First, let’s start with the basics. Carnivorous plants capture insects to supplement their diet. They produce food through photosynthesis and extract extra nutrients from insects.

Technically, carnivorous plants do not need insects to be healthy, however, insects do offer great benefits like increased growth, propagation, and healthier looks.

Outdoor plants usually capture their own insects, and do not require feeding. On the other hand, indoor plants might need some help capturing prey.

Here are the food options to consider:

• Live or dead insects such as ants, flies, gnats, crickets, fruit flies, etc
• Freeze dried insects like crickets, mealworms, bloodworms: This bugs are dehydrated. To rehydrate them, just add a few drops of distilled water and let the insect absorb it for 3-5 min. Then, pat it dry before feeding to your plant. 
  • Dried crickets to feed carnivorous plants: https://amzn.to/34QEnKv
  • Freeze-dried mealworms for carnivorous plants: https://amzn.to/3B9V4i0
• Fish food: This option has plenty of nutrients. You can break into pieces and place them in the leaves or dilute with distilled water to create a paste.
• Diluted Maxsea fertilizer: To feed you plant you dissolve 1/4 of a teaspoon of Maxsea fertilizer in a gallon of distilled water. Then you can add a few drops inside pitchers or right on top of the leaves of Venus fly trap, sundew, or butterworts.

Never feed human food to your carnivorous plant.

Carnivorous plants can’t process such complex foods. If you make this mistake, the food will rot and the leaf and potentially surrounding leaves can wither.

This article can tell you a lot more of the benefits for each food option. Also, I make recommendations below for each plant type.

How to Feed Venus Fly Trap

Feed Venus fly traps once every 2-6 weeks. You will only need to feed a single leaf of the plant with one bug. You can feed more, but a single insect is enough to provide all the needed nutrients.

When selecting an insect, make sure the bug can fit inside the trap completely when the trap is closed. Preferably, use an insect that is 1/3 of the size of the trap.

Flies, ants, small crickets and spiders are some good candidates.

Feeding Live Bugs

Feeding live insects to a Venus fly trap is very easy. Place the insects inside the trap and make sure you touch the trigger hairs inside the leaf. There are three thin filaments in each lobe, each of them is. a trigger hair. Touch any of them twice within a few seconds and the trap will close.

You have to be fast as dropping the insects and activating the trap before the bug scapes.

The plant will then close, trap the insect and start producing enzymes to consume the food.

Venus fly trap will take about 7 to 21 days to consume a small bug and even longer for large insects.

Feeding Dead Insects

Using dead insects to feed your plants, does not require quick reflexes, you can just place them in a leaf and then touch the trigger hairs. The plant will close, but it won’t start digesting the bug.

Venus fly traps are very careful at selecting prey, they only consume live insects.

For this reason, you must trick the plant into believing it caught a live insect. You will need to press both sides of the trap together. Do a tapping motion several times, approximately 20-60 times. When you tap, the trigger hairs sense movement and the plant sets its digestive motions and starts producing fluids.

Avoid feeding Venus fly traps when they are dormant in the winter, the next couple of weeks following a repotting, or if you plant is looking down or sick.

Guide to Feed Sundews (Drosera)

Sundews can consume tons of small insects at a time. They are very good at controlling gnat populations.

Feeding sundews is straightforward. Use a small bug, preferably an ant, fly, gnat, or mosquito and stick it to a leaf. The bug can be dead or alive.

Avoid large insects that will be left unconsumed for long periods of time, like a big cricket or beetle.

A single bug is enough to feed the whole plant. If you add multiple bugs, make sure you only place them in one or two leaves as sometimes leaves might turn black after feeding.

Feed your sundew once every 2-4 weeks for best results.

The image below is one of my sundews, it shows the recommended size for selecting insects. Small sundews can consume fruit flies and gnats.

Fun fact: Some sundews curl their leafs to help with digestion.

Avoid feeding your sundew if it is dormant, if you just repotted it, or if the plant is recovering from anything, like pests, for example.

Feeding Pitcher Plants: Nepenthes and Sarracenia

Nepenthes and Sarracenia can consume large amounts of insects at a time.

They trap bugs by attracting them with sweet nectar to the edge of their pitcher-shaped leaves. Those edges are very slippery and cause insects to fall and get stuff within the pitcher.

Feed pitcher plants by dropping live or dead insects inside the pitcher leaves. You can also use fish food, dehydrated bugs of diluted malsea fertilizer.

The fluid inside the pitchers breaks down the insect and helps with the absorption of nutrients.

Adding food in one or two pitchers is enough for the whole plant. You can repeat the feeding process once every 2-6 weeks.

There is no such thing as overfeeding nepenthes or sarracenia. However, if you grow them indoors, keep in mind that tons of dead insects decomposing inside pitcher can emit some odor (if the volume is substantial).

