Grr.. hornworms.

[Heika]

Hey, I have to ask.. does anyone actually own a panther chameleon that will eat these?

Spencer has refused them since he was a tiny thing, but I thought I would try them again in case any of the new panthers would like them. Nope, not a one of them. They eat the heck out of silks, but won't even touch the hornworms. Spencer quite contentedly watches them climbing around, but makes no move to shoot his tongue. Is there a trick to this?!? I have tried every size.. nothing.

Heika

 

[Tygerr]

I've never had any access to hornworms to try them out on my cham, but so far I can't even get him to eat silkworms...

He loves mealworms, but will not touch the silkies (well, he had one, and never again). I'm not sure if it's the taste of leaves they had been eating (real mulberry leaves, not chow).

Maybe they just get programmed to eat things of certain colours? (although my cham has never refused anything green)

 

[Will Hayward]

Heika, I haven't had any refuse them. Spencer is a fussy boy!

 

[Heika]

Thanks, it is really annoying. Spencer is fussy.. but only about hornworms. He eats everything else, and at 210 grams, he eats as much as I will give him. I remember when I used a feed cup in his cage and left food for him all the time because I didn't have to worry about him overeating. Now, if I put feeders in a cup, he will eat them all and look for more. Doesn't matter how much he eats. Whatever the problem is with hornworms, it has spread to 2 other panthers. They refuse to eat them as well. I am giving away this cup of hornworms to a beardie owner.. grr.

Heika

 

[Scrappy]

I've not tried hornworms yet, but I know Bubba won't eat roaches so I've been feeding the nymphs to my baby beardie.

 

[fabos]

my female hates that .. she will bit it and let it drop.. but my male LOves them

 

[flpanther]

Both of my panthers enjoy them...

They readily accept them if I place them on a branch or on the screen within 6-12 inches of them. Once the worms get larger(3" plus range)only my male will accept them, and usually only 1 a day. At that size they must equal 15-20 crickets in weight, although much of it is moisture. They are supposed to love the moths too. I let two pupate from my last batch and am waiting for for them to emerge.

 

[Heika]

They readily accept them if I place them on a branch or on the screen within 6-12 inches of them. Once the worms get larger(3" plus range)only my male will accept them, and usually only 1 a day. At that size they must equal 15-20 crickets in weight, although much of it is moisture. They are supposed to love the moths too. I let two pupate from my last batch and am waiting for for them to emerge.

I don't know what the deal is with them. That is how I have tried to feed them too. No go. I have tried sizes from an inch up to 2 inches.. figured if none of them will eat one at that size, then they definately won't if they are 3+ inches long. I held three out from the cup to see if any of them will be more eager to take a moth, but so far they are still eating. We have a wild species of large moths here that Spencer will readily take, so one way or the other.

 

[zinc99]

I used them and they ate them up, but there were problems. They got so big that it was hard to eat, he would be licking for about 2 min. They also have an iron grip, he would shoot and not be able to rip it off the branch! He had to follow his toung to the worm. This happened twice then no more hornworms for me. Silks at least come off...

 

[Fate X]

i seen these when i got some silkworm food i cannot wait to get a batch of these to feed to my veileds.

 

[flpanther]

Iron grip

I used them and they ate them up, but there were problems. They got so big that it was hard to eat, he would be licking for about 2 min. They also have an iron grip, he would shoot and not be able to rip it off the branch! He had to follow his toung to the worm. This happened twice then no more hornworms for me. Silks at least come off...

I also observed this with the 3"+ hornworms. If I ever order them again I will try to feed them all off before they get that big, because this could strain thier tounge. Silkworms definitely are a better value. They grow to an ideal size for panthers and veileds.

 

[garfield1]

If anyone is interested, I get my silkworms and Tomato/horned worms from Mulberryfarms.com. They are absolutly the best and I have never had a single doa in any of my transactions with them.

 

[Will Hayward]

I used them and they ate them up, but there were problems. They also have an iron grip, he would shoot and not be able to rip it off the branch! He had to follow his toung to the worm. This happened twice then no more hornworms for me. Silks at least come off...

I also observed this with the 3"+ hornworms. If I ever order them again I will try to feed them all off before they get that big, because this could strain thier tounge.

I usually hand fed mine by putting them on a plastic bowl that the worms could not get a grip on. No tongue tearing involved.

Second method is to place them right beside the chameleon where it could simply tear it off without shooting. As seen here:

Trying to defend them because they are incredible feeders in my opinion. For Canadian users you can get them at www.canadiansilkworms.com when stock is available.

 

[flpanther]

Nice pics Will

Here's one of my guy. I only witnessed the tounge retraction problem once. Sniper had to follow his tounge back to the worm to rip it off the screen. I'll try your cup method with my next shipment.

 

[flpanther]

hornworm nutritional info

Oh yeah, some of you may find this interesting. Months ago I scoured the internet for days looking for a nutrition chart for hornworms and came up empty. I finally posted on another forum and a hornworm breeder was nice enough to send one to a lab for analysis. These are the results he got:

Fat 3.07%
Calcium 46.4mg/100g
Protein 8.87%
Moisture 85.61%

I found this surprising, since many have claimed the hornworm is high fat, but it actually has more protein than fat. The calcium level is also nice.