Carnivorous plants unique abilities did not escape Charles Darwin's attention, he wrote the book, "Insectivorous Plants" largely about the Sundew plant, a cousin to the flytrap, in 1875. The book, still used as a reference, can be downloaded for free from Project Gutenberg here.
Working in a greenhouse as a teen, flytraps were always sold in miniature terrariums, and I brought a few home over the years but was never was successful in keeping them alive for long - my mistake was feeding them small amounts of ground beef, which promptly rotted, killing the stalk. Looking back, I probably should have put a dead ant or two in the maw of the venus fly trap instead. The fly traps I purchased were likely poached, it seems many of them are, to be sold as greenhouse novelties. Since then, flytrap poaching has increased, to the point that the North Carolina legislature just passed a law declaring that poaching Venus fly traps is now a felony, rather than a misdeminor with a paltry $50 fine. In January 2015, poachers were caught redhanded with almost 1,000 Venus fly traps, and charged under the more stringent law. Seymour would be proud.
Further Reading:
The Mysterious Venus Flytrap
Video of flytrap closing
North Carolina cracks down on Venus flytrap poachers