Feel free to feed your plant all year round.

When you feed it, keep at eye in the pitchers, some food can make the pitchers wither. Observing the health of the plant will help you evaluate its effectiveness.

Sometimes pitcher plants stop producing fluids inside their leaves due to improper growing conditions. The lack of fluid won’t stop the digestion of the insects, but will slow it down substantially. If you plant is not producing liquid, read this article to resolve it.

How to Feed Butterworts

Butterworts or pinguicula are very effective at capturing tiny insects with their sticky leaves.

Feed butterworts by sticking tiny insects to its leaves. Gnats, ants, and fruit flies are great candidates.

Mature plants might be able to consume small flies, but it will all depend on the size of the plant.

You can also use diluted Maxsea fertilizer, adding a drop in the leaves. However, be careful and do not drop into the soil.

Use one or two bugs in every feeding and repeat the process every 2-6 weeks.

Avoid feeding when the plant is dormant.

Live or dead insects, fish flakes, and diluted Maxsea fertilizer are some of the best food options for sundews, Venus fly trap, pitcher plants and other carnivorous plants. Never employ human food or animals other than insects.

Carnivorous plants extract nutrients from the insects they consume. These nutrients provide a boost in substance, but are not essential. Carnivorous plants do not need to be fed to survive, however, they benefit greatly from it.

Now, here are my suggestions on what you should feed your carnivorous plants.

1- Live Insects

Grow your plant outdoors and let it capture its own insects. Carnivorous plants do not need to be fed when growing outdoor or indoors, but with access to insects.

You can also capture or buy (in a pet store) live bug for feeding. Almost any insect will do.

Here are some great options:

• Flies
• Cricket
• Mealworms
• Bloodworms
• Fruit flies
• Gnats
• Ants
• Rollie pollies
• Beetles
• Spiders
• Ladybugs
• Grasshoppers
• Mosquitos

Choose an insect than is the right size for your plant. For a Venus fly trap select a bug that is a max 1/3 or the size of a trap. Small sundews and butterworts do best with tiny insects such as gnats and ants. And for pitcher plants, you can use larger insects. Any bug that fits within the pitcher will do.

I suggest avoiding larger insects that might produce odor (roaches, large grasshoppers, etc).

Most of them you can forage in a garden or a park. Crickets, mealworms, fruit flies, and bloodworms are available in many pet stores.

Feed a single insect to your carnivorous plants once every 2-6 weeks for best results. A single bug provides enough nutrients for the whole plant.

2- Dead or Freeze-dried Insects

Found a dead bug outside, you can totally use it for your carnivorous plants. Use the whole insects or a piece of an insects to feed your plant.

You can also buy dead insects that come freeze-dried from per stores or grocery stores. You can find freeze-dried bloodworms, mealworms, and crickets for an inexpensive price.

This are the ones I buy from Amazon.

Such insects are dehydrated. To rehydrate them, just add a few drops of distilled water and let the insect absorb it for 3-5 min. Then, pat it dry before feeding to your plant. A single container of freeze-dried insects can last you a life time

Pitcher plants, sundews, and butterworts can consume dead insects without any issues or additional instructions, just drop the insect inside the pitcher or stick it to a leaf.

Venus fly traps require an extra help when consuming dead insects. You will need to manage the sides of the trap to trick the plant into thinking they have captured life prey. After doing this for a few minutes, the plant will start digesting.

A whole container of freeze-dried bugs is usually less than $15 and will last you ages. Here are two links to some feed I have used; both are incredibly nutritious:

• Dried crickets to feed carnivorous plants: https://amzn.to/34QEnKv
• Freeze-dried mealworms for carnivorous plants: https://amzn.to/3B9V4i0

3- Diluted Maxsea Fertilizer

Fertilizing or feeding carnivorous plants with diluted fertilizer is a common practice among hobbyists. However, doing it incorrectly can end up killing the plants.

Maxsea 16-16-16 plant food fertilizer is a suitable choice for carnivorous plants. The fertilizer comes in powder and needs to be diluted in distilled water.

To feed you plant you dissolve 1/4 of a teaspoon of Maxsea fertilizer in a gallon of distilled water.

Mix well before feeding your plants.

Drop 2-3 drops of the solution inside each pitcher, to a couple of leaves in a sundew, butterworts, or place inside the trap of a Venus fly trap.

A couple of drops is enough to feed the whole plant.

The goal is simple. Add the fertilizer in the leaves or the pitchers, never in the soil. Any fertilizer in the soil brings nutrients to the roots and poisons the plant.

