Category: Carnivorous Plant Info

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If you have ever wondered how does the venus flytrap work, you have definitely reached the right place. Venus Flytraps have fascinated me from the first time I ever saw one. I didn’t even think they were real, I thought it must be movie magic. There can’t be a plant that eats bugs, right?!?!

I was dead wrong. The venus flytrap is an incredible plant that has evolved into something that eats bugs to make up for it’s typically very low in nutrient soil. It has taken millions of years to evolve into the incredible fly eating trap we see today. I’m so excited to have this opportunity to talk to you about how the venus flytrap works. 

The quick answer to how does a venus fly trap work, is… The head of the venus flytrap opens wide and invites prey. As soon as the prey lands on the venus flytrap it triggers short stiff hairs called sensitive or trigger hairs. When the prey makes contact with these trigger hairs and bends them the head of the venus fly trap snaps shut and traps the bug or insect. This all happens in less than a second. It then will breakdown and absorb the nutrients the insect offers.

How Does The Venus Flytrap Work?

Now that you have the quick answer to how does a venus fly trap work, lets start getting into more details and breaking down each part of what happens. To understand how the venus flytraps work, it’s important to understand why they need to work. 

Also, before we get too deep, once your done learning about how a venus fly trap works check out some of my other guides/articles all about venus fly traps below! All pages will take you to another page on my site!

Ultimate Venus Fly Trap Care Guide

Venus Flytrap Soil Mix And Potting (Maybe one of the most important things to note)

Picking A Pot or Planter For Venus Flytrap

Venus Flytrap Dormancy (Yes, they hibernate and yes you need to know about it!)

What/How To Feed A Venus Flytrap – How to feed and what to feed a venus flytrap!

Venus Fly Trap Watering Guide – Learn how often and what kind of water to give your plant!

Why Does A Venus Fly trap Eat Insects?

The answer to this question is really the answer to most evolutionary questions. It comes down to basic survival. The venus flytrap needs to have food and nutrition and the best place for them to get it is from trapping insects.

To fully understand the venus flytrap and how it works you really need to understand where they come from. They grow naturally in bogs which are one of the harshest places for plants to grow. The soil is extremely lacking in any nutrients and due to the moisture everything is always in a state of decay. 

If this plant was going to evolve and live, it had to come up with a way to obtain nutrients by other means than the soil. You can start to see why the venus flytrap had to figure out how to obtain it’s energy via other sources than it’s soil. 

Within the Droseraceae family there are around 150 living species all of which are carnivorous. This means that all 150 species obtain their energy through eating insects or animals. Of these species only 2 types of plants have developed quick closing traps to catch and breakdown their food. The Venus Fly trap (of course) and the Waterwheel plant. These two are essentially sister species. 

It should also be noted that venus flytraps were maybe named incorrectly. I’ve heard experts refer to them as venus spider traps as flies only account for about 5% of their total diet. They do eat flies, but they eat many more spiders and other crawling bugs. 

How Does A Venus Fly trap Catch Its Prey

The Venus Flytrap has small trigger hairs that grow on each side of the trap. These hairs are pretty small at only 0.2 inches or 0.5 centimeters. There are many things in nature that could cause a false alarm for the venus flytrap. If something triggers the trap and doesn’t provide any nutrition it’s wasted energy for the venus flytrap. This is energy it needs to help catch its prey. 

In order to avoid any false alarms a trigger hair must be bent twice or two different hairs must be triggered within a 20 second period. After the 20 seconds it restarts the clock. This helps avoid being triggered with a rain drop or a leaf that falls. It’s incredible how evolved and smart the venus flytrap is. 

Once these trigger hairs are tripped in the correct way the trap will close in less than a second, capturing its prey. The trap will close most of the way but not all the way at first. Scientist believe this is so that smaller insects can get away and the venus flytrap doesn’t have to waste energy breaking down an insect that will not be worth the effort. 

If the venus flytrap is triggered and it’s a false alarm it can take 5 to 12 days for it to reopen. This is a long time with no opportunity to eat. This is why it has developed safe guards against being triggered falsely. Hopefully this helps you understand better how a venus flytrap catches its prey. 

How Does The Venus Fly Trap Digest Its Food

Now that the venus flytrap has closed it’s trap on a fly, it now has to breakdown that fly and convert it to energy. The venus flytrap will seal its trap so no air can get in or out. Through this process it’s basically turning itself into a stomach. Enzymes are produced by glands that break the fly down. There are two distinct sections of the insect that the enzymes breakdown. First you have the exoskeleton made of chitin then the hemolyph which is the nitrogen rich blood of the insect. 

Once the venus flytrap has extracted and absorbs all the useful parts of the insect it opens back up and the “shadow skeleton” of the insect blows away in the wind. 

It’s a little gross and a lot awesome hopefully this helps you understand the question, how does the venus fly trap digest its food. 

How Does The Venus Fly trap Reproduce

To fully understand the question, how does a venus flytrap work, you really need to also know how they reproduce. This is the one area a venus flytrap isn’t completely different from other plants. 

The first way the venus flytrap reproduces is through pollination. Once the flowers are pollinated they can create seeds. The seeds will take 4-6 weeks to mature. Once they are matured they will become pear shaped and black. The seeds are then released and spread to grow new venus flytraps. 

They can also reproduce asexually. A bulb root can be created when the roots of the flytrap extend into the soil. A new venus flytrap can grow from the bulb. The new bulb and original plant can be separated by a gardener but cutting the connecting roots and replanting both. It’s definitely a little strange, hopefully this answers how does the venus flytrap reproduce. 

Video Of The Inside Of The Venus Flytrap

Enough with the reading already! Can you just show me how the venus flytrap works on a video? Sure thing, check out the video below to help you understand these amazing little plants!

Conclusion

Sometimes it’s really hard to grasp how this plant has evolved. It’s incredible to think that over years and years a plant can evolve to understand more efficient and beneficial ways to obtain its food when it lives in such deprived locations. Like Ian Malcom of the Jurassic Park universe says, “Life finds a way”. 

Is the venus fly trap even from our planet? Sometimes it almost seems alien. I’m so glad that you stopped by to do some research on this captivating little plant that has been capturing the imagination of many children and adults alike over the years. I always love sharing knowledge around one of the coolest plants in the world. 

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I hope this answered your question, how does the venus fly trap work!