Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay so i have about 150 hornworms, after reading your article i ahve one question. So if i want them not to go into diapose, i need to give the larva uvb light??

From Q. How long before they emerge as moths?

"However, in order to have the moth continue to develop and not enter diapause, this way eclosing (emerging) 4 weeks after pupating, you will need to expose the larva to 13-15 hours of daylight, mimicking early season photoperiod (day length). This can be done with UVB light setups if normal day needs to be extended."

So, if you want them to go into diapause (therefore not emerge as moths for several months as opposed to having them eclose in about 4 weeks) you need to "mimic" nature and adjust natural light during their larval stage.

In the winter, this is easy to do because our days are shorter anyway. You can leave them in a room where they are exposed to current daylight cycles, no additional lights - UVB or other. If you have a shade in the room you can even close it about an hour before the sun goes down to assure diapause. About a week or two after they pupate you can put them into a plastic, covered container and place into the crisper section of your fridge. This will continue to inhibit their emergence, but be SURE to wait the 2 weeks. If you place them in cold before fully pupated you can kill it.

The UVB light is more for extending their day length exposure. So if you want them to eclose within a month or so after they pupate you will need to use UVB lights to extend the day by a few hours (mimicking summer day length)

I hope this clarifies it for you. let me know if you have other questions!

lele
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

OKay well i want these worms as quick as possible. So if i understand correctly i would want them exposed to the UVB for 13 hours a day. Sorry but i am a little confused.

Ok - I have a question for you - do you plan on breeding these as well as feed some directly to your cham? When I say breeding I mean entire life cycle - caterpillar, pupa, adult moth, supplying food source for moth, mating the moths, collecting the deposited eggs and beginning all over again.

OR are you just planning to feed these off?

If breeding, yes, you want to "trick" the larva into thinking it is summer (longer days) so that it does not go into a lengthy diapause by exposing them to 13-15 hours of light. Since it is winter and days are shorter you would setup UVB lights for this length, or (if you want to save on the bulb use) have the bulb go on about 2 hours before sunset for the final 3-5 hours. Where do you live - temperature has influence as well? Regardless, they will remain in their pupal stage (hard brown "skin" ) for a month before emerging as moths.

If you are just feeding them off then none of this matters. The only thing you would consider then, might be to slow them down (they grow fast) by lowering temps and cutting back on food to some degree.

Clear as mud??

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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet