Are hornworms too big for leos?

[porkling]

Hi guys, My hypo tang has recently gone on a hunger strike. It's been over a month now, she wont touch mealies or supers and will only occasionally go for a cricket. She's always been the best eater out of my two girls and seems fine otherwise, so I assumed she just needed a bit of variety. I live in Florida so I can't have roaches shipped here as many of you know it's illegal. I was set on ordering silkworms after reading good things about them, however, when i got to mulberryfarms.com i noticed they had a sale on their goliath hornworms, so i ordered 3 cups of 25 of these. They're due to arrive tomorrow and I was just looking up videos of people feeding hornworms, they seem AWFULLY big. SO, my question is, did I just waste my money? Or will my leos be able to handle these? They are both fully grown adults.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

 

[reps4life]

Hi guys, My hypo tang has recently gone on a hunger strike. It's been over a month now, she wont touch mealies or supers and will only occasionally go for a cricket. She's always been the best eater out of my two girls and seems fine otherwise, so I assumed she just needed a bit of variety. I live in Florida so I can't have roaches shipped here as many of you know it's illegal. I was set on ordering silkworms after reading good things about them, however, when i got to mulberryfarms.com i noticed they had a sale on their goliath hornworms, so i ordered 3 cups of 25 of these. They're due to arrive tomorrow and I was just looking up videos of people feeding hornworms, they seem AWFULLY big. SO, my question is, did I just waste my money? Or will my leos be able to handle these? They are both fully grown adults.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Ouch, I hope you have more than one reptile to feed. They are awesome and reptiles love them but they grow amazingly fast. Depending on how warm the temp is they can grow too big for a gecko in just a few days, unless you ordered the baby hornworms, which is what I do to make them last a bit longer. Keep them in the coolest area in your home. When they get too large you can hold it with forceps and let your leo rip it in half but it will get VERY messy. It's best to order the baby size if you haven't already.

 

[porkling]

Site said small or medium sized worms, whatever was available.

 

[porkling]

Actually no, There's a baby sized worm cup and then there's the small sized worm cup, i ordered 3 cups of smalls. Guess i ordered too many but I'll keep them cold and see how long i can keep them. I have an empty wine cooler so I'll put them in that at around 50 degrees, should increase their "shelf life" by a bit.

 

[reps4life]

You should have success with bringing her appetite back with hornworms, it has always worked for me and others. They normally go crazy for them so it actually not a waste of money. Let me know how she reacts when she sees it.

 

[porkling]

I hope they do, She used to go nuts for supers, and I didn't even feed them often. Now she won't touch them, I've got one who loves mealies, won't touch supers or crickets, (and it took her a long time to try mealies) And the one who is not eating now used to only go for mealies and supers. They never agree on a feeder, always making things so hard for me.

 

[reps4life]

I have not yet to see a reptile refuse to eat them so, if it fails I would start looking into any health issues that might be occuring ex: dehydration is very common.

 

[reps4life]

I hope they do, She used to go nuts for supers, and I didn't even feed them often. Now she won't touch them, I've got one who loves mealies, won't touch supers or crickets, (and it took her a long time to try mealies) And the one who is not eating now used to only go for mealies and supers. They never agree on a feeder, always making things so hard for me.

Now you are worrying me after that statement. Have they been pooping on a normal basis? does it look normal? I have had bad experiences with mealworms and superworms that is why I ask.

 

[porkling]

Now you are worrying me after that statement. Have they been pooping on a normal basis? does it look normal? I have had bad experiences with mealworms and superworms that is why I ask.

I had a week or so period where she hadn't gone, nothing the good old olive oil and warm bath belly rub couldn't fix though.

 

[reps4life]

I had a week or so period where she hadn't gone, nothing the good old olive oil and warm bath belly rub couldn't fix though.

oh, ok. They have caused digestion problems in my reptiles. I had a monitor which had chitin impaction with superworms. He all of a sudden stop eating them and stopped pooping. Soaks did not help. Took him to the vet and indeed he was impacted and even his colon had become inflammed. Had to be flushed and given antibiotics. The mealworms would constipate my geckos and they would poop them undigested and start refusing them as well. I no longer use neither. I am super anal about temps so that was not the cause.

