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I caught 6 wild hornworms on my grandfather's tomato plants this evening. On-line sources say that you should not feed them because they are toxic from the tomato leaves, which are toxic for reptiles. My question is that if I feed them bell pepper or hornworm chow for a few days can I then feed them?

Bell Pepper is in the same family as tomato (Solanaceae) and they are all toxic. It includes potato, tomato pepper, petunia - those are the most common, also the garden plant Datura (aka thorn apple).

If you find them very small (1st instar) and switch to hornwomr chow and do not feed until they are fully grown - You MIGHT be safe. Personally, I would not risk it. They are easy to breed in captivity on the chow so better safe than sorry

lele
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Correct me if I'm wrong lele (this advice is often given), but you can safely feed hornworms on the tomato or bell pepper fruits, just not the leaves. After all, we eat the tomato, potato and pepper without ill affect, but we do not eat the leaves or stems.

>>Correct me if I'm wrong lele (this advice is often given), but you can safely feed hornworms on the tomato or bell pepper fruits, just not the leaves. After all, we eat the tomato, potato and pepper without ill affect, but we do not eat the leaves or stems.

Carlton;
The original poster was asking if he fed wild hornworms bell pepper fruit or hornworm chow for a few days (my assumption is to clear the hornworm of toxins would it then be safe to feed to chameleons.
Lele stated that it would only be safe if he found a very young (1st instar) hornworm and raised it up on bellpepper (fruit) or hornworm chow it MIGHT be safe.
The logists of your post seems to contradict this. Are you saying that if the poster fed tomato or bell pepper fruits to a wild hornworm for a few days, this would make the hornworm safe to feed to a chameleon?
I'm just curious, as I've always assumed that wild hornworms were ALWAYS a big no-no, end-of-discussion sort of thing.
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi@yahoo.com

I could be wrong about this but what I understood is that the wild Hornworms eat the Tomato plant leaves and absorb the toxins to use them as their own against Birds and other predators. About the only thing you can do with the Wild Horn worms is to start feeding them the Hornworm chow, allow them to grow to full size, then allow them to bury themselves in a potted plant in your house. The worm will pupate and eventually become a moth that will produce eggs to start the cycle over. The hatchling worms can then be safely raised on chow and fed to Chams. Hornworms are regarded as pests so legally you cannot do this either. An authorization is required from USDA to do this.

Carlton,
You are correct in saying that only the leaves and stems are poisonous and the fruit is not (well, it has a much lower level of toxicity). That said, hornworms will generally feed better on the leaves and stems than the fruit. In the wild (the wild veggie garden, that is - lol!) they will usually only eat the fruit once they have decimated the rest of the plant!

Victor,
"Lele stated that it would only be safe if he found a very young (1st instar) hornworm and raised it up on bellpepper (fruit) or hornworm chow it MIGHT be safe."
I did not say they could be fed on bell pepper. I will usually give a blanket statement about the plant so someone doesn't get lazy and say "oh, how much could a couple of leaves hurt?"

Chaco,
"The worm will pupate and eventually become a moth that will produce eggs to start the cycle over."

they need to mate, which in captivity is not easily done because of their feeding habits (mouth part (proboscis) is up to 2.5x the length of the moth's body, and they need to hover in order to feed)). One would need a large rearing setup in order to complete the process. If you know what you are looking for you can take a female moth at lights that is possibly gravid. After she lays you need to wait to see if the eggs are fertile or not. The more battered the moth (wings), the more likely she has mated - but not a hard and fast rule.

***"Hornworms are regarded as pests so legally you cannot do this either. An authorization is required from USDA to do this."

Yes, they are considered pests and cannot be sold/transported into certain states, but as for rearing anyone can do this. It is commonly raised in classrooms b/c of their relatively short larval stage (compared to pupal stage, which can be up to 11 months in its northern range). There are many places that sell them to school, nature center, parents, regular folks like you and me... As for a permit, I believe one is required to SELL them.

OK, think I covered it all
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.3 Mad. Hissers (2 died ;(
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha