Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I did it! I finally succeeded in breeding hornworms I want to thank everyone here that helped me with their tips. It was a real challenge for me.
Now, I'm facing an other problem... I have too much hornworms (I have more than 2000 eggs) and not enough mouths to feed!!! I was told I can't refrigerate the eggs like I do with silkworms, so they are all going to hatch at the same time.

Well, I guess some problems are better than others!

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Lisabeth

1.2 Bearded dragons (Flake, Rusty and Rainbow)
1.1 Uromastyx geyri (Spiky and Salsa)
1.2 Guinea pig (Pumpkin, Moka and Lila)

Congratulations on breeding hornworms successfully. I guess yuo have two options now in handling the excess worms. Get more mouths to feed or find local herpers who would love to lower your worm numbers. Hornworms are great for all kinds of insect eaters... rats love them, so do hedgehogs. I am sure you can find friends who can help alleviate the cost of feeding hornworms if you look around.
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PHLdyPayne

Good job..I have been thinking of doing the same...

what is the easiest feeder incect to breed?

I found that dubia roaches are super easy to breed. You just need a bin and something to warm them around 85* and then add food and water source. They do the rest and instead of laying eggs they have live babies. So you don't have to deal with much. Also they don't make noise climb fly and smell less than crickets. That my fav but i have only breed roaches and crickets.

Yes. Another 500 of so dragons should solve your excess Hornworm problem. Wait?? 500 dragons? Hmmmm. I wonder if that would that create another problem?

LOL
more dragons...more dragons!!!
yeah, it would probably cause a problem with my boyfriend!

Fortunately, one of my friend owns a store specialized in herp so she's going to buy me some.
I didn't thought of rats and hedgehogs, that's a good idea!

I now breed silkworms, superworms, mealworms, blaptica dubia, blatta lateralis (turkistan roach) and hornworms (and I did crickets in the past). I think the easiest to breed are dubias and lateralis (but I prefer dubias!) because roaches don't need much care.
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Lisabeth

1.2 Bearded dragons (Flake, Rusty and Rainbow)
1.1 Uromastyx geyri (Spiky and Salsa)
1.2 Guinea pig (Pumpkin, Moka and Lila)

I'd be interested in how you did it... (breed hornworms)
some basic instructions if its ok???

No problem, it's not a secret

In summary, I bought medium hornworms, I made them eat until they wanted to pupea and during that time I put a light on 14h a day (The light is to prevent the diapause to be for 4-5 months! If the hornworms think it's summer, they will form a pupea and emerge as a moth 4-5 weeks later...and if they feel it's going to be winter because there is not enough light, they will form a pupea and emerge only months after).

After eating a lot, they start wandering to form a pupea. I put some worms in a box with aspen bedding, others in a box with coconut bark and some others in a box with toilet paper rolls. I tried these techniques to see wich one works best. I found that the three are good to make them form a pupea.

After, I waited for 5 weeks. My boyfriend built me a big screened cage (3 x 2 x 2 feets) and I put the pupea in the bottom of the cage. The moths need space to fly, mate and lay eggs. I put a an ornemental pepper plant (capsicum annuum) in the cage for the moths to lay eggs on. It also works with a tomato plant, but at this time of the year, I couln't find one.

I also put some branch to allow the moths to climb and unfold their wings.
When the moths did emerge, the males find females, they mate, and the females lay eggs under the plant leaves. I also provided them a sweet solution to drink. The moths live one week.

I had about 20 pupea and 18 of them did emerge as a moth.
It's a lot of work to collect the eggs because the females will only lay 2-3 eggs per leaf and each morning I had between 200-400 eggs to collect (it took me 1 hour each morning to do that).

The eggs hatch after 3-5 days, depending on temperature. And after that, you have a lot of tiny worms to feed! But they grow really fast.

It's a lot of work and it requires a lot of patience, but at the end, I think it's worth it!

This is a site that explains every steps:
Hornworms

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Lisabeth

1.2 Bearded dragons (Flake, Rusty and Rainbow)
1.1 Uromastyx geyri (Spiky and Salsa)
1.2 Guinea pig (Pumpkin, Moka and Lila)

Are they as messy and sensitive as silkworms?

Unfortunately, yes.
The cares for silkworms and hornworms are pretty much the same and you have to be really careful to wash your hands every time you touch, clean or feed them. They are really sensitive to bacteria and mold. The larva (worms) are not that messy, but the moths are!
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Lisabeth

1.2 Bearded dragons (Flake, Rusty and Rainbow)
1.1 Uromastyx geyri (Spiky and Salsa)
1.2 Guinea pig (Pumpkin, Moka and Lila)

I hatch about 1000 silkworms a week and haven't had a die off in way more than a year. Once you get a system down it's really not too hard. Maybe it's me, but maybe silks are more durable now than in the past.

I get 2 cups of hornworms a week for 23 adults. I love them in certain situations but they really have too much moisture content. Silks are my primary food year round and don't have the excess moisture problem hornworms have. Hornworms as a staple would not be a good choice.