Question
hey their i fed my venus fly trap a neguler fly and after a few days the middle of the trap turn black. why does it turn black ? also i live in texas and i dont think we got wax worm so do i feed my venus fly trap? help ??? thanks for your time =)

Answer
Hi Jose,

Oh, you might not like my answer!  You see, you don't need to feed your flytrap.  Insects don't provide anything for the plant other than material to make more leaves.  In general, I regard feeding carnivorous plants one of the least important part of its care.  

Flytraps are plants, plain and simple.  Like all plants, they need sunlight, water and good soil.  If any of these factors are not correct, your plant will never thrive no matter how many bugs you feed it.  You must always make sure your plant is growing outdoors in full sun, is growing in the correct soil mix and has lots of water.  

If you happen to catch a bug and want to give it to your plant, that's perfectly OK.  But it's not important to its care because it will naturally catch bugs on its own.  Carnivorous plants have adapted to survive on minuscule amounts of nutrients, so they don't need a lot of bugs.  However, they are not at all adapted to survive on low light, which is why we regard lighting much more important than bugs.

If you give your plant bugs, make sure it is small enough to fit in the traps.  Otherwise it will rot and make the trap turn black.  If the plant is growing in low light, this will also make the trap turn black since the plant isn't getting enough energy to properly digest the insect.  (Plants get their energy from sunlight.)

I encourage you to read our care sheet on flytraps.  You can find it at:
http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets

Good growing!
Jacob Farin