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Poor little thing!

While shopping at Home Depot in the garden secion (to get mom a plant for Mother's day), I came across this horrible sight!

WEAK Venus Fly Trap!

Is there any advice anyone can give? This poor thing was terribly mistreated! It was covered in its own soil, and I had to remove some to uncover him! Some traps are even coated and snapped down on dirt!

(PS I do plan to get one from pft too! I just found this little guy and felt Sorry for him!)
 
Aside from cleaning it up, as you have already done, I would flush the soil thoroughly to remove any minerals from tap water or fertilizer they may have used. Keep the soil moist and put it in bright indirect light, set back and let Ma Nature do her stuff.
 
A good idea... why I sent dad out to get distilled water...

Eh, let's face it. I'm a sucker for rescues.
 
Hehe, just checked your "Interestests".  You need to make a change to read "Rescuing abused and neglected animals and VFTs"
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So far I have been spared this "must save that poor CP response" as the stores around here seldom carry CPs.  The one greenhouse owner I talked to last summer actually thought that all CPs came from tropical climates and wouldn't survive here in Colorado.

If you haven't got a sprayer/mister yet, you should get one. They come in handy for everything from misting the plants for humidity and watering to cleaning dead bugs out of traps (stream) and cleaning potting mix off the leaves (fine mist).

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I have one for my bird, but that has tap water.

I can get them CHEAP at PetsMart though.
 
Funny about Home Depot...the one where I sometimes find VFTs usually sells out so fast they don't have time to be mis-treated. I actually found a beauty there a little while ago. It's just a typical, but BOY, its vigorous!
 
*sigh* Welcome to Tucson Az.

I kid you not, respect for plants and animals is horrid here.

But, I will be keeping a journal (seperate post) of my plant's progress, if anyone is interested... It won't be here... I will have it posted on my own little group (so I won't disturb those who don't want to see it.)

Here is the group page(s):
Cougarmint's Cozy Cove: MSN Division (For those who have problems with yahoo and/or already have msn ID's)
-and-
Cougarmint's Cozy Cove: Yahoo Division (For those who have problems with msn and/or already have yahoo ID's)

For both groups, to keep security up, you have to apply to join. But the journals will be posted in both, so you don't have to swap back and forth between two boards. Also, I will have an open topic for those who wish to make suggestions or replies.
 
Your photo of the rescued VFT suggests that it is not in too bad a shape. I see new traps emerging. I agree with BigCK's good advice. Simply take the plant and gently emerge it in a bowl of clean water to wash off the gunk, and then repot it in VFT mix of sphagnum peat. It should do quite well. VFTs are tough and easy to grow if planted in the right soil, kept moist, given adequate light, and not cooked.
 
*nods* Thankfully, this trap is in a peat mix already. It just needs a good rinse.

ADDED: I did some more clean up on the plant today and cut off some dead, blackened traps and uncovered healthy green ones. You're right, bob, He's not as bad off as my other one was.

Just a little TLC and this guy will be the most terrfying thing to Pyro's neighbors.... er, bugs!
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(Tribute to Pyro there.
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)
 
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