time 
About a week later your trap will open and magically there will be no dead carcass! At most there will be a shiny looking gleam on your trap.
Some people claim to have found that their maggots crawl out of the trap so they have held them inside the trap with a toothpick, however I have never personally had any troubles with just dropping them in. In fact even when they move, they usually move towards the middle of the trap which lets the leaves clamp totally shut, encasing the maggot inside the trap ready to be digested.
Maggots are my preferred food for my flytraps due to the ease of feeding and the lack of yucky bug skeletons. However growing/finding maggots is a rather disgusting activity and not something I recommend doing if bad smells bother you a lot. I grow and process my maggots in a smell proof fume hood in my lab, so the grossness factor isn’t so bad for me. But growing maggots at home is likely to be a rather unpleasant affair and you may be better of purchasing them.
a student responded on 12 Dec 2007 at 5:16 pm #
thank you so much! I have a science project and I’m doing it on the diets of Venus fly traps, (I’m going to feed them vegetarian foods). I am really stressed because our topics were chosen without any previous research (grr stupid science teacher) and the more and more I read about Venus fly traps, the more I’m sure this project is going to work. I’m really not sure how to do the feeding of the beans, because I don’t have any magical Mexican jumping beans at hand. If you have any ideas I would be really grateful (my only idea is change my project, but we’re not allowed to) and, just in case, you can contact me at shabalabadingdong@live.com
Thank you so much!
I love your site by the way, and I’m certainly going to go for maggots for my plants that won’t be having the other foods.
Ryan responded on 19 Dec 2007 at 12:05 am #
Hi ‘a student’,
Apologies for not replying sooner, for some reason your comment was detected as spam and I didn’t check my spam box until now.
Unfortunately your project definitely won’t work. The most you will do is damage your plant, although I guess that’s a result of sorts, albeit a pretty boring one.
Your science teacher obviously didn’t think this project through very well. The best projects to do on Venus flytraps are related to measuring trap speed and opening times. For example measuring the time it takes for various cultivars traps to close etc. Presumably the greener cultivars (eg: Justina Davis) will close faster than the red cultivars (eg: Red Dragon) as their higher amounts of energy creating chlorophyl should (in theory) make them more healthy and hence close their traps faster. Another good project is to measure how long it takes the traps to open after the plant has been fed various types of food, ie: do the traps open faster when fed flies, slaters, ants or spiders? I spose you could throw vegetables into the mix on that last one too – perhaps an extension of the existing project could get you a little more credit?
Anyhows, if you MUST feed your plants vegetables, then the best idea is to make sure they’re about a third the size of the trap, then place them into the trap and after it closes over the vegetation, gently squeeze the leaves around the vegetation together every 30 seconds or so for 10 mins. This ensures that the trigger hairs inside the plant are activated regularly to ensure that the trap doesn’t open up before digestion.
I’d love to hear back on your results. I’ll email you shortly. If you would like, feel free to send me your report before you hand it in and I would be happy to proof read it and give some advice if you would like.
another student responded on 10 Mar 2008 at 7:22 pm #
i need some help. its cold fall and no bugs are out. i have ordered three venus fly traps, and one has already died! how do i feed my fly trap without buying the bugs from a store, as that is forbidden by my parents?
Ryan responded on 10 Mar 2008 at 10:04 pm #
Er, try looking harder perhaps?
If you can’t buy them and you can’t find them then I have no advice sorry.
Remember though, your plant will survive fine without any bugs, so don’t panic if there is no food around for it.
Aqua responded on 20 Apr 2008 at 2:25 pm #
I have a qustion: can venus flytraps eat moths? we have a large number in our house and i’m wondering if it will damge my venus flytrap.
Mark responded on 30 Apr 2008 at 4:30 am #
Hi Ryan,
One question. Is it hazardous to be growing maggots as instructed in your site in a garage?
Skin Diseases? Bacteria? or even Viruses?
Ryan responded on 30 Apr 2008 at 5:03 am #
Hi Mark,
Yes it is hazardous. You would be better storing them outside. They can get quite smelly.
If you grow them from a rotten piece of meat (how I do it), they’re most likely full of diseases, bacteria and all sorts of nasties.
I just clean them off with water before taking them inside.
Bebo responded on 11 Aug 2008 at 9:23 am #
Can i give my VFT the bigger wingy ants.Other websites say that the cant digest the hard shell of ants.
