Blog entries by pigglett79

Now that you have silk worm moths you may wonder what to do next. The moths cannot fly and do not eat. They have been bred for silk for thousands of years and the wings have become vestigial. The males tend to me much smaller than the females, but with larger wings. The females will be much...

Once the silk worms are full grown it is time to think about allowing them to cocoon. At this point I usually separate the ones I plan to keep for breeding and put them in a larger container that is set up for breeding. For this stage I use a sterilite 56Qt (53L) plastic tub. I have cut holes...

I begin with the silk worm, as most of you will start with worms ordered from various suppliers. When you receive the silk worms they are typically housed in a deli cup or “pod”. As silkworms have a low immune system you must be very careful with cleanliness and moisture. The pods are not ideal...

About 3-4 weeks after the hornwoms pupate they will be ready to hatch in to hawk moths. You will want to be sure you have a cage or some other equivalent set up ready. I use a small repti breeze screen cage. I have a stick across the top to tie the humming bird feeder to and I line the walls and...

After you have grown your hornworms to full size you may wonder what to do when it is time to pupate. You might even wonder how to tell when they are ready to pupate. The hornworms will grow to over three inches prior to pupating. Once they reach this size there will come a time when they...

After reading, "What came first, the hornworm or the egg?" you will come to the step described below. When the hornworms grow big enough to move, I then transfer them from the deli cup to a modified tupperware container. I use the sterilite 6Qt (5.7 L) Tupperware containers that state they are...

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...