Silkworms and Hornworms

odduc748

odduc748

Member
I just received some silks and hornworms and am trying to offer to my female Panther.

She seems very disinterested. However, I will offer a cricket and she immediately takes it from my hand.

Is there anything I can do to get her to take the silks and horns?

Thanks!
 
Mine doesn't like hornworms either. But he loves silks. One thing you can try is putting it on a branch in front of him, because he may not be recognizing it as a prey item when in your hand.
 
She is only about 4-5 months old. Up until now, I have fed her crix, dubias and mealworms.

I think I'll try feeding only silks and hornworms tomorrow. Maybe if I don't offer crix and only the worms she'll take them. :confused:
 
odduc748 said:
She ate one, single silkworm and she runs away from hornworms.

$30 in bugs wasted.... :(
Click to expand...


Don't view it as a complete waste just yet. It took about 3 days for my guy to take a hornworm as it was not a feeder he was use to seeing. I once put a freshly molted dubia in his cage and he would not touch it, but had no problems eating the regular dark shell ones :rolleyes:. I would give it some time to see if she comes around. After eating the first silkworm, she will likely recognize it next time.
 
Well.... At this point, all of the silkworms are dead. They did not arrive in the best condition as the weather is very cold here in NH. So, I may try silks again, later. The hornworms are doing well but my cham seems to be afraid of them. I place one on a vine within her view and she quickly moves away. I'll even leave the hornworm in the cage and come back later to find my cham as far away from the worm as she can get.
:confused:
 
What works with me is if i lay the hornworm on my hand and blow on it gently that way it moves a little. It takes both my chams almost a full minute to even look at them, that or i poke them with my finger. If you wiggle them a lot they will become interested.
 
Make sure the hornworms aren't too big for her. If they are big, she could be getting scared.
 
I'm using smaller hornworms. I'll keep trying. She goes crazy for crickets and will take about 6 from my hand before she walks away. But, she will not take a hornworm from my hand.
 
Hang the horn worm on the screen below her, so it will climb up toward her, bump it in the but to get it moving.

CHEERS!

Nick:D
 
Nick, I've done exactly as you described and she gives a quick glance and turns away.

I'm not sure what to do to get her to eat them.

But, at least, she has a healthy appetite for crickets and roaches.
 
You can always try stuffing one in her mouth while she is chewing a cricket, sometimes the flavor will get them interested, sometimes not.
 
She still refuses to take the hornworms. She did take a superworm, for the first time. However, she would not take a second one.

She won't even take dubia roaches any longer.:confused:

On the other hand, she still goes after crickets very aggressively.

My fear is that she is not getting enough variety in her diet.
 
feeding hornworms

The first time I offered my cham a hornworm he wouldn't go for it, I kept trying and trying because I heard they were so good for him but no luck. Finally one day I got tired of wasting money on these expensive worms so I waited until he was very relaxed and had his mouth open because he was hot... Very very slowly I brought the worm up to his mouth and finally when it touched his tongue he gobbled it up! After that he's been eating them from my hand! I also feed him silk worms. He's grown about double in size over the last 2 months! He went from eating 7 crickets a day to 20 and about 4 worms! He doesn't appear fat and is showing amazing neon colors with teal polka dots! Awesome!
 
The silkworms and hornworms have all died off, now. I may try silks again, in the summer.

However, I took a chance and got more roaches from a local herp shop. I gutloaded them overnight with carrots, sweet potato and kale. I offered a big one to my girl and she ate it up and looked to me for another. After the third roach, I offered a superworm and she eagerly devoured that too.

So, I feel much better about the diversity of her diet now. Of course, she still loves the crickets, but she will now eat other insects.

Woohoo!!!
 
Not eating silkworms

I am feeling the waste of money on the silkworm experiment as well. I got the small pod from Coastal Silkworms about two weeks ago. As far as I can tell he did not eat one. I see one cocoon in his habitat and half the worms in the Pod have died. I dump the worm Pod feces most every day. I put a few of the largest ones in a separate container as it was getting too crowded in the Pod.
I have tried a lot of different ways of putting the silkworms on a branch, the screen and even stuffing it in his mouth. He totally dodged that. I starved him for a week. Then I broke down and gave him a super worm that he takes right out of my hand as he does regularly.
I give up and have lost $22 on silk worms. I will keep trying to feed what is left of the live ones to him, but I don't have hope for it.
I am raising Dubias too in the disparate need of alternate foods.
WAIT! While I was writing this I just tricked him into eating one while he was chewing on a super worm. Maybe there is hope if he figures out that they are good.
I will keep you posted.
Greg
 
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