Andy responded on 21 Aug 2008 at 2:20 pm #
Hi Ryan,
I read somewhere on another website that if you let a flower stem grow and produce seeds it could actually kill the plant. Is this true?
Ryan responded on 04 Sep 2008 at 3:13 am #
Hi Bebo,
Ants have a hard outershell which the plant will struggle to digest. This isn’t too much of a problem if the shell falls out afterwards, but over time the shells can build up and make it difficult for the plant to digest other bugs. It is best to aim for soft squishy insects instead.
Ryan responded on 04 Sep 2008 at 3:14 am #
Hi Andy,
Yes, allowing the flower stem to grow can kill your plant.
Leah responded on 20 Sep 2008 at 1:56 pm #
hi,
I just got a VFT the other day, it’s still in the container; i have been giving it water and plenty of light, but i’m just wondering when do i feed them? their still small and I didn’t know if i should just give them water or attempt to feed them small insects?
please help,
leah
Ryan responded on 16 Oct 2008 at 10:10 pm #
Hi Leah,
You don’t need to feed them. If you do decide to feed them, then just make sure you don’t give them anything larger than can fit in their trap – usually about half the length of the trap.
Anastasia responded on 04 Apr 2009 at 2:56 pm #
I know maggots are the prefered feeding because they don’t leave behind skeletons, but they cary alot of bacteria and disease. Will that eventually kill the trap? Other than maggots are there any bugs that don’t leave exto skeletons?
oli responded on 26 Apr 2009 at 12:55 pm #
hey,ryan
how much do bugs cost @ the pet shop?
Ally responded on 13 May 2009 at 9:02 pm #
hey ryan. i have a question. is a VFT a good plant for an 11 year old? i really want to have a pet of my own, but my parents said no. so i figured a VFT was the next best thing. Of course, i wont treat it like a pet. i’ll treat it like a VFT. I will feed it maggots cuz that seems easiest. SO are they good for an 11 year old to grow?
Ryan responded on 19 May 2009 at 2:59 am #
Hi Ally,
A VFT is perfectly fine for an 11 year old. They may have a tendency to kill it by poking various things into it, but that’s part of learning to look after a plant I guess.
If they’re careful and with a little guidance then they should be able to grow it just as well as an adult.
Ryan responded on 19 May 2009 at 3:08 am #
@oli – No idea. Prices will vary depending on where you live anyway.
Ryan responded on 19 May 2009 at 3:11 am #
@Anastasia – Maggots only leave bacteria and disease if they’re unclean. It is possible to grow healthy clean maggots.
I doubt the diseases that maggots carry would affect a plant anyway. So as long as your plant is outdoors then it shouldn’t matter IMO.
Yet another student responded on 29 May 2009 at 3:40 am #
Hi
I have bought a venus flytrap around 3 days ago and people are telling me you can feed it ants. I am not too sure if you can so im going to ask that.
Can you feed your Venus flytrap ants?
And can you also feed your fly trap salad that is washed in rainwater?
Ayesha responded on 08 Jun 2009 at 1:26 pm #
How to produce maggots on fresh meat. and then Biosurgery in wound healing – the renaissance of maggot therapy
Ayesha responded on 08 Jun 2009 at 1:27 pm #
how can we grow healthy and fresh maggot on meat in laboratory condition, they need any special media or they grow as it is..
Anna responded on 08 Jun 2009 at 2:01 pm #
Just fed my VFT for the first time – cabbage worms that were destroying my kale (mwahahahahaha). However, read somewhere else that worms high in calcium (guessing cabbage worms are, since they feed on kale) are no good. Do you know if this is true?
casperyc responded on 01 Aug 2009 at 12:40 am #
i see from the internet that the venus flytrap will die if we keep water it with tap water..
i dont have distilled water…and i m living at apartment…cant get rain water as well…
can help me with this problem???
thx…
Caroline responded on 04 Sep 2009 at 7:37 pm #
I am doing an extended experimental investigation for my school assignment, and I’ve decided the plants I’ll use will be VFTs. We don’t have many flies around our place and I was wondering what I could substitute them with. Is it possible to feed them meal worms? Or small crickets? I need to control all the factors in this experiment, so a food source that is constantly available would be useful. Thankyou!