Jason,
Glad to hear you've had some germination. They'll stay small for about a year, then start to pick up speed and get bigger quite quickly.
The parent plants grow outside in a northerly aspect (so being the southern hemisphere, is the sunnier half). Winters here in Sydney have nights down to about 5-9C, and days between 14-19C. Summers nights vary from 17-25C, and days from about 23-40C. My outdoor ventricosa grow best in autumn and spring when nights are cool and days are warm but not too hot. Humidity is also a bit higher during those seasons. Winter has low humidity, and days are short, so pitchers are few and often small. Summer is warm and often humid, but some ventricosa varieties refuse to pitcher for me in the middle of summer.
The ventricosa I grow in my greenhouse pitcher all year round.
Ventricosa is a true intermediate, but will grow well in both highland and lowland conditions. I've never grown it in true lowland conditions (a la bicalcarata), but I've heard of others who do with success. Basically, provided you don't freeze it or burn it, it will cope with everything else.
Hamish