Hello Glenda,

One of the most difficult ways to raise carnivorous plants is in a terrarium. All mine are open pot on plastic shelves in windows with large water trays under their pots (except for the Nepenthes). Even then, raising Venus Flytraps and Sarracenias inside is harder than raising them outside as they need full sunlight to survive for long.

When repotting them, use only sphagnum peat moss for the main medium and and perlite or silica sand as a drainage material. mix them 50/50... I use perlite as it drains well and creates a more open culture for air circulation near the plant roots.

The problems with using terrariums is that they harbor mold and can not be drained well, creating infectious environments that result in root rot. Only someone that can take a lot of time and effort can provide the right level of water and keep the terrarium air circulating while giving the plants enough light so that they survive. It is clearly the more labor intensive and expensive option. As open pot plants they can be adapted slowly to low humidity if the nursery you buy them from does not pre-adapt them for you. Just use a dome or plastic bag over the plants and place them in a morning sun window for a couple weeks. During that time you slowly remove the bag or dome by lifting it or punching holes in it until it no longer holds in humidity and can be removed after two weeks. Next, for sun intensive plants like Venus Flytraps and Sarracenias, place them in a south facing window for a week or so, then move them ouside or add more florescent lights (12000 lumens is good)over them to supplement window light. Drosera capensis likes full sun too, but can grow well in a south window indoors just fine. Pinguicula do not care for full sun so much, but like shaded or partial sun in an east window or under 6000-12000 lumens of florescent light. Cool white tubes of the 40 watt variety are fine.

The plants you are getting are a mix of tropical and temperate species that require very different conditions in winter to survive, so planting them together in a terrarium would be disastrous. The Sarracenias and Venus Flytraps require dormancy in winter in short day lengths of photoperiod and in cooler temperatures if they are to live beyond a year. The Drosera capensis will not require dormancy at all. Pinguicula grandiflora also goes dormant in winter like the North American plants.

If you decide to use the terrarium, provide at least an inch of drainage pebbles in the bottom (make sure they have no calcium, lime, or magnesium in them). And fill in at least 4-6 inches of the tank with sphagnum moss and perlite mix, making sure that the materials you use have absolutely no fertilizer in them (many non-specialist companies sell little bags of moss that they add fertilizer to as they assume that people will grow non-carnivorous plants unfortunately). The next problem would be providing enough light for your North American plants without burning your Buttewort to a crisp.

Actually Drosera capensis is an easy plant, but the rest, with winter dormancy are a bit more challenging. The best for beginers are the tropicals, like Drosera capensis, Drosera spatulata, Drosera adelae, Nepenthes sanguinea, Nepenthes alata, N. ventrata, N. ventricosa, and so forth, but you can grow the others with no problem if you just give them what they need at the right times.

Make sure you have enough mineral free water as tap water contains too many impurities, like calcium, magnesium, and other garbage that will alter the acidity of the moss and rot the plants' roots. Use only distilled, reverse osmosis water not softened with salt, or rain water for your plants. Place large trays under well draining pots and add an inch of water for a 4-5 inch pot for your Drosera capensis and Dionaea muscipula and 2 or so inches of water for your Sarracenia. They each like different levels of water too. The Pinguicula needs to be grown with no water tray and given a little water every few days just to keep it moist, but never damp enough to rot its roots. They do not like standing water or full sun as much as the other plants do.

Thank you so much for your advice. I really appreciate your help. I have already ordered my plants so I guess I'll just have to adapt. I am planning to pick up a 10 gal. aquarium. I will use the substrate recommended but will keep my plants in their pots with a gravel bottom. PEASE OFFER ME ANY ADVICE YOU THINK I NEED. I would appreciate any and all advice. Thank you.
Glenda

Mutant Hybrid covered the verbal part. Here's a little pictoral help:

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Hi,
Thanks for the info. I'm planning to put the terrariam in our sunroom. We live in Virginia Beach, VA and the summers here are hot and humid. I have an A/C-heater unit out there but we only use the A/C if it's ridiculously hot.
The temperature in the winter never goes below freezing. It is basically an all season room for us. What do you think? Thanks so much for your help.
Glenda

BTW, I can easily duplicate the temps in NC and SC here in my home. So I'm hoping things will go well.
G.

Temps aren't the main issue. Humidity isn't either.. It's duplicating direct sunlight for VFT's and Sarracenias that would be. But then again, many a UK hobbyist does well with their greenhouses for Sarracenias. VFT's are harder to deal with I guess.

I am not a fan of terrariums for CPs. Keep them in water trays on a window sill. Sundews can stay inside, VFTs, Sarrs go outside in full Sun after danger of frost.

NONE of these need a terrarium, not even Neps.

Have fun!

thank you, guys i received my plants today. I got 5 different kinds. i'll send the names later. right now i watered them and put them in a glass tray....they are facing the north window of my sunroom. i don't have them covered. they came from somewhere in Texas. hope they don't "shock" on me. will keep you posted...any and all suggestions and recommendations appreciated......Glenda

Let us know what you have! Congrats!

