Nightfeathers
New Member
Since there is so little information out there I thought I'd report on what I've gotten results with. As background, I mail ordered some tomato hornworms as part of a chameleon food sampler for my veiled, a male named Piper. <3 Well the caterpillars were growing a lot faster than he could eat them and I ended up with 7 pillars that were no longer eating and looking to pupate while he was too full to care. Since I had some eco earth sitting around for other reptiles, I figured why not experiment. I took a small plastic storage bin about 1 foot by 4 inches or so, put in 2 inches of moist eco earth, and put the leftover pillars inside. By the next day they were buried. I kept the lid on because it did not fit tightly, and opened it once a day. After a while I did mist it a bit because it was starting to dry out.
I am not sure of how long they pupated as I didnt take note of when they went in. They emerged not long ago though despite the relative cool temperatures. Of the 7 that went in, 4 emerged. 2 of those did not fill their wings out properly, but that was my own fault as I wasn't expecting them having never raised moths before. 2 ended up perfectly winged. 1 of the bad winged ones died early, the other is alive but not active.
I moved the adults to a 10 gallon aquarium under a plant light set on a 13 hours on light cycle. Inside the tank is a Cambells soup thermos cup lid with about a half inch of hummingbird food in it, one branch that goes into the cup and up onto a rock, and a piece of cork bark. All of this is on paper towels which seem to absorb nicely.
Two days ago I noticed eggs. I saw at least 50 eggs scattered around the cage. Today I found my first 4 caterpillars. I am trying out some different foods trying to see what they like. I have tiny bits of romaine and carrots in there and they seem to be gravitating towards the carrots. They are wandering a lot though so I am not sure at this stage if they like the carrots or not.
Other than the hummingbird food this was all stuff I had sitting around my house anyway, so it didn't really cost anything to try. I will try to update with how this goes! Oh and temperature wise its heading into winter now so my house is a little cool, and I do not supplement with heat of any kind. The bulb is florescent.
I am not sure of how long they pupated as I didnt take note of when they went in. They emerged not long ago though despite the relative cool temperatures. Of the 7 that went in, 4 emerged. 2 of those did not fill their wings out properly, but that was my own fault as I wasn't expecting them having never raised moths before. 2 ended up perfectly winged. 1 of the bad winged ones died early, the other is alive but not active.
I moved the adults to a 10 gallon aquarium under a plant light set on a 13 hours on light cycle. Inside the tank is a Cambells soup thermos cup lid with about a half inch of hummingbird food in it, one branch that goes into the cup and up onto a rock, and a piece of cork bark. All of this is on paper towels which seem to absorb nicely.
Two days ago I noticed eggs. I saw at least 50 eggs scattered around the cage. Today I found my first 4 caterpillars. I am trying out some different foods trying to see what they like. I have tiny bits of romaine and carrots in there and they seem to be gravitating towards the carrots. They are wandering a lot though so I am not sure at this stage if they like the carrots or not.
Other than the hummingbird food this was all stuff I had sitting around my house anyway, so it didn't really cost anything to try. I will try to update with how this goes! Oh and temperature wise its heading into winter now so my house is a little cool, and I do not supplement with heat of any kind. The bulb is florescent.
! I think pics are what people wanna see, even if theyve seen it a hundred times before!
