quick question about silk/hornworms

[VeiledOwner87]

i just bought my first "whole sale" of hornworms and silkworms. only 20 hornworms because i know they grow fast. but anyways, for care, its starting to get chilly at night where i am from. i have them in new tupperware containers, a larger one for my silks because there are more and a smaller one for my horns. now i know they key to successfull worm keeping is a constant clean enclosure, constant food supply and warmth. if i drill air holes in the lids, would they be able to breath alright? or is it better left open? if i can drill holes and cover them to keep in some warmth, than how many will do?

thanks in advance for the tips.

btw, i looked through the SILKWORMS 101 thread, but there wasnt too much as far as temperature and what not. so i did do the search first

 

[chameleon884]

i dont know much about silkworms, but i can tell you about hornworms.
hornworms can LITERALLY grown 2x in a day or two. the warmer it is, the faster they will grow. the colder it is, it will stun their growth and they will most likely go dormant. hornworms poop constantly. you will find yourself cleaning out poop about every hour or so. the little horn cannot harm the chameleon, it is actually rather soft. also, only feed a hornworm once every couple days. you wouldnt want ur cham getting fat?
but whenever you feed s hornworm, only feed your cham 4-6 crickets after that for the rest of the day. hornworms are actually more food than it looks like. they are equal to about a half days worth of crickets.

 

[ghettomike]

I have proven myself to be not able to keep silkies alive for more than a few days but I did buy a cup of approx 20 baby hornworms and managed to raise them to a decent feeding size (approx 3 weeks to a month). I just kept them at room temp in the plastic container they came in ( the lid just had a few penny size holes with a filter like material over them ) with the supplied food and cleaned the poop pellets out daily. I found the hornworms to be much easier to keep alive than the silkies.

 

[carol5208]

I live in Florida so I dont know what your house temp is in Canada but my house is like a constant 74/75 degrees with AC on. I put my silks in tupperware containers and I punctured holes in the tops for air. If you leave the lid off they might be able to crawl out so I would not suggest that unless it was a super deep container.They do crawl up the sides. My silks do great and live for weeks and weeks until they fed off. I buy mulberry premade chow from the silkworm breeder and just scoop that into the containers. I clean my containers everyday as they poop a WHOLE lot! I try to keep the environment as clean as possible. I have quite a few holes punctured in the top. Probably like a dozen or so. It works for me, so I hope it works for you! I get 100 silks and divide them up into 3 containers.

 

[VeiledOwner87]

This is what i'm working with guys. my temperatures in my cages and tanks are between 70-74, they all read different because there in different areas. the ac is on too which i dont like. but anyways. is this alright?

appriciate all of the feedback guys. and yes, i know hornworms grow super fast, but thanks for the tip on being able to keep them cooler, i dont want them to die on me, theyre too expensive.

 

[carol5208]

Those look fine. Thats about what I am using and mine are thriving. Again, I do live in Florida and you are in Canada but my house temp is around 74 so that should work for you too. Just make sure you clean out the containers constantly. It is a pain! Their poop looks just like the food only tinly little pebbles!! I only tried hornworms once. They were super expensive and yes they grow like weeds! The silks grow pretty quick too. I have had mine about 11 days and they are getting big already! My chameleon loves them!

 

[VeiledOwner87]

im trying to get my fischer's to start eating silks. he doesnt budge for silks but he loves wax, supers and hornworms. anyways, i have 25 small silks.

 

[carol5208]

it is funny how all these chameleons have different tastes! Right now I am doing supers and silks. Mine completely refused crickets for the last 3 weeks and I got tired of gutloading them and cleaning the tank so I let them go outside today and all the wild lizards literally came running to eat them. I couldn't believe it! They just came out of nowhere and started running off with the crickets in the their mouths. We have those anoles and these other ones called ring tails. I figure I am going to the store in about a week and buy a few crickets and see if I can interest him in them again. If not I guess its supers and silks for now! Good luck and I hope your silkworms will thrive!

 

[VeiledOwner87]

hahaha thats so funny! it just proves how SPOILED our bratmeleons realy are!

 

[carol5208]

mine rules my life!! As a matter of fact I think I will go clean some silkworm poop! haha