Sunday, August 05, 2018

Nowhere Near As Cute As A Kitten

Years ago I listened to a podcast about the poaching of Venus flytraps.  Seems it's a big business and brings good money on the black market.  I'd never seen a Venus Flytrap in real life.  Until this week when Ed bought one for me.

We've spent quite a bit of time in Southport, North Carolina which lies in Brunswick County.  Venus flytraps are native to the area - they grow within a 75-mile radius of Wilmington, North Carolina and are native to the Green Swamp in Brunswick.

The poaching of Venus flytraps became so out of control, with "poachers trafficking in thousands of plants plucked illegally from the wild, as well as from gardens and nurseries" that North Carolina law now prohibits removing the plants from where they grow and upgraded the act of removing them from a misdemeanor to a felony.

Imagine going to jail for stealing a plant that grows in the wild??

The plant is very small - this pot is only about five inches tall - and although colorful, they're a little creepy looking.  And the do snap shut if you touch your finger to the red area between the leaves.  It doesn't hurt, but it's really wild to see the way it reacts.

I don't have any insects in the truck for the flytrap to feast on so I guess I'm going to have to be on the lookout for dead bugs in order to give my little pet a meal.


It's not as cute as a kitten, but at least I don't have to clean a litter box.



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2017: 
Celebrating Seven And A Half Decades

2016: Makes Complete Sense
2015: I'm Always Hoping It's The Last Time
2014: Apes At The Hitching Post
2013: History On Water Street
2012: Do It Like The Settlers Did. With Whiskey.
2011: No Vacancy
2010: Imperial Sand
2009: How Many Twenty Year Olds Have A Seventy Pound Head?
2008: My First Time
2007: I’ve Been Everywhere Sunday
2006: Text Me
2005: Eddie Dines Out Friday

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