After reading many posts asking for help breeding hornwoms or lamenting over failed attempts at rearing or breeding I decided to write an instruction manual of sorts. Keep in mind this is just from my experience and not intended to be the end all be all of hornworm care and breeding.
I will post this in stages as I can only attach 5 images per post.
Let us begin with the egg.
You might decide to buy eggs in order to be more economical and wonder, ok now what?
First you will want to be sure you have a deli cup with hornworm chow inside (I use chow from Great Lakes Hornworms). You can place the eggs on the lid of the cup and then put the cup on and allow them to hatch at room temperature or a bit higher. I keep all of my feeders in a room of the house that is kept at 80-85 degrees to maximize growth.
If you don't have a deli cup you can try to just put the eggs in a Tupperware with some screen or gutter guard (comes in a roll from lowes) (http://www.lowes.com/pd_11632-205-85198_0__?productId=3009380&Ntt=gutter+guard&pl=1¤tURL=?Ntt=gutter+guard&facetInfo=) and just be sure they can make it up to the food.
I make my own deli cups. I order cups with mesh lids and then use the gutter guard and twist ties. This also makes it easy for me to pull out the entire mesh and food when I am ready to transfer the worms to a bigger container.
The worms will hatch and climb up to the food in the cup.
I allow them to grow in the cup until they are large enough to move. I make sure to take the lid off to dump the poo everyday and also inspect the food for mold or bacteria. If you see any mold, white milky spots or a film on the food you will want to get them transferred out of the cup as soon as possible to avoid a total loss of worms. I have read that in the case of mold you can just remove the mold spot, but I don't take any chances.
If you need to slow down the growth of the worms in order to prolong the time you can feed them, you can put them in the refrigerator. I usually put them in a mini frig I have set at 50 degrees. I have read that they can go in for up to 2 days; however I have never put them in for more than a day at a time. I will put them in for a day and then leave them out for a day.
My next post will cover transferring the worms out of the cup to their main growth and maintenance container. I do this as I have had bad experience using deli cups for longer than a week or so in the past.
Table of Contents:
Part 2 Transferring Hornworms
Part 3 Hornworms pupating
Part 4 Hornworm Moth set up and care
I will post this in stages as I can only attach 5 images per post.
Let us begin with the egg.
You might decide to buy eggs in order to be more economical and wonder, ok now what?
First you will want to be sure you have a deli cup with hornworm chow inside (I use chow from Great Lakes Hornworms). You can place the eggs on the lid of the cup and then put the cup on and allow them to hatch at room temperature or a bit higher. I keep all of my feeders in a room of the house that is kept at 80-85 degrees to maximize growth.
If you don't have a deli cup you can try to just put the eggs in a Tupperware with some screen or gutter guard (comes in a roll from lowes) (http://www.lowes.com/pd_11632-205-85198_0__?productId=3009380&Ntt=gutter+guard&pl=1¤tURL=?Ntt=gutter+guard&facetInfo=) and just be sure they can make it up to the food.
I make my own deli cups. I order cups with mesh lids and then use the gutter guard and twist ties. This also makes it easy for me to pull out the entire mesh and food when I am ready to transfer the worms to a bigger container.
The worms will hatch and climb up to the food in the cup.
I allow them to grow in the cup until they are large enough to move. I make sure to take the lid off to dump the poo everyday and also inspect the food for mold or bacteria. If you see any mold, white milky spots or a film on the food you will want to get them transferred out of the cup as soon as possible to avoid a total loss of worms. I have read that in the case of mold you can just remove the mold spot, but I don't take any chances.
If you need to slow down the growth of the worms in order to prolong the time you can feed them, you can put them in the refrigerator. I usually put them in a mini frig I have set at 50 degrees. I have read that they can go in for up to 2 days; however I have never put them in for more than a day at a time. I will put them in for a day and then leave them out for a day.
My next post will cover transferring the worms out of the cup to their main growth and maintenance container. I do this as I have had bad experience using deli cups for longer than a week or so in the past.
Table of Contents:
Part 2 Transferring Hornworms
Part 3 Hornworms pupating
Part 4 Hornworm Moth set up and care