Hi,
My plants are vft, drosera, pinguicula, sarracenia, and nepenthes.

Right now they are sitting in a 10 gal. aquarium on a bare surface in their pots. I have covered the aquarium about 3/4. I have put a couple of bugs in there and the vft clamped down on a flour moth. I'm planning to get other supplies tomorrow. Tell me what to buy....please...I was planning on canadian sphagnum peat and perlite. I plan to put this on a 1 1/2 inch of damp, course, sand. I thought I'd put down stone first. Thanks in advance. Glenda

I wouldnt worry about shock. Just keep the lid 3/4 on, and slowly start to uncover it as the weeks go by. in about a month or two, you wont even need to use a lid, for the plants will have already adapted to your houses humidity.
As for the supplies, i recommend you order from www.californiacarnivores.com
The service is excellent and the quality is always fantastic. For the vft, drosera, and sarracenia, use the peat/perlite mix found on the site. For the nepenthes, use their 'nepenthes mix'. Im not sure about the pinguicula, but you can always check the "growing tips" section on the site for that answer.
I really think you are better off leaving your nft and sarracenia outside. They grow healthier and you dont have to worry about feeding them.
Good luck!

Well so far so good. Tomorrow I'm going to set it all up. I have decided to use a terrarium. I know some of you guys disagree, but I think I can make it work.... I will be very cognizant of each plant's requirements.
Glenda

It is not so much that we disagree, it is just that the concern comes from experience for most of us. We have just about all tried terrariums with Carnivorous plants and had them die time after time within a few short months or weeks. We really would like you to have a healthy group of plants and not waste your money or time on something that does not work 99.9% of the time. If your able to make it work, more power to you.

The main issue would be not to cover the terrarium as that creates a closed environment that does not allow air flow and encourages fungus growth. Drainage is a big problem, so make sure you do not overwater the plants, particularly the Nepenthes and the Butterwort, as they will die from root rot easily. Each species, once again, requires different conditions and watering, so a single terrarium for them all might be right for one and wrong for the rest on watering, soil type, drainage, etc. Make sure you have a very good light source. For Venus Flytraps that means something in the range of 24000 to 36000 lumens of light from a big, expensive, hot metal halide light or from a bank of so many florescent shop lights that you would basically have to create a room just for your plants inside. Each plant also has different light considerations so be careful not to burn the butterwort in light that your flytrap likes.

Good luck with your plants.

Thank you so much for your advice....I guess I will have to be one of those that lives and learns. Today I spread wet sand on the bottom of the tank. On top of that I placed rock. On top of that I placed sphagum moss. With the moss surrounding the plants, I placed them with their pot dirt into the moss with it cradling the dirt. I watered and covered the tank 3/4. Any suggestions on what I could do next? thanks so much.....Glenda

Either have good artificial lighting over it or strind southern exposure sunlight. Open it up more. Poor air circulation leads to mold.

I will uncover them some. The terrarium is in my sunroom. I have it facing the north wall. My house sits where the front gets the hot, evening sun, or west exposure. The back of my sunroom faces the east. The sunroom is in the back of the house so never gets that hot, western sun, just, north, eastern, and slight southern. Where should I place it? Thanks. Glenda

Place it will it will receive the most amount of sunlight, as close to the window as possible.

Thanks, but I read where direct, hot sun could cook them. It can get pretty hot in my sunroom during the summer months. How much direct sunlight do they need? We always keep the sliding doors open, so ventilation is good. We only close the doors when we turn on the A/C. If I knew how much direct sun they needed, I think I could figure out which exposure worked best. The summer months here are also very humid, so I don't think a cover would be necessary anyway. Thanks for all your help and suggestions.
Glenda

I AM SO BUMMED!!!

I just read some other posts...I made a mistake...

I didn't put any peat on the gravel....I just put the sphagnum moss on the gravel.!!!!! Now I'll have to reset all the plants.......bummer.

I used to have my collection in an upper room of a typical urban apartment that the lab in which I worked was using for supplies. The temps regularly got into the 90's, during the summer, sitting open tray at a couple of SW facing windows. The plants thrived. It would be a problem if the plants were enclosed in such a way as to create a mini "greenhouse effect". Mine were exposed to the air and watered 5 days a week.

Well, I replanted my cp's today. They are in a terrarium and now I have a layer of sand, rock, canadian peat mixed with perlite, and sphag. moss on top. The plants are nestled in between. I hope I haven't overly disturbed them. I'm just going to watch, water, and see what happens. I've been dropping ants, and flour moths in the tank for possible nourishment. I'm so afraid I will over water them. They are uncovered, in a 10 gal. aquarium, in my sunroom facing the the south/eastern windows. Is that OK??? Is there anything else I can do to acclimate them better? Thanks, guys..... what do you think, Jim????
Glenda

Uncovered and southeast is good. At this point I'd let everybody settle in.