Reanimating Hornworms (new pics - Pupae!)

[invictusrules]

also asked how to perfectly preserve the caterpillars in larvae stage so middle school kids can do some fun dissection experiments... ew

Tequila? :wink:

 

[protiemama]

Ahhh... That's a whole different experiment that should not be tryed before High School (or later for legal purposes) :lol:

Sandy H :mrgreen:

 

[zaxblue]

BUMP....
I know, it's been 5 months since anyones posted here but I was really hoping some of the great posters in this thread may see this and provide some follow up.

I'm mostly interested to find out if anyones had any success with home made hornworm recipes?

Great Thread!

 

[scalesandtales]

Jar of rubbing alcohol!!

 

[blondie098]

Well, only a few survived our overwintering try... most got moldy, not sure what we did wrong... we've started fresh again

 

[fresnowitte]

Hey Dawn does that mean you might be selling eggies again soon?

If so let me know! :wink:

 

[blondie098]

Hey barb with tomorrow being Friday we'd have to wait for Monday... we have moths active right now, about 400 eggs plus daily. I'll email u after the wedding. Quasi loves the itty bitty ones, he may be a mangled dragon, but he loves to hunt

 

[fresnowitte]

Heck lady I'm not in a hurry. :wink: Your a busy woman this I know. Just keep me in mind. :wink:
I'd have to order chow first anyway.

BTW...have you posted any new pic's of your babies anywhere? I've not been around much but I'm back now.

 

[blondie098]

We are trying a new cool-down method for pupae, hope they don't mold this time... last time I think there was too much moisture in the dirt, this time we are only chilling for the lifespan of the first set of moths that just hatched. We have added a screen to the bin the chilled pupae are in.

Fyi we morph our big fatties in deli cups, they burrow into peat moss & we have nearly 100% success. This last time, we thought putting the pupae cups by the air conditioning vents would slow their hatching, but the boogers actually hatched 3-5 days earlier :shock:

 

[invictusrules]

we morph our big fatties in deli cups

Fatties... lol! Perfect description!

On a note of pupating substrate - don't use the Care Fresh-type fluffy paper bedding. I ran out of shavings a few weeks ago and tried some, and had about 70% failure. The shavings guys from the same batch were about 100%. I haven't tried the peat 'cause I like to watch the "fatties." :lol:

 

[blondie098]

Yeah, that's what my 10-year old son called them one day, and the name just stuck

 

[Litakat]

Just a comment referring to the recipe. I've done some digging on my own in reference to making my own hornworm chow. I read on one of the agar sites that agar is a vegetarian replacement for gelatin. So that makes me wonder what purpose the agar serves in the hornworm chow. It doesn't seem to be needed for its gelatinous properties, so I will guess it's for the plantlike properties? Which unfortunately would cross out trying gelatin? Didn't know if maybe someone knew better

 

[blondie098]

it does help with the binding of the mixture (proper consistency) but I believe there are other beneficial properties, too. Gelatin doesn't quite bind right with the other ingredients.

 

[Litakat]

Well darn. Guess you can't get rid of the most expensive ingredient.

 

[geckoboy3]

Does anyone know a homemade hornworm food. Please post reply! I want to make homemade food :roll: ... LOL