I've been lurking for a bit here, and finally decided to register and post especially since I'm now getting involved in this hobby.
I've often pondered the possibility of raising venus flytraps and various other carnivorous plants and last weekend my girlfriend expressed interest in them as well, so I figured now was a good time to get rolling on it. We looked locally but couldnt find any plants (which from what I've read is risky at best). I scoured the internet trying to find fast shipping as come Saturday, it will have been 3 years since we started dating and I figured, what's more romantic than a plant that can eat things
I finally found www.cobraplant.com. I ordered one full plant for her, and 13 bulbs (the maximum that kept the order under $30). I ordered the bulbs as backups incase the plant died during shipping or the initial stages of her ownership from stress of being forced out of dormancy and uprooted for shipping. I'm currently at school, and so is she. I'm about an hour away from her, but we're both going home this upcoming weekend to visit with our families, and also so celebrate. Monday, I placed the order, worried of the "5-7 day shipping". My brother contacted me today to let me know that the plants had arived. The full plant (which is really two plants in one pot) looks pretty good, and he also noted that many of the bulbs - which I assumed would come in looking like next to nothing for a few months while they began to grow - already had significant growth on them, some having 2-3 traps already. I was pleasantly shocked, especially since they were only $0.95 each.
At any rate, when I get home, the bulbs will be planted to grow out in a 10 gal aquarium (I have plenty laying around from my other hobby with saltwater and freshwater aquariums). My plan, at least, is to use a 2:1 ratio of Spagnum to Perlite mixture with about 1" of pea gravel in the bottom of the aquarium to a total of 6ish inches in the aquarium. Her plant(s) will be going eventually into a 1gal round glass bowl with a similar mixture of substrate.
Lighting is going to be experimented with but I think that now that it is warming up in SE Michigan, I'll be able to let them outside, or at least by an open window that recieves a good amount of sun. If I go the artificial light method, I'll probably be using a Lights of America 65W Power Compact setup that I bought for $15 from a fellow reefer (coral reefer
). I've also thought about attempting an overdriven normal output setup over the tank, but we'll have to see how things go.
And that, is my introduction to you all. I also participate in many other hobbies including planted and FO freshwater aquariums, saltwater FOWLR and reef aquariums. I have an iguana, who soon will be getting a larger home with me, instead of the 4x2x6 enclosure back home. I'm big time into computers, and studying to be a computer engineer at MSU. I think that covers the bases.
By the way - thanks for the wonderful reading material I've found on this site. And some of the pictures I see here are utterly amazing!
I've often pondered the possibility of raising venus flytraps and various other carnivorous plants and last weekend my girlfriend expressed interest in them as well, so I figured now was a good time to get rolling on it. We looked locally but couldnt find any plants (which from what I've read is risky at best). I scoured the internet trying to find fast shipping as come Saturday, it will have been 3 years since we started dating and I figured, what's more romantic than a plant that can eat things
I finally found www.cobraplant.com. I ordered one full plant for her, and 13 bulbs (the maximum that kept the order under $30). I ordered the bulbs as backups incase the plant died during shipping or the initial stages of her ownership from stress of being forced out of dormancy and uprooted for shipping. I'm currently at school, and so is she. I'm about an hour away from her, but we're both going home this upcoming weekend to visit with our families, and also so celebrate. Monday, I placed the order, worried of the "5-7 day shipping". My brother contacted me today to let me know that the plants had arived. The full plant (which is really two plants in one pot) looks pretty good, and he also noted that many of the bulbs - which I assumed would come in looking like next to nothing for a few months while they began to grow - already had significant growth on them, some having 2-3 traps already. I was pleasantly shocked, especially since they were only $0.95 each.
At any rate, when I get home, the bulbs will be planted to grow out in a 10 gal aquarium (I have plenty laying around from my other hobby with saltwater and freshwater aquariums). My plan, at least, is to use a 2:1 ratio of Spagnum to Perlite mixture with about 1" of pea gravel in the bottom of the aquarium to a total of 6ish inches in the aquarium. Her plant(s) will be going eventually into a 1gal round glass bowl with a similar mixture of substrate.
Lighting is going to be experimented with but I think that now that it is warming up in SE Michigan, I'll be able to let them outside, or at least by an open window that recieves a good amount of sun. If I go the artificial light method, I'll probably be using a Lights of America 65W Power Compact setup that I bought for $15 from a fellow reefer (coral reefer
And that, is my introduction to you all. I also participate in many other hobbies including planted and FO freshwater aquariums, saltwater FOWLR and reef aquariums. I have an iguana, who soon will be getting a larger home with me, instead of the 4x2x6 enclosure back home. I'm big time into computers, and studying to be a computer engineer at MSU. I think that covers the bases.
By the way - thanks for the wonderful reading material I've found on this site. And some of the pictures I see here are utterly amazing!
