Is it being kept inside or out? An indoor plant is weaker than one outside and a flower saps the strength even more.

How old is the VFT? Grown outdoors? Got a photo? Was the insects alive or dead?

No idea how old it is. 10-12 traps overall. Lives indoors. Flower stalk grew about a centimeter (barely started) before I cut it off.

In the case of the fly, it was freshly killed. The moth struggled a bit inside.

They won't digest already dead insects. They must be moving.

And the VFT belongs outside in full Sun.

ok this is a dumb question but how do you feed them live insects? Do you rip their wings off or something? I'm having a heck of a time even getting a moth in there without it flying out.

Best thing to do is set them outside where they can catch their own. Mine do it all the time.

You can "feed" live or dead bugs to some carnivorous plants, but it's just too much trouble to do this to vfts, in my opinion. The trap mechanism is too complicated, as opposed to the simple sticky surfaces and pitfalls that other plants use.

Keep in mind, some growers never feed their vfts or allow them to trap bugs, and the plants do just fine.

When I VFT traps an insect. It is the movement of the insect brushing against the trigger hairs that stimulate the leafe to go to the digesting phase. The edge of the leaf presses tight, crushing the insect to death if not, drowning it with the digesting juices.

If you feed dead insect, the plant will react something as if nothing is inside. If you want to watch it digest a bug. Hunting down a small bug and dopping it on the leafe should do the trick. I do it when visitor want to see my plants in action.

Other then that, I let my traps alone and do their catching themselves.

If the bug is dead drop it in the trap and make sure it hits atleast 2 of the 3 trigger hairs on one side..then it will partially close..then using a very thin tool push the dead carcus around so it stimulates the trigger hairs..this will trick the plant into thinking it is a live plant..(the plant does not want to waste the energy of digesting a rock or soemthing..they are smart)

to feed it a live bug catch the bug anyway u wish..(i prefer putting it in a cup and putting paper over the top..then put it in the freezer for about 40 seconds (any more and the bug will die)..this will put the bug into a lil nap..then quickly use tweezers or your fingers and pick up the sleeping bug and place it in the trap and make sure it hits the trigger hairs..the trap will partially close..and within a minute the bug will come to and start moving around..stimulating the hairs and making the plant fully close..

of course the best method is putting the plant outside or whatnot and letting it do it naturally..it will catch them by itself believe me..

I'm noticing when the trap closes that the "eyelash" hairs on the tip of the leaves (not the trigger hairs) are not inter-locking.

I put mine outside today and it caught a bug. But the hairs are not interlocking like a zipper. The trap is shut; but the hairs are not locked. Is that an issue?

when you say shut..is it like partially shut..or sealed?

That the trap doesn't close totally or the cilia interlock is normal. During the initial closure, the trap will remain somewhat slighlty open to allow small insect that accidently triggered the trap. That way the VFT wont wast energy trying to digest a very small insect that's very low on nutritional value for the VFT.

The cilia not interlocking is normal, it happens. It wont harm your plant.

Yep, the trap is sealed, and has been now for 48 hours. I can see the shadow of a little bug inside. It's just that the cilia are not interlocked but instead parallel to eachother. If that is OK, I guess the plant is doing what it should all by itself.

RELAX, the plant knows what it's doing.

What happens if a bug is only half way in and the trap shuts. I fed a bud worm, and it squirmed triggering the trap, but half of the worm is outside the clamped trap. Will this injure the plant?

If the bug starts to rot from outside of the trap it will probably turn black and die. That's why they need to seal their traps during the digestion process.

I've read that in some cases, because the leaf was not able to close fully when a part of the insect is outside, the leaf will usually turn black. However, that's not to say every bug that is partially outside will cause this for the leaf. I've seen some really soft things like caterpillars have some parts outside but the plant was able to close enough (probably because caterpillar body is squishy) and digest the part that was inside.

You can also feed it earth worms rather than bugs.. I feed my vft worms and it closes all by itself.

I have 2 vft, 1 eats very well, the other not so much. I've tried to feed it partially live flys but the trap won't even slightly close on several traps! What can I do?? Have the gone dormant? If so, why are they open to the point of almost touching its own outer leaves (look backwards)?

Let me guess, you grow it inside? If so, put it OUTSIDE and it'll catch plenty on it's own These are not houseplants.

But I have ferral cats in my back (where I'd put them) & I fear they may try to eat them! The 1 plant is doing fabulously!

Light is more important for them than food. They need full Sun for at least 6-8 hours a day minimum. Make a chicken wore cage over them.

I've read that some traps which won't close are too old or expiring. They are still there and look like they would work, but they don't because they are on the way out.

My vft live on my kitchen window sill above my sink. They get full sun (but not direct) ALL day, till 7-8pm (live in Florida, facing south/east sun). I do believe they are now as purslane explains, done feeding, & now are there to do just as you say, help w/photosynthesis & look tempting to flys attracted to the lite @ that window