Hornworms turning black

[draetish]

What would make a container of HW turn black and die? Not all of them are, there are still some nice green ones that I put in my silkworm container. Should I just take them out and put in the fridge and finish feeding them off? Are the good one still okay to feed to my chams?

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

Is there condensation in the container. I've had a hornworm or two turn black and die from it being to wet in the container. I still fed off the other ones without worrying too much. Also what temps are the hornworms kept at?


Justin

 

[camshaft]

I've heard that they are very susceptible to bacteria if their food isn't near sterile.

 

[SSimsswiSS]

Mold in the container would kill them. Try to remove any mold blooms. Is it possible that these are large hornworms, and simply cacooning. Are the hornworms deflated and mushy? or plump and turning brown?

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

I've never had problems with bacteria and hornworms, silkworms on the other hand die very easily if not sterile. I have found hornworms crawling around on the floor days after my pods were empty and fed them collard greens until they were the desired size without them dyeing. They are very hardy and I rarely see them dead. I don't wash my hand before handling them like I do the silkworms.



Justin

 

[draetish]

Is there condensation in the container. I've had a hornworm or two turn black and die from it being to wet in the container. I still fed off the other ones without worrying too much. Also what temps are the hornworms kept at?

Justin

As a matter of fact I did notice that this pod was very moist and it came with little food. I keep it indoors in the cham room and nothing was different. What temps should they be kept at?

 

[draetish]

Mold in the container would kill them. Try to remove any mold blooms. Is it possible that these are large hornworms, and simply cacooning. Are the hornworms deflated and mushy? or plump and turning brown?

I haven't noticed any mold and the food they came with was a light brown and honestly hardly any in the pod. The HW are about 1 inch since I feed all the large ones first. I order from the same place all the time and never had a problem.

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

I keep mine in the seventies if i want normal growth and low to mid 80's for accelerated growth. Idk why but condensation and humidity seems to kill my hornworms.

 

[draetish]

I keep mine in the seventies if i want normal growth and low to mid 80's for accelerated growth. Idk why but condensation and humidity seems to kill my hornworms.

That probably did it since that was the first time it ever happened and the first time the pod developed condensation.

 

[reptoman]

Hey Donna,
Were the hornworms large in the pod you got? I had the same thing happen to me about a month ago. I took out the black one and put it in a paper towel and forgot about it until it reaked up the room the next day. I had around 6 left and I tossed the whole thing since I was afraid of what was growing in the rest. The cup they came in was filled with a moist chow. Any suggestions on what to do to avoid this the next time? Like maybe put them in another container with collards or something?

 

[draetish]

Well they were small when I got them a week ago and like 3 days ago I noticed the container was very moist and some were turning blackish. Was your chow the light brown kind or the dark green?

 

[reptoman]

it was light brown and pretty mushy

 

[reptoman]

Where do you get yours from if you dont mind me asking?

 

[Berg]

Well they were small when I got them a week ago and like 3 days ago I noticed the container was very moist and some were turning blackish. Was your chow the light brown kind or the dark green?

I am having this same problem with my hornworms it does have moisture in it and my food is a blackish brown mix... is this just a bad pod? Most of mine are smaller than an inch.

 

[draetish]

I am having this same problem with my hornworms it does have moisture in it and my food is a blackish brown mix... is this just a bad pod? Most of mine are smaller than an inch.

I would contact the place you got them from and ask them. I never did really figure it out.

 

[nick barta]

If the pod gets condensation on the inside of the cup, or the horn worms run out of food, they can turn black. If there is not enough room in the cup, they can turn black.

Typically the condensation inside the cup comes from not dumping the frass out, it holds a lot of moisture. When I get lazy, I loose worms.

If the food runs out, the worms seem to go into a "pre-pupae" state, and they begin to consume their own fluids, and get mushy. This seems to lead to the blackness on the skin. Note when I say "when the food runs out" there may still be food in the container, but if they can't reach it through the plastic screen, the food has run out for them.

When I have overcrowded the cup with 3-4 inch worms, the "pre-pupae" stage takes over, so I put them into a open tupperware container with clumps of food.

Hope this helps,

Nick

 

[reptoman]

If they reach that stage, can you still get them to eat collards or anything besides the chow that they came in? I lost the last pod I had less than halfway through to the same thing Berg is decribing. It looked like the frasse was the same color as the food though so how can you tell one from the other at that point?

 

[Berg]

I would contact the place you got them from and ask them. I never did really figure it out.

I got them from Mulberry Farms just fyi

Typically the condensation inside the cup comes from not dumping the frass out, it holds a lot of moisture. When I get lazy, I loose worms.

Noob question....
What is frass and like reptoman said how do u know the difference between the two...

The website said nothing about this

 

[draetish]

I got them from Mulberry Farms just fyi



Noob question....
What is frass and like reptoman said how do u know the difference between the two...

The website said nothing about this

Frass is the poop. If the container is upside down (lid side down) the frass should fall to the bottom and all you do is open the lid and dump the frass.

 

[Berg]

o ok thats diffently why they died then i lost them all this morning