Trouble feeding Hornworms silk worm chow

[pigglett79]

Has anyone ever fed hornworms silk worm chow? I have always fed them hornworm chow and they grow enormous in no time at all. This time around I am feeding silk worm chow as I read they can eat it and I figured it would be nice to buy one food for both worms. Well these guys just aren't growing. They are over a week old and still much too small to feed to my Jackson's. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[pigglett79]

Well, has anyone fed silk worm chow to hornworms with success?

 

[laurie]

You all ready know my sad story. They all died in less that 3 days with me feeding silkworm chow. But I ordered some horn worm chow so I will try again.

 

[pssh]

Mulberry farms sells two kinds of pods, one with silk chow and one with the brown/tan chow. They both work, but in my experience, the silk chow makes them grow a little slower. I don't know if it's because of something I'm doing, but that is what I have personally experienced.

 

[pigglett79]

Well I ordered some hornworm chow and it should arrive tomorrow. I will then transfer them all over to that chow and hope for the best. I am used to them growing so fast and now on this silk worm chow they are still so small. Some are getting bigger, but they are no where near the size they usually are at this age.

 

[Mark B]

they seem to like wheat germ based chow and wont eat anything else unless it's a tomato plant,tobacco plant or egg plant it's just how they are, an i dont understand how people have managed to rear them off using wheat germ based chow because they can be picky. but once you get your chow keep your temps high and youll see rapid growth. I get my babies from the time they hatched out of a egg to full adults in a week an half then they go to pupae

 

[pigglett79]

Yeah that timeline is about what I am used to. Thanks again Mark for the chow! I hope to get these guys up to size quickly.

 

[sandrachameleon]

hornworms also eat grape vine leaves and many other plant materials