Congrats on the purchase.

Personally, my collection started with a VFT my girlfriend had bought me in college. He's now a grandfather of two other VFT's and the start of a relatively successful collection of cp's.

But anyhow, to the matter at hand; your VFT is most like stressed because it went from abyssmal conditions to about as good as you could offer it. Plants do things slowly and take their time.

I'd reccomend giving it a nice sunny location that isn't too warm and don't worry about dormancy this winter, it could afford to skip the first one. Ensure that it isn't frying under a plastic cover, or just inside the window - that light will magnify and cook it. However, since it probably grew up in a plastic bubble, I'd give it a small open period to eventually 'harden' it to a normal atmosphere, where it can remain happy free of it's opressive bubble.

As for water, I'd stick witha tray method for now - that is to say, keep it continually within a tray with a 1/4 inch of water at all times, or at least keep it from drying out. Waterlogging isn't desired and can lead to root-rot. The water obviously, needs to be as mineral free as possible. Relatives may tell you that letting it sit or boiling it will help, but that only allows the chlorine to burn off. You honestly need reverse-osmosis water, or rain water. In the winter, you could just bring clean snow indoors and let it melt, it saves a penny now and then.

Food is ironically a non-issue with most cp's. They can gather enough to survive and thrive from their soil, light and water. If anything, I've noticed hungry cp's produce more mouths in hopes of eating more. It's cruel, but if you don't give them the bugs they crave, they don't die, they just become more beautiful in the attempt. Also, chances are your VFT hasn't eaten and has no idea how to eat, the test-tube babies not being as hearty as they are in the wild. A common problem is with a new VFT is that people feed it and the head that ate dies for no reason, after rapidly turning black. Personally, skip the meals and you will know when it is ready to eat; it'l be catching it's own food supply.

To sum up:

1) RO or rain/snow water only. Don't listen to relatives who only have experience with tomato gardens - they will kill your VFT.

2) Plenty of light from a nice, (perhaps at first partially shaded) bright source. Careful not to cook the plant, but they love 12+ hours a day of light. A properly 'lit' VFT will turn green like a properly cared-for lawn.

3) Leave the media alone, for they can't live in regular soils. They do best in sphagnum, peat/sphagnum, or pure sand (which mine grow just fine in)

an excellent site is http://www.sarracenia.com/faq.html, Dr Rice is very informative and witty, with a very well laid out table of contents.

Other than that, good growing!

Thanks tons for the detailed post!

The windowsill I have it on now is warm-ish during the day and cooler at night, but nothing extreme. Hopefully that'll work. It doesn't get great sun, but it does get some, and I have a fluorescent lamp on most of the time I'm in the room. I wish I had a better window for it, but alas, my dorm is only 12x14 or so, haha.

The plant came in one of those pots with a plastic cup on top, with instructions to fill the cup with water and place the pot in it. I did that, but with the water level barely touching the bottom of the pot. Is that okay?

With the eating thing, I was surprised... there were already a few small crane flies in the cup-top with it when Dan gave it to me, and several of the heads look like they're still digesting some of the flies, so fortunately it appears used to eating bugs already. It's good to hear that I don't have to go out on buggy safaris every day, though, since most of them are in hibernation already here.

I'll try my best to get some clean water for it. I could probably put out some collecting cups outside without anyone noticing and moving them. That, or I could try and get some distilled water from my chemistry lab if we go a while without rain.

Thanks again for all the information! I'd type more but I have to get to marching band now. Bah.

Not a whole lot to add to xpochian's guidance, but if you have the wherewithal to get the fluorescent light mounted ~6" above it, for ~12 hours per day. I wouldn't do much rearranging. stability of conditions goes a long way, in addition to adequate lighting and water, as well as adequate drainage and being exposed to the air. If you can't get rain or RO water, store bought ditilled water is excellent.

So, what's your major?

With regard to Dr. Rice, if you want a good laugh, check out his experiments with human skin tissue.

You're the antithesis of my wife! She thinks that CP's are "morbid" and "not normal".... and would love a bouquet of roses any day of the week!

I remember reading about his experiment with skin tissue like 3 years ago. and yet, to this day it still amazes it. Sometimes it makes me imagine if flytraps, one day will be able to become truly carnivore. :O who knows. they yet have not evolved to grow larger than a few inches tall and a few inches in diameter. some plants do grow very long leaves with big traps. one day!!

One thing's for sure...I wouldn't give hima a set of electrodes, a body from a grave, and laboratory human brain! Heck, I wouldn't give him jumper cables!

And I certainly wouldn't encourage him to cross a butterwort with a VFT!!!

But I DO love his writing style. It's like taking Mr. D'Amato and adding sardonicism!

Haha I read that. Is it bad that I was more interested that disgusted? :D The rest of Dr. Rice's website was very informative, though, and I like his writing style too.

I think am going to try to get a small fluorescent lamp for my desk, especially if the general consensus is that my little VFT won't necessarily go dormant this year. It's still looking pretty green with just a few brown spots after half a week settled away from the store. I could use a better lamp for my desk, anyway.

Petiolaris, I'm majoring in biological sciences (how appropriate for this board, neh?), and probably going to concentrate in biotechnology. ...that is, if I can pass my chemistry classes. Urgh.

The plant shouldn't go into dormancy if the cues aren't there. In other words, if you providing it biggest cue - summer length light, it will remain in grwoth mode.

I was intending to be a Bio major, since my high school guidance counselor thought it was the closest thing he could place me in, due to my tropical fish hobby.

I went to what was called Freshman Orientation with a buddy of mine and she introduced me to a gal that she met and she was going to major in Environmental Science. I hit it off with the gal and the next thing I knew, I was signing up for Intro To Env Sci and Env Chem w/Lab....

Shoulda listened to my mom - Accounting, Math,... Oh well, such is life!

Anyhoo, Whaddya think of the 'Krebs Cycle'? Isn't that a fun little thing to memorize?

Oh goodness. I actually have an exam that deals partly with the Krebs Cycle in about forty-five minutes. That, and a ton of other photosynthesis and genetics stuff. Hooray for college...

May the mitochondria be with you! Keep us posted.

Here is a link that might be useful: Don't ask!

Thanks! I think I did okay. At least, I hope I did.

I decided my window isn't very sunny, so I went and got a lamp with one of those energy-saving fluorescent bulbs. It's now positioned about 4-5" above my flytrap, to supplement the sun. Is that a good setup?

Yes it is! Just keep up with the watering and things will go well. Glad that Pyrolysis didn't turn into paralysis!