In 2016, I adopted my first carnivorous plant, a Venus Fly Trap, which I named Gordon. I quickly discovered that the health of Gordon was closely connected to the environment I provided as much as to his ability to catch the occasional bug and get energy from the sun. In this talk, I'll pull from more than a decade of experience working with open source communities (and a few months of experience keeping Gordon alive) to explain how caring for a Venus Fly Trap is much like caring for a community. Like carnivorous plants, communities can't be left alone to fend for themselves. They need an energy source, healthy environments, pest control, and occasional maintenance. And if you're charged with caring for either a community or carnivorous plant, you'll need back up--someone who can fill in when you're unavailable.