A question for the hornworm gurus

[ridgebax1]

I bought some hornworms with the intent to give some to a friend but she did not want them and as a result they grew too big for my chameleon, but never really got to that full grown sluggish stage with the pulsing vein down their backs so I was very surprised to see that they kind of transformed in the the Michelin tire man version of hornworms and just kind of felt like over stuffed sausages that flailed back and forth when I picked them up! What's up with that? Should I throw them in some dirt or what?

 

[camimom]

If theyt got so round that they look like sausages with no feet, put them in dirt, they will cocoon and then later emerge as awesome moths.

 

[pigglett79]

Did it look like this? If so it's starting to pupate.

 

[ridgebax1]

Yes that's just what they looked liked. I did throw them in a container with dirt but most of them stayed on top of the soil. I thought maybe they couldn't dig down properly because they were all sausage-y so I put dirt over them and the next day they were up on top again and two of them started to turn cocoonish with the one end getting brown and the other getting the little hook end on it! It is really awesome to see the transformation. Can I still feed them off when they are all fat and sausage-y and don't have any cocoon stuff going on? Our beardie could eat them no problem.