Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recieved 100 buterworms from Herpfood today. I got them because of their reported higher calcium content as my cooled geckos are coming back into regular temps and am wanting to increase calcium for egg laying. They came packed in a wood chip filled container where the worms had dug/spun some kind of tunnels in the stuff.

Anyway when I contacted them (Herpfood) for what to do with them (to gutload and keep their nutritional value), they said refrigerate them, they go into hibernation and will be fine.

Some are really big and this would be fine for them if there is no nutritional loss, but some are pretty scrawny and I would like to get them full size before feeding them off.

Anybody know what to do to keep them nutritious and growing?

Thanks,
John D.

The butterworm aka trevo (trebo) worm aka Chilecomadia moorei is a pest of the Trevo bush in south America (Chile'). This insect is the larva of a cossid moth which is a bark boring pest. By digging through the internet, I've found that they may affect the following trees & most likely the bark of: apple, avocado, quince, and olive trees. There may be an artificial diet that may be comprised of similar nutritional components of the Trevo bush (Trevoa trinervis), but I'm not aware of it.

I would sort out all the scawny ones and leave them out in the wood shavings they are in, just in case those shavings are also something they can eat. Feed them off first, then go to the larger fatter ones (which should be stored in a fridge). To my knowledge, there is no chow available for these worms as they are almost always imported from Chile. I beleive there is a no breeding restriction on these insects in North American cause nobody breed them in the States or Canada to mu knowledge.

From the other poster's research on what the Tebo worm can eat, maybe add in fresh branches from apple trees or applewood shavings. Not sure if the apple fruit would be good or not.