Home Improvement Store VFT Noob Advice?

[KaijuEmily]

So .....I just couldn't stop myself, after catching sight of some VFT plants (in little plastic cubes...) at a home imovement store I was in the other day. So I went back and got myself one with some nice color. They were already almost out of stock.
Well, it's been years since I owned a VFT, and I did a very poor job back then!
Please! Does anyone have advice for me?
I would hate to kill my new baby! Oh yeah, I live in Portland , Oregon, if that helps anything.

 

[KaijuEmily]

Well,
I already trimmed off some blackened leaves / traps...
Sprinkled some ants in. I just noticed that 6 tiny traps had caught themselves an ant! Yay!
Then I even spotted one getting eaten! Lovely!

 

[KaijuEmily]

Sooo,
Should I transplant it right away, or wait a month to give it time to acclimate?
Should I keep it inside something in order to keep high humidity? I mean, it came in a plastic cube....

 

[bijillon]

Give it some time to acclimate, only was with distilled/rain water. Plenty of sun, at least 4 hours of direct sunlight. If you feed the plant before acclimating it the traps might die, take it out of the cube for a couple minutes every day and increase the time until it's out of the cube 24/7.


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[nimbulan]

Depending on where you live in the Portland area, your tap water is likely to be perfectly safe for CPs. You can check this map to get an approximation of your water quality Total Dissolved Solids if you don't have a TDS meter handy.

 

[Trout]

Also, since Portland is very nearly coastal, you may be able to put it in a pot, or arrange a bog area in your yard for it and keep it outside! The Pacific ocean will keep it from getting too terribly cold in the winter, but the natural light and chilly winter weather will allow it to go into dormancy without you having to take extra precautions (except perhaps mulching it.)