You're failing in most ways with these. They need to be in a 50/50 mix of peat moss and perlite. FULL SUN. Sit in a tray of rain or distilled water about 3/4" deep. BELOW their rhizomes. They NEED a dormancy period in fall winter. about 35-40 degrees F.

Yeah it had some deformed leaves when i bought it... probably because it was already in 100% peat moss (which is why i transplanted it into the same). Thanks for the help :) I transplanted it into 50/50 and put it into a south facing (but filtered with reflective tint) window and a big cfl light. It now has many, many new leaves coming up so it's obviously happier :)

OH, also, I used a mycorrhizae treatment on the roots when i transplanted it, but I know carnivorous plants are sensitive to synthetic chemicals and salts and fertilizers... a mycorrhizal fungi shouldnt hurt it though right? I'm thinking that may be why it's showing practically NO signs of transplant shock and has all the new leaves already.

50/50 peat sand is also a good soil mix

How were keeping the dormant one that rotted???

This is how "I" do it & have never had any problems
Carefully dig it up / Cut off all the traps & place the corm (root stock) ether in a ziplock full of just barely moist peat or wrap it in barely moist moss then put it in a ziplock & keep them in the veggie drawer in my fridge for about 3 months

Good Luck

Ok thanks I will try that :)

The last one i dug up, trimmed the roots & traps off the corm, dusted the corm with rootone powder (it has fungicide in it so i figured that would keep it from molding), and then placed it in a moist folded paper towel in a ziploc bag. 3 months later, it was a ziploc bag full of moldy paper towel and a moldy corm.

And I think I figured out why this VFT keeps losing traps and growing new, deformed ones. because all the traps started falling off and i pulled on it and the whole corm lifted out because it had some kind of bugs in the soil eating the roots and old traps from the base... but i'm going to try to save this corm by putting it into dormancy and then replanting in spring.

My VFT'S are going into there second yr. dormancy period . Last yr I kept them on a window sill that averaged a temp of 40 F. There were some heart breaking experiance's over the yr's though ..Although this sight sure is fantastic to prevent certain desater's .Bug's are a heck of a neusence to the ryesume's . Microscopic insect's are devistating.Some one know's I'm sure how to rid these pest's . Sincerly Doowop_6116.

Go watch this video!

http://bit.ly/IIBnyu