ZacharyLeesWife
Avid Member
I'm up to 9 moths in the last 3 days! The older ones have just gotten their wings dry enough to start flying. I had no idea how big these guys would be! Or how lovely...
Project hornworm update!
- Thread starter ZacharyLeesWife
- Start date
Matt Vanilla Gorilla
Chameleon Enthusiast
Good job!
ZacharyLeesWife
Avid Member
I'm afraid of a little too much success! If half are female and lay a few hundred eggs like the average, I'm going to be up to my ears in hornworms.
Matt Vanilla Gorilla
Chameleon Enthusiast
Not if I can help it! Sent them my way! Lol! My moths never develop proper wings! Please educate me! 
ZacharyLeesWife
Avid Member
A few things that I read to help the wing development... Dig up your pupae after they have a very light brown shell and cover them with a damp paper towel because if they dry out their wings won't develop but the substrate can also hold too much moisture against them to form the shell. I dug my pupae and put them on top of the eco earth that they burrowed in and covered them, it was easier to check on their health too! I lost a few and if they had been buried where I couldn't dispose of them right away, it would have been awfulNot if I can help it! Sent them my way! Lol! My moths never develop proper wings! Please educate me!
. And the paper towel seemed to contain the mess from when they emerge. Also, I make sure that they can hang themselves to flutter and dry as soon as they emerge. Temperature stays at a steady 85 in my bug farm, so that might help. If I end up with 500 horn worm eggs, they will be free to a good cham with an appetite!
Matt Vanilla Gorilla
Chameleon Enthusiast
Wow, amazing! I will have to try again! Thanks for the info!!!
ZacharyLeesWife
Avid Member
I have eggs! And apparently more otw...
Remkon
Chameleon Enthusiast
I have this luxury problems with my silkies... I have a couple of thousand eggs in the fridge and the ones that hatched from 200 eggs i bought are now starting to build cocoons...
I will have even more moths than the first time and my chameleons and ackies only like em one at a time.
Once it gets going it goes so quickly!
ZacharyLeesWife
Avid Member
I have this luxury problems with my silkies... I have a couple of thousand eggs in the fridge and the ones that hatched from 200 eggs i bought are now starting to build cocoons...
I will have even more moths than the first time and my chameleons and ackies only like em one at a time.
Once it gets going it goes so quickly!
My absurd abundance of dubias are no problem because the colony is literally near zero maintenance, minimal maintenance for the mealworm and superworm colonies too. I hate crickets, they jump and escape and even the bandeds chirp. They are luckily cheap enough to buy regularly, I try to get just enough medium's at a time to feed them all off before they start aggravating me. But I think I might be a victim of my own success in the hornworms and waxworms! I have at least 100 wax moths right now, I am at a total loss as to what I'm going to do with all the worms after they hatch. I haven't done silkies yet, they were next on my list of bugs to farm. Right now I'm trying to figure out a system that let's me keep some of my waxworms at all stages of growth. I always seem to have all worms at one time, then all pupae, etc.
Remkon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Dubia are great but not a favourite of my chameleons either...
I just had my first waxmoths emerge so I hope that's gonna be a success...
If I get to many moths I got a jacksonii that will love to have some as a treat!
I recently bought dola beetle (fruit beetle?) larvae and superworms to try and breed those as well.
Crickets I'm the same, I buy them in bulk and then just feed em off and buy new ones the next month.
I wish I could get my hands on hornworms but they are just not available in the Netherlands... If I had em I would start a wormstore.
I just had my first waxmoths emerge so I hope that's gonna be a success...
If I get to many moths I got a jacksonii that will love to have some as a treat!
I recently bought dola beetle (fruit beetle?) larvae and superworms to try and breed those as well.
Crickets I'm the same, I buy them in bulk and then just feed em off and buy new ones the next month.
I wish I could get my hands on hornworms but they are just not available in the Netherlands... If I had em I would start a wormstore.
ZacharyLeesWife
Avid Member
Dubia are great but not a favourite of my chameleons either...
I just had my first waxmoths emerge so I hope that's gonna be a success...
If I get to many moths I got a jacksonii that will love to have some as a treat!
I recently bought dola beetle (fruit beetle?) larvae and superworms to try and breed those as well.
