Holy Hornworms!

[camimom]

Never tried to breed any of the worms. Yuck! I will occasionally buy some horn worms at a trade show here and there. I only get enough to give a treat to some of my bigger males. I use tongs too. Not a chance am I going to touch one of those little monsters! Look like they belong on an old Godzilla movie poster...Attack of the Killer Worms! Ahhhh...

wel they are so expensive, but i like to feed them off soo i want to breed them. and i dont mind touching them.. just big fat caterpillar. haha.

and @ reptoman. hopefully i can find a tomato plant soon, cuz i went to a nursery, i didnt see any.
and ill get a humminbird feeder soon.

 

[Whatcamo]

camimom"Once the silkworms spin, do i have to move them? do i leave htem alone? "
Yes wait 2-3 days to move them remove the excess silk, place the cocoons in a shallow container with paper towels on the bottom
and good to know on the hornworms.

"ill try to find a tomato plant today... whats funny is i cant even eat tomatos! haha so any it grows im throwing out.."
you would be ok if you started one now from seed it would possibly be big enough by the time they emerge it's just for the scent

".. once the horns dig and pupate. do i remove them from the dirt, or leave them?
if i do remove them.. do i just place them in the cage and wait till htey emerge?"
If you want you can do it either way I've heard both ways being successful
Here's a little vid of my breeding set up for my silky moths http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFtqTagh2IY

 

[sdheli420]

ive been trying to find some small mulberry bushes online to do this same project..i still need a cham cage for them, but i did have some pupate and fly around in a screen thing i made but i must have mixed the humming bird stuff wrong because they all died before they mated?? not sure what i screwed up on (and they take like 2-3 weeks to come out of the pupae from)

good luck!!! i want some when you have a "mission complete" day!!


P.s. i hate tomato's too!!

 

[Whatcamo]

ive been trying to find some small mulberry bushes online to do this same project..i still need a cham cage for them, but i did have some pupate and fly around in a screen thing i made but i must have mixed the humming bird stuff wrong because they all died before they mated?? not sure what i screwed up on (and they take like 2-3 weeks to come out of the pupae from)

good luck!!! i want some when you have a "mission complete" day!!


P.s. i hate tomato's too!!

Mulberry bushes for horn worms?

 

[camimom]

ive been trying to find some small mulberry bushes online to do this same project..i still need a cham cage for them, but i did have some pupate and fly around in a screen thing i made but i must have mixed the humming bird stuff wrong because they all died before they mated?? not sure what i screwed up on (and they take like 2-3 weeks to come out of the pupae from)

good luck!!! i want some when you have a "mission complete" day!!


P.s. i hate tomato's too!!

when i get them to that point youll be the first!

and 6 worms have dug and buried themselves.. or the ferret ate them.

so in a few weeks.... hopefully have moths!


whatcamo- how do i know when to collect eggs and how do i do that?

ps- id ont just hate tomatos.. im allergic to them! haha

 

[sdheli420]

Mulberry bushes for horn worms?

yea, they eat that too (like when you order hornworms, they come with mulberry chow)


tomato is toxic not just to camimom but to chameleons as well (makes it easy to breed them because they lay eggs on the tomato plants, and as long as you remove any eggs and babies before they feed on tomato you can in turn feed them mulberry chow, and then feed them off to your chams when they reach appropriate size..

 

[camimom]

yea, they eat that too (like when you order hornworms, they come with mulberry chow)


tomato is toxic not just to camimom but to chameleons as well (makes it easy to breed them because they lay eggs on the tomato plants, and as long as you remove any eggs and babies before they feed on tomato you can in turn feed them mulberry chow, and then feed them off to your chams when they reach appropriate size..

haha, not just toxic to camimom.. youre funny.

 

[KatCham]

WOW!!

Wish we could get them over here in the uk!!!

 

[camimom]

WOW!!

Wish we could get them over here in the uk!!!

you cant get hornworms at all?

 

[Whatcamo]

when i get them to that point youll be the first!

and 6 worms have dug and buried themselves.. or the ferret ate them.

so in a few weeks.... hopefully have moths!


whatcamo- how do i know when to collect eggs and how do i do that?

ps- id ont just hate tomatos.. im allergic to them! haha

From what I've read you have to hunt the eggs down and you can use a butter knife to scrape them off into like a deli cup or plate or something you plan on hatching them on I'm liking the mulberry bush in the cage idea so they could just hatch in the cage and start eating then just find the worms!

 

[camimom]

From what I've read you have to hunt the eggs down and you can use a butter knife to scrape them off into like a deli cup or plate or something you plan on hatching them on I'm liking the mulberry bush in the cage idea so they could just hatch in the cage and start eating then just find the worms!

Could i just use a small scheffelara plant?

 

[Coley]

I had the experience a few weeks ago of seeing just how big those get! Too big for my chameleon to eat!

 

[Goldenarcher1328]

right now my lowes isnt selling a hell of a lot..

Just purchase a large block of peatmoss ( comes in a 50lb cube in green and white packaging) You will be set for life. i know where i live they are only $8.57 a giant block.

 

[camimom]

i just got a block of eco earth stuff from petsmart for 5 bucks.
did the job.
6 fat hornworms are now nice and buried in and waiting ot pupate.