Using Maxsea is very affordable and effective for carnivorous plants. However, it can be challenging to place the fertilizer without dropping it in the soil

4- Fish Food

Fish foods come with plenty of nutrients. You can break them down and place them in the leaves or dilute with distilled water to create a paste.

Create a fish food paste by grinding or smashing the food and adding drops of distilled water until the mixture is even. It does not have to be a perfect mixture.

Place the paste or fish food pieces in a couple of leaves 2-3 bits is enough for the whole plant. You can drop inside pitchers, place in sundew leaves or drop inside a Venus fly trap.

A Venus fly trap will require further stimuli to start digesting the food.

Feed again once the food in completely consumed, which usually takes a month.

Here is a link to fish food you can use.

What To Never Feed Carnivorous Plants

Feeding a carnivorous plants can provide great benefit, but employing the wrong food can kill them.

Never give human food to your plants. They won’t be able to digest it and the plant could die or at least cause leaves to wither. All these are a big no no 

• Hamburger
• Chicken
• Sausage
• Salami
• Raw meat
• Candy
• Fruit
• Steak
• Hotdog
• Cheese

You must also avoid any type of animal that is not an insect or a spider. Never feed a tiny frog, mice, bird to your carnivorous plants.

Again, carnivorous plants can’t really consume such complex proteins easily. Such prey will decompose slowly, causing odor and attracting mold or pests, plus it can be a health risk.

How to Feed Carnivorous Plants

Here is a quick guide on how to feed some of the most popular carnivorous plants out there.

Venus Fly Traps

Feed a Venus fly trap by placing food inside its traps and ensuring the plant starts digesting the prey.

The traps have trigger hairs that make the traps close. Touching the trigger hairs twice within a few seconds makes the leaf close.

Once the leaf closed, the trigger hairs must sense movement. If the plant believes there is a live insect inside the trap, it will start digesting the insect. On the other hand, if there is no further stimuli, the trap reopens after a few minutes.

Feeding a live insect to your plant almost always ensures the trap will close and then start digesting the prey.

Dead bugs or fish food might make it close when placed inside the leaf, but won’t trigger digestion. You must press the sides of the trap after it closes. Do this multiple times in a tapping motion for 30 seconds to a minute. This is a way to trick the plant into thinking it caught live prey.

Here is a link to my complete guide on how to feed a Venus fly trap.

Sundews and Butterworts

Sundews and Butterworts are extremely easy to feed.

Feed a Sundew by dropping tiny insects , fish pellets, of Maxsea fertilizer drops in their sticky leaves. Feeding 2-3 pieces of food in a single leaf every 2-4 week is enough to provide substance and promote growth.

Here is my complete guide for feeding sundews.

Pitcher Plants: Nepenthes and Sarracenia

Plants with pitchers can consume large amounts of insects.

Feed pitcher plants by dropping a live or dead insect into a pitcher, you can also employ dehydrated bugs, diluted Maxsea fertilizer, or fish food. 

Feed several or all pitchers and repeat the process every two to four weeks.

Here is a link to my guide to feed Pitcher plants.

Water carnivorous plants with pure, mineral-free water, such as distilled, reverse osmosis, or rainwater only. Carnivorous plants thrive in moist and waterlogged conditions. Some varieties require more water than others, but all carnivorous plants require humid environments.

The minerals present in most tap water and standard bottled water harm carnivorous plants and can kill them. In this article, you will learn how to select appropriate water and how much water your plant needs. For example, Sarracenia plants require a lot more water than Venus flytraps, so make sure you don’t treat all carnivorous plants the same in terms of watering frequency.

What Type of Water Should You Use for Carnivorous Plants

The water type you select is extremely critical. Carnivorous plants should only be watered with the following pure water sources:

• Distilled water
• Reverse osmosis water
• Rainwater

The table below has a comprehensive list of water types and how suitable are they for carnivorous plants:

Water Type	Suitable for Carnivorous Plants
Distilled water	Yes
Reverse osmosis water	Yes
Rainwater	Yes
Tap water	Sometimes (depending on the composition)
Bottled water	No
Boiled water	No
Purified water	No
Filtered water	No (except when using the ZeroWater filter properly)
Spring water	No

Some tap water and bottled water is not suitable for carnivorous plants. However, depending on the brand and where you live, the mineral content could be low enough for your plants. Unfortunately, the labels won’t give you much information. You would need to measure the Parts per Million (PPM) with a TDS meter to determine the mineral content in the water.

A TDS meter is a very simple tool you can buy on Amazon for less than $15 https://amzn.to/3g8VKLI. By dipping one of the ends of the tool into the water, you can measure its parts per million or PPM. Optimally you should employ water with 0 PPM. However, most carnivorous plants can handle some mineral levels.

What is the maximum amount of minerals your carnivorous plants can handle?

