Hi Starr
It's a little hard to answer your question without knowing more about your plant. Such as: what kind of soil is it in, how much light is it getting, what kind of water are you using and how much, are you feeding it and if so, what?
Tap water can kill your plant; teasing the traps to see them close (empty) can kill them; feeding them things like hamburger (human food) can kill them. Traps will also turn black and die off naturally after they have fed a few times so that is normal. The traps don't live forever. Also VFTs require a winter "sleep" period (dormancy) so if it has not had any dormancy at all, that may be why its having problems. VFTs should just now be waking up and starting new growth (its spring! welllll...almost!)
The basics are: bright light, distilled or rain water ONLY, keep soil wet, pot in 50% peat/50% sand; don't worry too much about feeding it...let the plant catch its own bugs (they do not need to eat bugs to live). The bugs are an extra bonus. You can trim off dead traps to help prevent fungus.
Feel free to visit the forums and read all the information. If you have any more questions, give as much information as you can about your plant.
Good luck!
Suzanne