hornworm chow

Almost completely out of hornworm chow. I'm gonna order more but it's the weekend and I didn't plan enough ahead.

What can I feed them until I get chow?

xephyr17 said:

Almost completely out of hornworm chow. I'm gonna order more but it's the weekend and I didn't plan enough ahead.

What can I feed them until I get chow?

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mulberry leaves, u can find them in most parks or even someones garden

They also eat greens, grated carrot and bell pepper.

Awesome, thanks guys.

Could I completely replace their diets with mulberry leaves, greens, carrots and bell peppers, or should I just stick with buying chow?

If you are trying to breed them, feed them with chow. They may not go through the whole life cycle if you will feed them greens or vegies and may slowly die out. If you will feed them mulberry leaves they may turn from teal to green.

xephyr17 said:

Could I completely replace their diets with mulberry leaves, greens, carrots and bell peppers, or should I just stick with buying chow?

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Depends on the finances. If you got it, get the chow and leaves if at all possible. Benefits. Risk is a board game, not a game for chameleons. You can always let them turn into moths. For some reason, moths are my favorite feeder.

junglefries said:

Depends on the finances. If you got it, get the chow and leaves if at all possible. Benefits. Risk is a board game, not a game for chameleons. You can always let them turn into moths. For some reason, moths are my favorite feeder.

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I recently broke down my cham cages except for the spindly ficus that was in Omar's old cage. I happened to glance over to that corner of the room and I swear I almost soiled myself. On the trunk was this gigantic flying creature that was actually the hornworm moth! I have no idea how long it was in the dirt but I had no idea how big those things are! I hastily relocated it outside. I do not particularly like moths with their erratic flying about. It freaks me out.

I found this recipe for chow and mixed up all the dry ingredients except the yeast. I added that when I added the water and other liquid ingredients. It smells a lot better than the commercial chow and is cheaper in the long run.
HORNWORM CHOW

1 cup (100 g) of non-toasted wheat germ (Bobs Red Mill, Milwaukie, OR)
1/3 cup (25 g) of nonfat dry milk (Sanalac, Fullerton, CA)
4 tablespoons of agar (generic)
1 teaspoon pure raw flaxseed oil (nonboiled, Sunnyside Corp., Wheeling IL)
1/2 tablespoon nutritional flake yeast (generic)
1 vitamin C tablet (1000 mg) (generic)
2 vitamin B tablets (generic)
2 multivitamin tablets (generic)
1 tablespoon of table sugar (generic)
2 1/2 cups water

1. Place vitamin tablets in blender and reduce to a powder. To this powder, add the wheat germ, powdered milk, and sugar and blend until the dry components are well-mixed.

2. Remove the dry mix from the blender and add 2.5 cups of boiling water. While mixing at low speed, add the agar. Be careful to replace the lid on the blender before turning it on. Blend for one minute and then add the dry mix and continue to mix.

3. Add the linseed oil and increase blender speed. You may need to manually blend the diet while the blender is running. The diet gets rather viscous at this point.

4. After blending for about 5 minutes, add the nutritional yeast flakes and continue blending for another minute. Components in the yeast are heat labile, thus, yeast is added as late as possible.

5. Once the diet is thoroughly mixed, pour it into a plastic tray that has a sealable airtight lid. The diet will solidify and remain usable for about 7 to 10 days if kept refrigerated."

Color of Hornworms?

Does anyone know if the hornworm chow made at home (through various recipes found via search on forum) result in teal or green hornworms?

The trick is getting the vegatables to a proper moisture level. I tried with carrots once, and after a few days they were all soggy, seemingly dead, and if you didn't know any better, you've though they were dehydrated because of how limp they were. I put them in a container with paper towel and on a heating pad with no food and after they "dried out" most were back to normal. What I did was take a gram of chow and let it dry 100% and weighed it again, and the did the same with each vegable type, and did the math, and from then on I would let the vegable dry until it had the appropriate water content, and never had any health issues again. If you dont wanna feed them tomato or nightshade plants, chow is always gonna give you the healthiest worms.

ridgebax1 said:

I recently broke down my cham cages except for the spindly ficus that was in Omar's old cage. I happened to glance over to that corner of the room and I swear I almost soiled myself. On the trunk was this gigantic flying creature that was actually the hornworm moth! I have no idea how long it was in the dirt but I had no idea how big those things are! I hastily relocated it outside. I do not particularly like moths with their erratic flying about. It freaks me out.
I found this recipe for chow and mixed up all the dry ingredients except the yeast. I added that when I added the water and other liquid ingredients. It smells a lot better than the commercial chow and is cheaper in the long run.
HORNWORM CHOW

