Amateur VFT grower... is my VFT dormant already?

Jason Hotra (jhotra@MIT.EDU)
Tue, 10 Oct 95 11:44:28 EDT

Thanks in advance for any responses...

I am an amateur VFT grower. I own a single plant and I keep it in a
homemade terrarium (which consists of a 2 gallon fishbowl). I usually keep
it on the windowsill, so that the sunlight evaporates the water in the tray,
making it humid in the bowl. I've had the plant since August and everything
has been fine. However, lately I noticed that some traps were growing kind
of rotty, with brown spots before the trap even opened. Now it seems that
nothing much is growing. I have a couple of big traps, and they still catch
flies, but they're kind of drooping.

I'm wondering if perhaps the Boston autumn has hit and it's too cold by the
windowsill... There's not really any condensation on the sides of the bowl
any more. Has the plant started to go dormant? I have since moved the
terrarium to my desk, under an incandescent desk lamp for about 8 hours a
day. I realize this is not optimal growing conditions, but will it hurt the
plant?

Any other suggestions? Or has my "black thumb" done its dirtywork again??

Thanks a million,

Jason