Anyway let me know how that goes.

 

[porkling]

So my hypo is refusing them but my normal loves them, 3 cups was really too much though. A select few worms are close to the 4 inch mark already and are under no circumstance feedable.

 

[Desdemona]

You can put the in the fridge for two or three days without them dieing but then you have to take them out for a day or two so they can warm up. I always have mixed results with hornworms when it comes to how big they are. I let a few of my larger ones turn into moths once hoping to breed them but it was just a big mess (its amazing how messy they are when they hatch out of the cocoon) and half of the moths had messed up wings even though they were in a butterfly net. So, that was my one and only attempt, ha.

 

[porkling]

I'm not enjoying them, They create a massive amount of waste and i have to empty out the cups extremely often.

 

[reps4life]

So my hypo is refusing them but my normal loves them, 3 cups was really too much though. A select few worms are close to the 4 inch mark already and are under no circumstance feedable.

I knew that would happen. That is why I buy the baby size. I am shocked that one of your geckos won't eat them. First time I have heard that. Is she or he eating other items well?

 

[Desdemona]

Yea, it is amazing how much poop those things can make! I have a bearded dragon so on occasion I buy them because they fill her belly up quite nicely. Obviously she eats larger worms than my geckos. I feed them to her ASAP though, I like them gone within a few days. I only order one cup.

Mulberry farms does have some nice mealies if you are into those, they send them without substrate so no having to pick mealies out of sawdust like at the petstore. I also like dubais for geckos and you can breed your own pretty easily. Though depending on how many geckos you have the roaches might outbreed you if you start out with too many.

 

[porkling]

Yea, it is amazing how much poop those things can make! I have a bearded dragon so on occasion I buy them because they fill her belly up quite nicely. Obviously she eats larger worms than my geckos. I feed them to her ASAP though, I like them gone within a few days. I only order one cup.

Mulberry farms does have some nice mealies if you are into those, they send them without substrate so no having to pick mealies out of sawdust like at the petstore. I also like dubais for geckos and you can breed your own pretty easily. Though depending on how many geckos you have the roaches might outbreed you if you start out with too many.

I live in florida so roaches are illegal, I've got my own mealworm colony going currently, I just ordered the hornworms to try to get my one gecko who hasn't eaten in quite some time to eat something, hornworms didn't work, but tonight she actually took a really big super, so she may be coming around.

 

[porkling]

I knew that would happen. That is why I buy the baby size. I am shocked that one of your geckos won't eat them. First time I have heard that. Is she or he eating other items well?

Yeah they gave me two medium cups and one baby cup, I'm not sure what to do with them as it says it's illegal to release them, not that I'm worried about that, but they're also pests and I don't want them around my house. I also don't want them all dieing in a cup, that probably wouldn't be a pretty sight considering how gushy they are. She actually took a big super tonight, so perhaps she's coming around. My normal loves the hornworms though, she'll eat two big ones in one sitting.

 

[thinlizzy]

I've introduced large grasshoppers, praying mantisies, even huge outdoor crickets.

It will eat them every time Though none of the above are what one would feed any gecko on a regular basis.

I've found this to be true;

Introduce new live food regularly to your gecko. This not only insures proper nutrient uptake but also allows freedom from boredom.

I mean, we all love pizza, yes? But would we all like to eat it every night for years?

 

[reps4life]

Yeah they gave me two medium cups and one baby cup, I'm not sure what to do with them as it says it's illegal to release them, not that I'm worried about that, but they're also pests and I don't want them around my house. I also don't want them all dieing in a cup, that probably wouldn't be a pretty sight considering how gushy they are. She actually took a big super tonight, so perhaps she's coming around. My normal loves the hornworms though, she'll eat two big ones in one sitting.

Well what I do when they grow too big to feed is leave them in the cup, wrapped the cup in a bag until they die. Not a pretty sight of course, but I could not find another alternative.
Her poor appetite is concerning. Does her feces look normal? Does she look well hydrated?

 

[Wowoklol]

Do you have any cats? Haha...