1 cup (100 g) of non-toasted wheat germ (Bobs Red Mill, Milwaukie, OR)
1/3 cup (25 g) of nonfat dry milk (Sanalac, Fullerton, CA)
4 tablespoons of agar (generic)
1 teaspoon pure raw flaxseed oil (nonboiled, Sunnyside Corp., Wheeling IL)
1/2 tablespoon nutritional flake yeast (generic)
1 vitamin C tablet (1000 mg) (generic)
2 vitamin B tablets (generic)
2 multivitamin tablets (generic)
1 tablespoon of table sugar (generic)
2 1/2 cups water

1. Place vitamin tablets in blender and reduce to a powder. To this powder, add the wheat germ, powdered milk, and sugar and blend until the dry components are well-mixed.

2. Remove the dry mix from the blender and add 2.5 cups of boiling water. While mixing at low speed, add the agar. Be careful to replace the lid on the blender before turning it on. Blend for one minute and then add the dry mix and continue to mix.

3. Add the linseed oil and increase blender speed. You may need to manually blend the diet while the blender is running. The diet gets rather viscous at this point.

4. After blending for about 5 minutes, add the nutritional yeast flakes and continue blending for another minute. Components in the yeast are heat labile, thus, yeast is added as late as possible.

5. Once the diet is thoroughly mixed, pour it into a plastic tray that has a sealable airtight lid. The diet will solidify and remain usable for about 7 to 10 days if kept refrigerated."

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can you tell us how much the chow costed to make and how much you got after it was done? And did it seem to work as well as commercial chow?

Moxie said:

Does anyone know if the hornworm chow made at home (through various recipes found via search on forum) result in teal or green hornworms?

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If you want the teal color, feed them silk worm food, that is where the color comes from.

CHEERS!

Nick

Thanks! Wasn't sure what the difference in the cups you can find that produce green versus teal. Or maybe add Mulberry leaves to homemade chow....

ridgebax1 said:

I recently broke down my cham cages except for the spindly ficus that was in Omar's old cage. I happened to glance over to that corner of the room and I swear I almost soiled myself. On the trunk was this gigantic flying creature that was actually the hornworm moth! I have no idea how long it was in the dirt but I had no idea how big those things are! I hastily relocated it outside. I do not particularly like moths with their erratic flying about. It freaks me out.

I found this recipe for chow and mixed up all the dry ingredients except the yeast. I added that when I added the water and other liquid ingredients. It smells a lot better than the commercial chow and is cheaper in the long run.
HORNWORM CHOW

1 cup (100 g) of non-toasted wheat germ (Bobs Red Mill, Milwaukie, OR)
1/3 cup (25 g) of nonfat dry milk (Sanalac, Fullerton, CA)
4 tablespoons of agar (generic)
1 teaspoon pure raw flaxseed oil (nonboiled, Sunnyside Corp., Wheeling IL)
1/2 tablespoon nutritional flake yeast (generic)
1 vitamin C tablet (1000 mg) (generic)
2 vitamin B tablets (generic)
2 multivitamin tablets (generic)
1 tablespoon of table sugar (generic)
2 1/2 cups water

1. Place vitamin tablets in blender and reduce to a powder. To this powder, add the wheat germ, powdered milk, and sugar and blend until the dry components are well-mixed.

2. Remove the dry mix from the blender and add 2.5 cups of boiling water. While mixing at low speed, add the agar. Be careful to replace the lid on the blender before turning it on. Blend for one minute and then add the dry mix and continue to mix.

3. Add the linseed oil and increase blender speed. You may need to manually blend the diet while the blender is running. The diet gets rather viscous at this point.

4. After blending for about 5 minutes, add the nutritional yeast flakes and continue blending for another minute. Components in the yeast are heat labile, thus, yeast is added as late as possible.

5. Once the diet is thoroughly mixed, pour it into a plastic tray that has a sealable airtight lid. The diet will solidify and remain usable for about 7 to 10 days if kept refrigerated."

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I've tried and followed this recipe EXACLY and the horn worms I got wont go near this home made chow. Have you actually had success with this recipe?

The recipe made 4 batches of dry food. When mixed it filled at least 4 deli-cups like the hornworms come in from the breeders and yes I have successfully used this for hornworms.

ridgebax1 said:

The recipe made 4 batches of dry food. When mixed it filled at least 4 deli-cups like the hornworms come in from the breeders and yes I have successfully used this for hornworms.

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Thanks I have tried it again and let is cool at room temp the hornworms seem to like it much better at room temp than cold! Again thanks for your info