I fed my beardie a Black Hornworm

[Katmariee98]

Hi everyone,

Last week I got my hornworms shipped and there was a black guy in there with the rest of them. I thought it was dead, but it wasn’t. It grew as big and as normal as all of the other hornworms. I tried reading if it was okay or not to feed a black hornworm to my beardie and all I found was that a black hornworm meant they’re dead or dying, which was not the case for this black hornworm, as it was black since I got it but still flourished/stayed alive/grew this whole time. I also read that there are two types of hornworms: blue/green and black. Anyways, this information helped me decide that it was okay to give my beardie the black hornworm, but when I came on this forum, I see people saying a black live hornworm could be septic and carry disease?? I heard you could give your beardie a bath in water/pedialyte mix to be safe. Does anyone have any other suggestions on what I can do to make sure my beardie doesn’t turn ill?? I take my beardie to the reptile vet by my house but they’re no help, so please, other suggestions as well!!

Thank you.

 

[CooperDragon]

I haven't seen a black hornworm, but if it was growing and moving around I'd imagine it's OK to feed. Keep an eye on your dragon's behavior, appetite, etc for a while, but I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

[Katmariee98]

I haven't seen a black hornworm, but if it was growing and moving around I'd imagine it's OK to feed. Keep an eye on your dragon's behavior, appetite, etc for a while, but I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Thank you so much Cooper, yes the big guy was alive and well, my beardie seems to be doing okay, I’ll continue to keep an eye!

 

[Longfellow777]

Black hornworms are fine to feed as long as it was still moving its alive. Turning black can mean 2 things: It was dying ( you said it was alive.) They may be going into the next stage before turning, was it really large? could it have been about to change into its next life stage? Either way no reason to worry if it was alive like cooper said your gravy. It has nothing to do with parasite or disease or anything bad.

 

[Katmariee98]

Black hornworms are fine to feed as long as it was still moving its alive. Turning black can mean 2 things: It was dying ( you said it was alive.) They may be going into the next stage before turning, was it really large? could it have been about to change into its next life stage? Either way no reason to worry if it was alive like cooper said your gravy. It has nothing to do with parasite or disease or anything bad.

Thank you for your reply @Longfellow777 . When I received my hornworms, the little guy was alive and well, just black. I didn't worry too much because he kept growing and grew fairly large before I fed him to my beardie. It was only when I started searching if feeding a black hornworm to beardies is safe when I started to worry/stress haha. He is better than ever now, and there wasn't anything to worry about as you said Happy new year! Stay Safe.

 

[Longfellow777]

No problem ! Yeah there is alot of scary info on the web. Best thing I ever did for my dragon was become a member of this forum. I stressed out going over all the Inaccurate info online. People on here have helped ease my stress and when your stressed it can be scary feeling like your not doing right by them. Most of the time it’s someone answering my questions so anytime I can pay that forward I am happy to do do. Glad your baby is prospering and you stay safe as well.

 

[Wickedpogana]

I've got a couple when I was breeding them last spring i like to feed them for the color difference makes them look twice haha but it's just a color mutation green is just way more common I've seen blue ones aswell and if you feed them strictly carrot I've seen them turn a orange color