Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/03/05/two-people-charged-with-stealing-600-venus-flytraps.html
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Venus flytraps are the most popular carnivorous plants but they’re not that easy to grow. They need a lot of light, the right kind of soil, and extremely pure water. And too many beginners think it’s cute to feed them raw hamburger. Still it is possible to grow them and even propagate them, and a lot of nurseries do—even offering different varieties.
If these two jokers had to resort to stealing plants from the wild they’d be lucky if a quarter of them survived long enough to be resold, and I can’t even guess where they’d go to sell them.
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If they’re illegally stealing them, one might come to think that there’s a (small?) market for a commercial greenhouse propagation business…? If for naught else to leave the indigenous plants alone. (and hell, one could become obsessed with breeding them larger and larger… and then you’d have to practice your ‘bwahahahah’. ok, might want to skip that bit when you go for the bank loan)
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Reminder that Venus flytraps are an endangered species and poaching is a big problem that threatens their numbers. They are notoriously difficult to care for and don’t make very good houseplants. They are really cool, but they should by left in their natural habitat.
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You know, when they cross-breed this with the triffid…we’re in big trouble.
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I don’t think the market for them is small since every spring the big box hardware stores have boxes and boxes of “bug eating plants”, usually in the garden section, while other places have them right by the checkout. Most of them are tissue-cultured, though, and greenhouse-grown.
Considering how little they sell for, though, I can’t imagine the effort needed to steal six-hundred plants being anything close to profitable even if they all survived. This display is from a store less than two miles from where I live:
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Damn, I’m sure I’ve read/watched/listened to some piece of fiction where one of character was a collector of venus flytraps, but I can’t remember what it was.
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Curse those fools for getting caught! My glorious plan to rule the tri-state area has been foiled again!
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I grew up with the original being shown on local matinee movie shows and creature features on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
It’s my favorite version.
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