Hornworm Pod

[Yessabub]

I ordered a hornworm pod from coastal silkworms when i ordered my silkies and there should be about 15-20 hornworms in it i had about 17-18. My problem is they seem to be dieing they're at room temperature and the pod is supposed to be self sufficient what am i doing wrong? There is only maybe 11 or 12 left

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

Are you keeping it with the food side up and with the bottom (which would be the lid) propped up a little bit to allow air into the cup. They can suffocate if the lid os completely flat after a few days. I know these are basic things for hornworms but many people never seem to read the instructions provided on the side of the cups. I'm not saying you didn't but I really have never had hornworms die for any other reason. I think out of the 3,000 or so hornworms I have hatched, raised to pupation, bred as moths, and hatched again I have lost maybe 100 of them while they were worms and this was only due to them being too dry and unable to shed their skin when I had them on a heating pad. I have lost probably another 150 or more as moths due to dry hatching substrate which did not allow them to completely emerge from their pupae state and use their proboscises. But other than that they are probably the hardiest feeder I have used besides roaches. I find silkworms to be a close third, even though many will disagree. I have yet to have mass die off of silkies. I only seem to lose a few out of every 100 I hatch and thats due to them either being too far away from the food or being retarded and making oblong cocoons and running out of silk. Lol. If none of these seem to be the problem I would contact the seller and explain what happened and tell them how you were keeping them and see if they have any advice.



Justin

 

[Yessabub]

Are you keeping it with the food side up and with the bottom (which would be the lid) propped up a little bit to allow air into the cup. They can suffocate if the lid os completely flat after a few days. I know these are basic things for hornworms but many people never seem to read the instructions provided on the side of the cups. I'm not saying you didn't but I really have never had hornworms die for any other reason. I think out of the 3,000 or so hornworms I have hatched, raised to pupation, bred as moths, and hatched again I have lost maybe 100 of them while they were worms and this was only due to them being too dry and unable to shed their skin when I had them on a heating pad. I have lost probably another 150 or more as moths due to dry hatching substrate which did not allow them to completely emerge from their pupae state and use their proboscises. But other than that they are probably the hardiest feeder I have used besides roaches. I find silkworms to be a close third, even though many will disagree. I have yet to have mass die off of silkies. I only seem to lose a few out of every 100 I hatch and thats due to them either being too far away from the food or being retarded and making oblong cocoons and running out of silk. Lol. If none of these seem to be the problem I would contact the seller and explain what happened and tell them how you were keeping them and see if they have any advice.



Justin

Yeh my problem is its not propped up like you mentioned WHOOPS thanks man

 

[ColorCham427]

lol ouch, no wonder! hope the rest of em survive! hornworms are great, keep them at room temp if u have small animals, blast them up to 88 degress and they'll big huge in a week!

 

[Yessabub]

Are you keeping it with the food side up and with the bottom (which would be the lid) propped up a little bit to allow air into the cup. They can suffocate if the lid os completely flat after a few days. I know these are basic things for hornworms but many people never seem to read the instructions provided on the side of the cups. I'm not saying you didn't but I really have never had hornworms die for any other reason. I think out of the 3,000 or so hornworms I have hatched, raised to pupation, bred as moths, and hatched again I have lost maybe 100 of them while they were worms and this was only due to them being too dry and unable to shed their skin when I had them on a heating pad. I have lost probably another 150 or more as moths due to dry hatching substrate which did not allow them to completely emerge from their pupae state and use their proboscises. But other than that they are probably the hardiest feeder I have used besides roaches. I find silkworms to be a close third, even though many will disagree. I have yet to have mass die off of silkies. I only seem to lose a few out of every 100 I hatch and thats due to them either being too far away from the food or being retarded and making oblong cocoons and running out of silk. Lol. If none of these seem to be the problem I would contact the seller and explain what happened and tell them how you were keeping them and see if they have any advice.



Justin

It didnt say anything about that in the instructions. Still it should of been common sense when the only air holes are on the bottom and its sitting on the bottom lol. I set it on a rack i have similar to whats on the grill so it will allow air flow through.

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

Yup, all the remaining ones should recover. Like color cham said if you keep them between 85 and 90 degrees(do not exceed 90 because they will usually start to die off around or above that) and they will grow very very fast. If you plan on feeding them to a larger cham this works well. If you need them to grow at a slower pace to keep them smaller longer for a smaller cham room temp works well. Also if you don't have a heating pad to set under them to keep them hot you can also place the cup inside your chams cage by the basking spot(about 6 inches away from the basking spot kept them a nice 85 when the heating pad went out. I just wrapped a paper towel around the cup so my chams didn't constantly try to shoot them through the plastic. I accidentally put them in without the aper towel and was hearing popping noises like someone was eating out o their cup and couldn't figure out who it was for like 30 mins till I realized it was my gravid female trying to shoot/bite at all the hornworms through the clear cup. Good luck, I have never ordered hornworm from coastal but have from mulberry farms and GLH and Top Hat Cricket Farm and they all had instructions on them with the cup thing. If They hadn't had them when I first got the hornworms I probably would have done the same thing and never realized why they were dying.


Justin

 

[Yessabub]

Yup, all the remaining ones should recover. Like color cham said if you keep them between 85 and 90 degrees(do not exceed 90 because they will usually start to die off around or above that) and they will grow very very fast. If you plan on feeding them to a larger cham this works well. If you need them to grow at a slower pace to keep them smaller longer for a smaller cham room temp works well. Also if you don't have a heating pad to set under them to keep them hot you can also place the cup inside your chams cage by the basking spot(about 6 inches away from the basking spot kept them a nice 85 when the heating pad went out. I just wrapped a paper towel around the cup so my chams didn't constantly try to shoot them through the plastic. I accidentally put them in without the aper towel and was hearing popping noises like someone was eating out o their cup and couldn't figure out who it was for like 30 mins till I realized it was my gravid female trying to shoot/bite at all the hornworms through the clear cup. Good luck, I have never ordered hornworm from coastal but have from mulberry farms and GLH and Top Hat Cricket Farm and they all had instructions on them with the cup thing. If They hadn't had them when I first got the hornworms I probably would have done the same thing and never realized why they were dying.


Justin

Well actually my dubia colony bin sits on an old reptile heat rock thats what i had to use instead of a heating pad lol it works preety good though. Anyways could i just set the hornworm pod near it for heat? the bin is already on the same big rack that i mentioned earlier.

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

As long as some part of the pod comes within an inch or so or even touches the heat rock it will help keep it warmer. it would be even better to prop the cup an inch or so above the heat rock to get it a good temperature. You could also just set the pod directly into your dubia colony. They wont do anything to it as long as it's closed.


EDIT: I would only do that however if you dubia colony gets light. I have not experimented with hornworms and darkness but from what I understand they need light.