Sundews and Venus flytraps are the most sensitive carnivorous plants, while Nepenthes and Sarracenia can handle some minerals in the water and soil.

Maximum recommended PPM level:

Where I live the PPM in tap water exceeds 500 PPM, using my tap water will harm and kill carnivorous plants very quickly.

How to Get Water for Carnivorous Plants

I personally buy distilled water for my carnivorous plants, but you can decide what works best for you between distilled water, reverse osmosis water, or rainwater.

Distilled Water

Where to purchase: grocery store, pharmacy, water store

How to make: You can follow this easy method to make distilled water at home.

How to select: Most grocery chains and pharmacies will sell plain distilled water. I usually buy the 1-gallon jugs labeled as distilled water in Walmart or Kroger. When selecting a jug of distilled water, read the label. The distilled water must be completely pure. If the bottle says something like “enriched” or “added mineral for flavor” then it is not pure and can kill your carnivorous plants.

Reverse Osmosis Water

Where to purchase: Water stores and some pharmacies

How to make: You need a reverse osmosis system to make RO water

How to select: make sure to ask for pure reverse osmosis water. It is helpful to ask if it has additives or minerals for taste. The answer to all those questions should be “No”. Bottled water is commonly purified through reverse osmosis, but then minerals are added.

Rainwater

Rainwater is the only free option available if you have access to enough rain throughout the year. If you collect rain, make sure you do not store it in clay or metal containers. those materials can leach minerals to the ground.

How to Water Carnivorous Plants

This table summarizes the main considerations for watering the most common carnivorous plants. For more detailed explanations for watering Venus flytraps, Nepenthes, Sarracenia, and Sundews, read the sections below.

Water Tray Method

The tray method is a very common technique to water carnivorous plants. Make sure you are using a pot with drainage holes. Then, place the pot on an empty tray. Instead of water by adding water to the soil. Fill up the tray and let the soil soak the water from the tray.

Should carnivorous plants sit in water?

Carnivorous such as Sarracenia and most Sundews thrive continuously sitting on water. Venus flytraps can also sit on water for several days in a row until the tray dries out. Nepenthes on the other hand are prone to root rot and should not sit on water.

Venus Flytrap Watering Instructions

Water Venus flytraps often to keep them healthy. The soil must remain humid at all times; never let the soil dry out completely. You must also avoid soggy or waterlogged conditions as Venus flytraps are prone to rotting due to overwatering.

Some people believe Venus flytraps are aquatic plants, and unfortunately, end up killing them by watering them excessively.

I water my Venus flytraps by using the tray method. To be successful you need to add 1-2 inches of water to the tray. Then, let the plant consume the water. Do not water again until the tray is dry.

If you are unable to use the tray method, you can also water them from the top. Use pure water to moisten the soil all around until is humid. Touch the soil to confirm is wet, but not muddy. Then, let the plant consume the water and do not water again until the soil is slightly drier.

The presence of mold or algae in the soil are common signs of overwatering. Droppy Venus flytraps or excessive amounts of black leaves are sometimes due to underwatering.

Read this complete guide on Venus Flytrap Watering for a complete explanation.

Sundew (Drosera) Watering Instructions

Sundews thrive in waterlogged conditions. They should be watered with pure water and kept in humid to damped soil at all times. For best results, keep Drosera in trays filled with water up to one-half of the height of the plant’s pot.

If you grow Sundews indoors, consider using the tray method, but do not overfill the trays. Keeping the water level in the trays to 1/3 of the height of the pot can prevent overwatering.

Sundews are very difficult to kill by overwatering them; they are a lot more likely to suffer due to underwatering.

For complete instructions to water Sundews through the seasons, read this article I wrote for you

Nepenthes Watering Instructions

Watering pitcher plants can be tricky. They need enough water to start producing their own fluids (this is how you solve the lack of fluid in the pitchers). They need enough water to start producing their own fluids (this is how you solve the lack of fluid in the pitchers). This is due to the high humidity level necessary to grow a healthy pitcher plant, and the fact that the soil needs to stay humid at all times.

Pitcher plants require consistently humid soil at all times. However, the tray method is highly discouraged. Nepenthes are prone to root rot. Leaving Nepenthes sitting in water for long periods can be harmful.

To water Nepenthes, use distilled, rainwater, or RO water and moisten the soil throughout. Then, empty any excess water out of the tray. Test the soil every couple of days by touching it and water when the soil starts to dry out.

Sarracenia Watering Instructions

Sarracenia plants are extremely difficult to overwater. they actually thrive in wet soil year-round.

Employ the water tray method for Sarracenia. Fill up their trays with water until the soil is wet throughout. Then, let the water in the tray consume slightly and refill to the original level.

Sarracenia can live sitting in water without issues.