I'm trying to grow a small specimen of Cobra Lily (lilies?) in my house. It doesn't really have acess to the same amount of insects as it would outside and given the way that the bugs have to get inside of the plant, I'm not too sure what I can get to feed it. Would crickets from a pet store work like with flytraps? I've been trying to find some place online that I could buy living flies but I've had no luck. What do you think?
I wouldn't feed it anything other than what insect would get trapped inside it while it is outside. And while growing inside may be ok for some carnivorous plants Darlingtonia is definitely an outdoor growing plant. The main concern you should have is on the temperature of the roots. This unique endemic to only a few areas in extreme Northern California and southwestern Oregon really likes to be in cool water and preferrably water that is moving past it. In its natural habitat it can occur in full sun for most of the day and does quite well even in my part of the state (Northern Santa Barbara County) in full sun but there is the hitch with cooling the roots. Currently I am using a drip system employing one of the regular 2.5 gallon water jugs that distilled or other water comes in found at the grocery store. Just cut a portion of the top rear so you can use it to refill and sit it on some kind of support system that will allow for a drip to fall into the pot with your plant. The drip is made by carefully adjusting the spigot. I try to keep a drip occurring at the rate of one per three seconds. (It is a one thousand one, one thousand two, and one thousand three!) It works great and my plant seems to be doing very well. When I first got the system set up I was even cooling the water (I use r/o water) in the refrigerator before adding it to the drip reservoir but I have been remiss this year and the plant seems to be dealing with it ok. While the species does deal with snow in its habitat I would think that some shelter for Indiana would be appropriate. You may wish to check the net for additional cultural or habitat info and provide culture accordingly. Here my winters generally range down into the mid 30s though an occasional high 20s is always possible though unlikely. So apart from winter I would recommend that you keep the plant outside!
