First of all, buckle your seatbelt, because you are about to get a report. The short answer is put it outside, but just that by itself will probably kill your plant. You are in for an interesting experience with one of the most misunderstood plants of all. Don't let me scare you into giving up; VFTs are one of the more resilient plants, but they have certain environmental requirements only found naturally within 100 miles of Wilmington, NC. A lot of people think they come from steamy tropical jungles, and treat them as such; then they wonder why it died. Your VFT may or may not be more than one plant, because the ones you find in hardware stores are almost always grown from rapidly dividing stem cells stuffed full of growth hormones, and they take awhile to slow down to normal growth. Luckily for you, VFTs straight out of tissue culture are tougher and more tolerant of mistakes until they slow down. The first and most important requirement is light. You cannot give a VFT too much light, and they need a minimum of 6 hours of direct sunlight daily. To get that light level you would need around 6 or 7 of the bulbs you have at the same distance, on for 12 hours a day. Also, more light means more robust growth and more intense colors. The second requirement is soil. VFTs are adapted to grow in pure sphagnum moss, which has zero nutrients and an acidity equal to orange juice. Any other soil will kill them, as will any fertilizers. Outside of their natural habitat, Venus flytraps are best grown in pots with half sphagnum moss, half perlite or washed sand. Once you deal with the soil and light requirements, these are tough little buggers. They can tolerate temperatures over 100 F in the summer, and down below 20 F in the winter. They can survive not being watered for a week or so, and can be completely submerged for several days. High humidity actually kills more VFTs than low humidity. So my suggestion would be to wait until spring, when the temperature is similar to indoors, then begin to place it outside for a couple hours a day in the sun (with the terrarium lid off, of course). Begin to gradually lengthen the time it is outside until it is outside all day and all night, in full sun for over 6 hours a day. You probably don't need to repot it (VFTs have unusually small root systems, and if it's alive, it probably has the right soil mix). Keep it constantly moist or standing in 1/2 inch of water, but no more than that or you will probably drown it. Also, don't feed it anything until it looks healthy and is growing well. ESPECIALLY do not feed it any kind of meat; that will rot the trap it's in. If you insist on feeding it once it's healthy, feed it live or dead bugs no more than 1/3 the size of the trap; however, there's plenty of bugs around for it to catch naturally. If you keep your VFT well-lit, well-watered and in the soil mix it's in, it should hopefully recover from the terrarium.

A couple good websites to check out would be the Carnivorous Plant FAQ (www.sarracenia.com) and Sarracenia Northwest (www.cobraplant.com). So pour yourself a cup of coffee and do some reading. Good luck!

ty for the info. so for now would a sunny window and the lamp be good until spring? and should i keep the top of the terrarium on or off when its inside?

No terrarium is needed. Give it the brightest light you can for now, as much sun as possible.

Use distilled or rainwater ONLY. NO TAP WATER.

Put it under artificial lighting, next to a window until spring.

great info. appreciated.
ill come back and post if i have any problems

Thanks for tolerating my long-windedness. There are a couple more advanced aspects of cultivation such as dormancy and flowering, that you will need to know eventually and that I didn't tell you, so definitely go to www.sarracenia.com if you haven't already. You're welcome for the info, and I try to keep it short (not always successfully).

no prob joshinator. the more info the better to be honest. anyways ive exposed my plant to about an hour of full sun yesterday and today. i noticed that one leaf started browning slightly. is this a burn?