What’s a Carnivorous Plant Terrarium and How to Make Your Own

Carnivorous plants are some of the most fascinating species in nature.

Plants like Venus flytraps, pitcher plants, sundews, and others get their nutrients by catching flying insects with sticky, snapping, or trapping structures, not from the soil. Carnivorous plants grow well in terrariums, even indoors.

Here’s how to make your own carnivorous plant terrarium, including what and how to feed these hungry plants.

What is a Carnivorous Plant Terrarium?

Terrariums provide an attractive way to display plants that trap insects as their food source. They also mimic the natural conditions for these plants, with boggy, nutrient-free growing medium and higher levels of humidity and moisture.

You can create a carnivorous plant terrarium in an open container, a closed container, or even in a fish tank.

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How to Make a Carnivorous Plant Terrarium

1. Choose which carnivorous plant you’d like to use in your terrarium. Be sure to take factors like mature size and preferred growing conditions into account.
2. Decide on your terrarium vessel. Choose a container that’s an appropriate size for your carnivorous plant. Globe-style glass vessels with open tops, cloches, jars with lids, or sizeable fish or reptile tanks all work as long as they’re clear. Note that a closed terrarium will keep out live insects, so you’ll need to feed your carnivorous plants another way if you choose this option.
3. Gather up the supplies you’ll need to assemble your terrarium. Because carnivorous plants require boggy conditions with acidic, low-nutrient soil, you can’t use any old potting mix. You’ll need a drainage layer in the form of lava rock, LECA, or coarse sand; a layer of sphagnum moss to hold moisture; and a layer of soilless mix made of peat or coco coir combined with equal parts perlite.
4. Layer the growing medium in the proper order. First, add your drainage layer, then the sphagnum moss layer, then the soilless mix. Depending on your vessel size, each layer should be 1-3 inches deep.
5. Plant your carnivorous specimen by making a small hole in the layers you’ve created so that about two-thirds of the plant’s existing root ball is covered. Add another layer of sphagnum moss to cover the remaining third of the root ball.
6. Moisten the substrate with rainwater or distilled water. Never use tap water, bottled water, or even filtered water on carnivorous plants. Instead, use rainwater or purchase distilled or demineralized water. Use a spray bottle to moisten the growing medium in an open terrarium few times each week. For closed terrariums, the moisture you add should stay contained in the vessel.
7. Place your carnivorous plant terrarium in the right spot. Because these species grow outdoors, they require lots of light, either from a bright window or a grow light. Take care to keep them out of direct sunlight, which can overheat and kill the plants.

Carnivorous Plants Perfect for Terrariums

• Venus flytraps: This classic carnivorous plant snaps its jaws shut around unsuspecting insects. They don’t require as much humidity as other carnivorous plants, so they’re better suited to open containers.
• Sundews: These carnivorous plants use their colorful, sticky hairs to capture insects in the wild. Thanks to their compact size, they’re ideal for smaller or closed vessels.
• Pitcher plants: Plants in genera like Nepenthes and Sarracenia capture insects in their liquid-filled cups or tubelike structures. Some species of pitcher plants can grow quite large, so they may be better suited to open containers or tanks.
• Butterworts: Known for their small but long-lasting flowers, butterworts use the sticky surface of their leaves to trap small insects. They’re on the smaller side, so they work well in an enclosed vessel or small terrarium.

What to Feed Carnivorous Plants in Terrariums

Carnivorous plants in open terrariums may eat common houseplant insects, but unless you put your plants outside in the summertime, they won’t get sufficient nutrition this way. Otherwise, plan to feed your plants every two weeks or so. Here are some options for feeding carnivorous plants.

• Blood worms: Live or freeze-dried blood worms make convenient food for these plants. Purchase them at bait shops, pet stores, or online.
• Crickets: Live or freeze-dried crickets are another good source of nutrition for carnivorous plants in terrariums. Find them at pet shops.
• Mealworms: Freeze-dried mealworms are another convenient food source for your plants.
• Fish flakes: If you can’t get your hands on live or freeze-dried insects—or don’t want to handle them—you can also feed your carnivorous plants fish flakes or fish pellets.
• Fertilizer pellets: This option is for pitcher plants only. It’s possible to feed these carnivorous plants by dropping a single fertilizer pellet in a few of the plant’s pitchers every two weeks or so.