Hornworm Experiment.

[Elizabeth Freer]

I'll pick the eggs and hatch them out in a different container from the one that the moths will be in. If any eggs remain and worms hatch, those will stay in the cage with the moths to do their life cycle again. I just don't know if they will lay their eggs on just any plants that's why I decided just to get a tomato plant. I'll have more eggs than I know what to do with.

That sounds good.

If this works out, you might begin a new hornworm business!

 

[JessJohnson87]

I may get overwhelmed with eggs!! Lol, I do not have hornworm chow, cups or gutter guard so that would be hard and I would have to undercut the local pet store that sells them. I know that the tomato plant is toxic and the eggs that manage to escape my attention, will not be fed off to any of my geckos or the wild birds. I have a 50/50 chance that the 6 worms will make it through the pupate stage, so we will find out how many do within the next few weeks.

 

[JessJohnson87]

Quick update. I found a worm that has almost fully cocooned itself.

Then another one that is getting closer.

 

[JessJohnson87]

SO it's been a while, like 2 months....whoops, since I've done any kind of updates on this so here goes....

Once the weather warmed up, well what I thought was going to warm up, I took the KK outside to let the "worms" incubate and hatch out. I had one moth hatch within a week of me taking them outside but since it was still in the KK, the wings hardened in a deformed shape and I put that one out of its misery. This sprung me into build a cage mode, it was not very pretty so no pictures were taken. Once I had my cage built, I dumped the remaining cocoons into some dirt and waited....and waited....and waited some more until one morning I walked outside to this.....

I finally had a moth!

So a couple of weeks went by and no more moths were emerging, I blamed the wonky cooler weather we've been having. I was going to keep this project going longer until I went out to check on my moth and noticed it was gone...I suspect a hungry bird ate the poor thing through some of the chicken wire I had for the top. I decided to call this breeding project off for the time being and may start it up again once I have a better cage for the moths to live and breed in and also do it when our weather is a little warmer and more consistent. Breeding hornworms on a small scale can be done, just need consistent warm temperatures and something to house the moths in.

 

[CWilson13]

Thanks for the update. We have been having...odd weather too. We actually got snowed out at work a couple weeks... Global warming I guess.

 

[JessJohnson87]

Yeah It's literally rained for like a month here with temperatures in the 40's-mid 70's. My garden hates it, I hate it and I'm just glad its finally making up its mind.

 

[Cymmie]

There is a way to make your own chow, there is a lot of recipes. I've never done it myself. There are also other types of greens that hornworms will eat I am just not sure if they can survive off them. Most people put the cocoons in diapause and then use a warm light (not sure of the wattage though I can look it up) and place the moth in a cage with a bird feeder with nectar, and a tomato plant or potato plant for it to lay eggs on. Then they harvest the eggs before they hatch on the tomato plant and feed the caterpillars whatever they have made. The moths need vertical perches in order to hang on and pump their wings open which is probably why your first moth had deformed wings.

 

[JessJohnson87]

I've found the recipes but most of the ingredients I would have to order and can get quite expensive. I found that they would devour almost any leafy green I gave them, well they pretty much ate anything I gave them. Once I have a better cage to house the moths in, I'll try this again, I have thought about the mesh cages people buy for butterflies and mantids.

 

[Cymmie]

A medium sized reptibreeze would work and the framing should be strong enough to hold a hummingbird feeder. I think you can feed them mainly dandelion greens or mulberry leaves and they will be able to live off it. Though honestly I am not sure, you would have to experiment. The issue is they will live part way through their life span sometimes and then just die. I'm not sure if they need a more varied diet to live without eating tomato plants or you just need to find the right green.

 

[JessJohnson87]

I was feeding the worms kale, collards, bug burger, carrots, bell pepper, potato and apples. They would eat it in a matter of hours and start crawling around for more, they lived about 2 weeks on this diet before turning into cocoons. Not sure if the moth ever drank any of the "nectar" I made for the hummingbird feeder but I still changed it out every couple of days until it went missing.