hornworms arrived today

[joemacchirella]

so i recieved my shipment of 90 small to medium hornworms today and fed one off to my chameleon neptune he loves them i have the cups upside down so the foods at the top the person i bought them from said they have enough food in the cups to grow them to 3 inches i was just wondering if that is a big enough size for them to start pupating and if it is how would i go about doing that i need all the help i can get everyone please help me

 

[joemacchirella]

bump cmon Guys/Gals i need help here i want to start breeding them when they get to the right size i have a old cham cage i plan on using for the moths if i get to that point

 

[ReptileLover0423]

They pupate after the 5th instar. Normally for hornworms, I have seen this after in excess of 4 inches and if you keep them warm(85-90)they will grow to this size within 7 to 10 days.

 

[Trillian]

Once mine got massive they stopped eating, so I put them in a box of dirt and they pupated a few days later. That's as far as I've got so far though!

 

[joemacchirella]

ok thanks guys i will have to buy some chow then and good luck on getting them to become moths trillian i hope yours breed and have many eggs

 

[AlecWade]

My chameleon goes crazy for those hornworms. I think they are pretty neat too! They were actually how I got my current chameleon hand feeding like my old one. I placed a few in his cage and let him hunt them. Then once he was hooked he couldn't resist them, even from my big scary hand!

Glad you got your shipment in Joe. Would you mind sending me that recipe? Sorry I never got back to you on your previous thread!

 

[joemacchirella]

My chameleon goes crazy for those hornworms. I think they are pretty neat too! They were actually how I got my current chameleon hand feeding like my old one. I placed a few in his cage and let him hunt them. Then once he was hooked he couldn't resist them, even from my big scary hand!

Glad you got your shipment in Joe. Would you mind sending me that recipe? Sorry I never got back to you on your previous thread!

its ok and the worms have already grown since yesterday these things dont stop eating the worms i have are the blueish colored ones but heres that recipe i havent used it myself but it was given to me by a fellow forum member A Homemade Recipe for Manduca Diet from UW-Madison

We have developed a diet composed of ingredients that are readily available in a large supermarket. Diet preparation requires only a kitchen blender and a microwave oven. The finished diet, having the consistency of tofu, can be easily sliced into any shape or size and the quality of the diet can be modified by adding or subtracting various chemical components.

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 linseed 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.

 

[Mark B]

coming from me because i breed hornworms, look for a pulsating aorta on top of there body and once they start wondering and not eating just get some damp soil and put them in it and they start burrowing into the soil to pupate.

 

[joemacchirella]

coming from me because i breed hornworms, look for a pulsating aorta on top of there body and once they start wondering and not eating just get some damp soil and put them in it and they start burrowing into the soil to pupate.

thanks that helps about how long does the hole process take from egg to moth i some super small worms to some decent sized ones

 

[Psychobunny]

If you can store them at 50F it will stunk their rapid growth.
My wine frige comes in handy for feeders.
Sometimes I even have room in it for wine

 

[joemacchirella]

haha thats funny im about to put a cup or two away for feeders and have a cup for breeding