Hornworms

[YigosFlower]

Hi there

I know the downsides to feeding wild caught feeders & usually wouldnt want to do so, but after reading how much most chams love them & the great benefits to feeding them, here is my question.

My husband & son recently found a few hornworms in our garden, (i think too big to feed to my guy anyways) we have an all organic garden, however, i know that there are tomato plants, pepper plants, etc that they could have been eating. My son has decided to keep the two bigger ones we caught as pets & obviously would be crushed if i fed those to the cham.. Upon bring in some leaves for them to eat we realized we also brought in a teeny, tiny one as a hitchhiker. So heres my question... Can i keep the little one in a different container & feed it something else to "flush" its system enough that by the time it grows into a substantial meal it will be safe to feed? It was found on the tomato plants, so of course i wouldnt want to feed it right away even if it were a good enough size for fear of what it could have been feeding on or where it had come from.

What would be the best things to feed it over the course of the next few weeks to make him a healthy treat for the chameleon & ensure he will be flushed of all the possible toxins? If you think its a possible thing i just may have to go out scoping for more small ones to turn into something fun & healthy for our cham buddy.

Thanks so much for the help! I still cant get over how much these little boogers eat! Im surprised we even have a garden left!

 

[Texas Panther Man]

You prob could flush him out in a few days time but I wouldnt feed him to my personal cham if I were you. Just order some horns from Mulberry Farms why take a chance with your animals health?

 

[YigosFlower]

Yeah, you are probly right, i definitely dont want to chance it! I would be devestated! Im just excited to see him eat his first horn wormy & think he will LOVE it. haha

I will probly just wait until the next reptile show & buy some then. I like to support the local people since so many are dying out! Poo, i had really hoped i could utilize some of them from the garden. Maybe i will give a stab at breeding them. Those should be safe wouldnt they by then?

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Yeah you could catch some at least 6-10 minimum. let em pupate in some moist pottin soil then they will emerge and breed. Then lay eggs and then die.
Then you incubate the eggs and horns will emerge and you will need chow to feed them. Read the manduca project I dont have the link or I'd give it to you.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Btw, if your looking for an alternate feeder. Go find a nice spot and catch some grasshoppers or katydids with a butterfly net. I feed those a few times a month as an alternate feeder. You should see them go after a big green grasshopper.

 

[YigosFlower]

I havent been real happy with my last few orders of crickets & am getting pretty frustrated with that. Ive tried my hardest to keep them alive longer than two weeks & or breed them & have found it impossible.

I do have a breeding colony of Dubia roaches that are taking off pretty successfully, but of course i need more than that for him. (And i dont think i have a substantial amount built to start feeding too many of them yet.) Im also taking on superworms, but they take SO long to grow out. Sigh.

My husband doesnt want me breeing wax or silk worms either.. soooo maybe hornworms would be something to look into. (although, ive read they seem to be hard to breed too) hmm.

I just want my guy as happy & healthy as he can be! I really like the idea of knowing where my feeders are coming from & what they are being fed throughout life. As for the recent issues with crickets im getting more & more nervous to feed those, but he loooves them, so almost would feel badly making him give them up completely! He sees the container open & knows goodies are in store! He actually goes out of his way to be nice. hahaha =]

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Personally when i ordered in bulk. I order from Armstrong cricket ranch. They are in Louisiana. I never had an issue with dead crix unless they left the package in the heat by door. (once) I was pissed at Ups.

 

[YigosFlower]

I think im going to have to try somewhere else. This is the third time i have ordered from LLL & been unhappy. I had at least over 200+ dead in this last shipment. They were overnight-ed & dropped off at 9:30 am, i was home, grabbed the order off the porch & still had that many dead. They wont guarantee because it was a 90 degree day, even though i received them before peek heat. Thankfully i have sugar gliders & hedgehogs who will eat the dead ones, but UGH, i bought them for the cham & geckos, not the gliders & hogs.

Yup, im decided to try elsewhere next time because this is insane! Its like throwing away money.

Thanks for your help, btw! =]

 

[ladysilkworm]

I
My husband doesnt want me breeing wax or silk worms either.

why he doesnt want you to breed silkworms? they are much easier than hornworms. Besides, they are kept as pets for school kids. Great experience for both of you.

A local customer gave me 10 horns to breed, and I feed them tomato plants from my garden. They didnt like the melon plants, I think it was too thorny for them, but ate the overriped tomatoes.

People say tomato plants are toxic, is it for real or just a hearsay?

When I had sugar gliders I fed them ANYTHINg I found in my yard, including grubs.

Oh i saw you have suggies too.. suggies stole one of my silks (I keep them only as pets) and ewww.. it was disgusting how she pieced it with her teeth and broke it into like a popsicle and had green blob rolling down the side of my couch!