Freezing Hornworms

[Vermundor]

I was wondering if you could freeze hornworms and than feed them to your lizard later? Has anyone tried it yet? If you did, how did you defrost them? I have about 40 large worms and only one medium sized lizard who I think is going to become morbidly obese if I feed him the same amount of food every day. He's fine now, I just don't want to push it. I also don't want to waste money for something he won't eat eventually.

 

[BadCon]

I'm sure you could freeze them easily enough, but I can pretty much guarantee the thawing process would leave them limp and otherwise gross looking. As they freeze, ice crystals will puncture most of the cell membranes...being soft bodied insects, thawing will result in juices escaping and the body loosing whatever rigidity it may have had. I'd venture to say they would be fairly nasty looking after being thawed. However, throwing them away seems silly too....so perhaps give it a shot? I do know that if you lower their temperature down to about 45 degrees, they will stay fresh longer. Basically puts them in a form of hibernation.

 

[beardies1]

i think they'll die

 

[lindasgonebuggie]

I've never tryed to freeze big horns, i do agree they will look gross and will probably loose most of they're fluids. But I will tell you as someone who sells them, if you take care of them as far as temps. that cup should last 2 weeks. you can slow down there growing by keeping them cooler. Then I've taken the large horns pulled them out of the cup and put them in a brown paper bage ful of crumpled up news paper(which will double insulate them) and stored them like that in the refrig. for 2 more weeks. Bring them to room temp. and they will come back to life and then can be feed.That's what I tell my customers. Linda.