Will this individual trap die?

[massoud]

Hi everybody!

I saw my Venus Flytrap catch a fly live right in front of me today. The seconds in which the trap took to shut the poor thing was priceless.

Anyway, some parts of the fly (a little bit of its wing) were exposed outside of the trap. Since the trap has not sealed 100% tightly, does this mean that my trap will die, since bacteria may seep into the trap?

Thanks to anyone who can help . . .

[unstuckintime]

I once read an article (cant find it now, of course...) that a venus flytrap has four or so "stages" of closing- one of them being a more slow "sealing" of the trap. Bacteria are everywhere, on your skin, in your body, and definitely all over your plants- they will be just fine. Frequently, I will observe several plants which have caught Daddy Long Legs, the legs of which stick out of the traps in a near comical manner.

hope this helps

[massoud]

I'm happy to hear the news it's going to live (probably) . . . thanks a lot!

[ICPS-bob]

If the fly was large relative to the trap size, the trap may turn black and die as the fly decays. It was too big for the trap to digest. This is not a problem, because the plant will be putting out new traps in the meantime to replace the older traps. That's just the way it works.

[massoud]

Oh no Bob, I think it is fine with regards to the size of the fly. I'm just concerned that the trap may not have sealed itself properly to digest the fly.