Hornworms

vgaines

Member
I was at my local mom and pop pet store today buying crickets and I overheard one of the employees telling another employee what to tell customers about hornworms to make a sale. She said that they are very high in calcium so they make great feeders. I know that they are great for dehydrated lizards but am I wrong in thinking that there are several better options for high calcium feeders? (phoenix worms, silk worms, butter worms are what I can think of off the top of my head) I was going to buy some because they told me they were small...$13 for a cup of about 12 or $1.25 each. No thanks. :eek: I know to take everything the pet store employees tell me about chameleon care with a grain of salt but it bothers me when they are giving this information to people who believe they know what they are talking about.

Sorry about the rant but this is the same pet store who sold me Raine and told me I needed calcium with d3 at every feeding because babies grow fast. She passed away in less than a month because she had an eye infection when I purchased her and was so small (a month) that she never recovered.
 
According to the numbers I remember, which may or may not be the most recent or accurate out there, hornworms had as much or more calcium content than silkworms. So they really aren't a bad feeder, they get a bad reputation for being all water and fat (the latter of which is not actually all that high) but they do have calcium as well.

I really like them as a feeder, and my chameleons literally trip over themselves to try to get to them. So they may not be the world's #1 feeder in all categories, but I consider them really decent and buy them whenever I can. They are more expensive than the other worms, though.
 
hornworms kick butt there great for everything i order two cups a month both
my chameleons and bearded dragon love them and will almost always eat them this is off great lakes hornworms website They are extremely healthy. They are high in calcium, low in fat, have no chitin or exoskeleton so your animal will not have trouble digesting them. All this provides more usable nutrition for your animals.

Calcium - 46.4mg/100g

Fat - 3.07%

they gutload the best all those other worms you mentioned expect for the silkworms (which are so picky and cant touch them) dont eat.
i mix dino fuels and a little bug burger with the hornworm food and the
hornworms tear it up keep them in a wine cooler at about 55 degrees and they grow at a slower pace and you can control how fast they grow
 
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