Crickets I'm the same, I buy them in bulk and then just feed em off and buy new ones the next month.
I wish I could get my hands on hornworms but they are just not available in the Netherlands... If I had em I would start a wormstore.
My veils hate me on Dubia day! They'll eat them, but grudgingly. My guys are much more fond of the soft bodied bugs, so I give them Dubia first and they don't get their squishy treats until they eat the roaches. My wax moths are on the third generation now, they're really very easy. If you have moths, you'll most likely get plenty of worms! My veils wouldn't eat a waxmoth to save their lives. Most of the losses I've had with them come at the full grown worm stage. I didn't know that hornworms were hard to get overseas, they're on the expensive side but always available here in the states. I know that they are an agricultural pest, are they restricted for that? Superworms are really easy to colonize! And I'm not familiar with fruit beetles, I don't think I've seen them as a feeder here.
Remkon
Chameleon Enthusiast
This is the beetle i mean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachnoda_marginata , I want to breed them because the beetles are pretty and easy to keep and look pretty... The larvae are more of a treat since they are pretty fatty.
I'm not sure why we don't have hornworms here, I don't think there's any regulation against it as they would probably freeze to death during the winter...
I may go to the next reptile expo to see if someone is selling them because online I can't find any.
I'm not sure why we don't have hornworms here, I don't think there's any regulation against it as they would probably freeze to death during the winter...
I may go to the next reptile expo to see if someone is selling them because online I can't find any.
ZacharyLeesWife
Avid Member
Those beetles are lovely! I have definitely never seen those grubs as feeders here stateside. I don't know what the shipping process would be, but if there aren't import regulations I would be happy to send some eggs once I get a decent supply. It would have to be a quick shipping method, because I'm sure they'll hatch in transit but I can put food in with them. You'd also have to look into either making or getting their chow in bulk shipments, they have a very specific diet. But if it's not specifically illegal to import them, it could surely be done. They sell for near a dollar a piece here, a colony there would surely be lucrative if nobody else is producing them!
ZacharyLeesWife
Avid Member
You are absolutely right, they can eat silkie chow! I forgot about you raising silkworms, my mistake. Getting the worms there would be the only challenge because of the relative sensitivity to cold and customs possibly holding them up for weeks.
Andee
Chameleon Enthusiast
Hornworms only need their specific chow in the very beginning usually. Usually I have the most die offs in the first like week or so if I just feed silk worm chow. out fruit beetles and scarab beetles etc, the beetles that feed on sap and have large fatty larvae usually have beetles that are extremely easy to care for. It's usually the larvae that are much more complicated. Most large beetle larvae do better with substrates that are specifically tailored to them, and usually can't be kept together because they are cannibalistic. Not sure about pachnoda, but I know all the scarab I have ever kept and all the stags I have ever read about are extremely complicated in the larval stage. However I love large beetles and the care is usually very worth it in the end <3
Remkon
Chameleon Enthusiast
I'll have to see if it will work if I ever get the chance...
I've read that people had trouble getting their silkworms to eat chow instead of leaves but I have raised hundreds now and had only a few die so far and have had no problems with them eating chow...
I used to buy the beetle larvae per 10 in a small container and never had them eat each other so I'm guessing that will be ok... At one time I had a beetle but I never thought of breeding so i tried to feed it off to my ackies (they did not like it)....
Larvae will eat ripe or overripe fruits, leaves or rotting wood and will even take wettened dry cat food so that's all easy to come by, adults eat mostly fruits... They also do well on room temperatures.
I'm getting more and more into insects now since I eventually only want to have to buy my crickets and breed anything else myself...
I'm still looking for a stickinsect, I've found PSG1 but I've read PSG3 would be more meaty and moves around more so it would make a better feeder.
I also still need to get a container with snails, but I'm not sure if I will get them from outside or just buy life escargots due to parasites they may carry (not sure if that's an US issue or a global issue).
Andee
Chameleon Enthusiast
Hmm, maybe the fruit beetles are easier to raise than the scarab and stags, will have to check them out. I do miss having beetles. Snails worldwide have parasites from what I know unless made specifically for consumption, you have to breed a generation and remove the eggs if they are wild caught before they are considered safe.
