An Update on our "Pet" Audrey

Remember our new "pet" Audrey? Good thing she's not a real pet. I'm not sure what's going on, but she doesn't look like we expected.

We stopped feeding her because we thought maybe she was working too hard digesting all the bugs we eagerly fed her in the first 3 days. The bugs are supposed to be digested in about 10 days, so we wanted to give her a break. After a bug is digested, the trap is supposed to reopen and be ready for another meal. It's been 10 days since her first meal, and so far two traps have reopened for business. As you can see, the spider and the ant didn't get fully digested. . . (click on the picture to make it bigger so you can see better.)

It was pretty cool to see some "bug juice" get squeezed out of a few of the traps as the digestion was taking place. But now a couple of the traps that have bugs in them are turning brown or black--they look like they are dying. We've kept watering her (through the bottom of the pot, as instructed), so I'm not sure if something is going wrong or if this is normal. The instructions say that if a trap dies, cut it off and a new one will grow. I hope that is the case, but only time will tell. There is a new one growing near the almost dead one, so there's still hope.

Did anyone else buy a Venus Flytrap? If so, how does yours look? I got mine at the grocery store (I went back and they were all gone), but I think you can also buy them at florists and greenhouses, so call around if you are interested. Even if Audrey dies, it was still a really fun and interesting project, well worth our $5! :-)