Carnivorous plants are a focus of fascination.
Many science fiction movies have shown the plants to be a major plot point, often to the degree of eating people and large animals.
In actuality, the main foods these types of plants consume are insects, worms, and other small animals.
They are also actually very hard to keep on average, because of their high soil demands. The type of soil they grow in naturally has to be replicated in order to ensure a decent growth and their natural soil is often lacking in nutrients, which is why the plants are carnivorous to begin with.
While most plants are a pain to attempt to grow, one notable exception is the cobra lily.
The cobra lily will still be more difficult to grow than the average houseplant, but it will not be as fussy as most other carnivorous plants.
Photo by Avishai Teicher via the PikiWiki - Israel free image collection project Its ease to grow can be attributed to the fact that it grows naturally in soils such as those found in southern Oregon and northern California.
Unlike the science fiction trope, there is no magic trap door on the cobra lily. The cobra lily functions by tricking insects into falling into a body of liquid acids that help the plant digest the insects.
These are located at the base of the leaves, and trappage occurs when the insects start looking for a way out of the plant and instead fall into a long tube that it cannot climb out of due to the slippery surfaces of the inside of the cobra lily.
To grow a cobra lily, you will need to need to place the plant in reasonably humid conditions with the roots being kept cooler than the rest of the plant.
This can be accomplished through placing ice cubes directly on the soil and away from the leaves. Cobra lilies also need to be kept in a warm area with plenty of sun.
In order to be successful, your plants will need to have moss to grow in, in order to duplicate the conditions of the peat they grow in naturally.
The Cobra Lily 
Anyone who is attempting to grow a cobra lily is going to face plenty of difficulty, because it is not a plant for beginners. It is, however, one of the easiest of any Carnivorous Plants 
Venus Fly Trap 
Image There are many different species of carnivorous plants, and they range in their specific requirements for soil, humidity, and sunlight.
Still, despite these differences, as a whole, carnivorous plants have many features in common when it comes to attempting to grow them as house plants.
The major requirement for these unique plants is that they require water that does not come from the tap.
Water from the tap may be fine to drink for humans, but these plants are used to growing in soil that lacks any type of nutrients. Tap water comes full of minerals and these can build up in a small space of time. Watering with tap water is the number one reason that carnivorous plants die. Instead, unusual plants need to be watered with distilled water, every day. Additionally, their roots should be kept cool with the placement of distilled ice cubes on their soil. An additional concern is making sure that the plant is only fed fresh insects. Fertilizer will kill the plant, because again, it needs soil without nutrients. Additionally, people have been known to try to give the plants all sorts of odd items like meat and cheese, and those will kill the plant. Plants do not have to have insects to grow, but if you do feed them insects, it should be approximately once every six weeks. Despite the fact that carnivorous plants eat insects, they can still be susceptible to some insect outbreaks. These include mealybugs and aphids.Since this kind of plant is so hard to grow, the best bet is to purchase an insecticide at the very first sign of either mealybugs or aphids. However, for some types of scale insects, small amounts of rubbing alcohol have been known to be affective, too.
Though difficult plants to grow at home, carnivorous plants can be kept care of through using the proper water, food, and maintenance procedures.
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