Hornworms and Silk Worms

[DeweysMom]

I decided to give Dewey some more variety to his diet so tonight I ordered some Hornworms, Silkworms, and Butterworms from Mulberry Farms. They have these "new postage paid" packages and all three came together. He's had Butters before and he really likes them, but the Horns and Silks will be a first.

I can't wait to see if he likes them. It's so funny how owning a reptile can make you excited about certain things... like getting a shipment of worms! :lol:

Anyway, does anyone have any pointers or tips on how many I should feed him? Should I only feed one type of worm a day along with dubia or could I do a couple of just worm days without any dubias (he also gets a salad every day)? I read that you shouldn't touch the Silks with your bare hands. Is that true? Also, what do you keep your Silks in and will they be ok in the cup that they come in? Same with Horns.

 

[fez09]

Hi Mandy!
I order those worms once a month for my crew and they each have their favorites! What I do is always offer their staple feeder first, then I will offer a few of the "treats". The reason that I do that is because sometimes they will refuse to take the staple feeder and try to hold out for the good stuff! I personally wouldn't only have a soft worm day because since they have so much more moisture in them than dubia and supers, it makes really loose poop... You could add a few butters on his salad then offer 1-2 horns and 1-2 silkies per day...
As far as touching silkworms, I try not to mess with them until it's time to feed them off, then I use my fingers. You can just leave the horns and silks in the cup that they come in.

 

[DeweysMom]

Great info, thanks!! I feel like such a dork being so excited to get some worms in the mail. I can't wait to see if Dewey likes them.

 

[Fallencomrade2008]

The reason you don't want to touch them is because you can so easily bruise and kill the worms, so the best way in my opinion is to only touch the ones that are on the road to gettin chewed up. Thats always worked for me and i don't see you breeding your own anytime soon if at all so you should be fine

 

[DeweysMom]

So... I got my shipment from Mulberry Farms today. The hornworms look pretty cool. I've seen butters before so I'm used to them. The silkworms though... totally DISGUSTING!!! There's just so much poop in the cup, it's horrible! This may sound like a weird question, but do they always "go" that much or is it likely that this cup been sitting for an extended period of time before it was shipped to me. It doesn't look like any died in transit so I'm assuming it's fairly normal. How often do you get rid of the waste?

I'm going to try the hornworms with Dewey first this afternoon since I've been hearing so much about them. I'll post an update later today.

 

[Helios]

They do poop a lot, but they're easy to clean up after. Turn the cup upside down so the poop falls to the lid, then take it off and dump. The wormies stick pretty good, so I pretty much never have them fall off when I dump the waste. I do this about once a day, so that it doesn't get caught up too much in their silk.

Have fun... your dragons will love you for ordering those! lol. Mine get super excited when they see the silkie cup coming. =)

Sidenote: I've been feeding silks as a staple for a while now, and I haven't had any problems with loose stools... but I'm sure everyone's experience is a little different.

 

[DeweysMom]

Thanks for the info. I'll dump the droppings out when I get home tonight. So gross!!

So I got my worms home (lol... sounds funny) and noticed that on the lid there are instructions. On the hornworms it says to keep them lid facing down at an angle so airflow go still get through. When I tipped the cup upside down, the food slid down. Is that supposed to happen? I'm thinking not because then it would be squishing the worms and I'd potentially have to dig through the food to get the worms. If that's not normal and it's happened to you, how do you fix it?

I gave Dewey a couple of hornworms when I got home and he loved them. After he ate them he roamed around the cage as if he were looking for more. Next I'll be trying the silkworms, not today though.

 

[Helios]

Hmm... Yeah it shouldn't slip down like that. I've never had it happen... but now that I think about it, the plastic mesh "walls" are probably there in part to hold it up in case it does fall. I would probably rest it on its side though. The reason for turning it upside down is the same as for the silkies; you want them to crawl to the top to eat and let the waste fall to the bottom to be cleaned out. At least with it on its side, it won't crush the worms and you'll still be [mostly] able to clean out the poo.

Glad the dragons enjoyed the worms! My kids do the "prowl" afterward too... either that or the pathetic look of "Oh mommy... I'm still sooooo hungry!! What? Salad? Pfffttt... I'm not that hungry!"