Blue Hornworms

[Roney]

I purchased Blue hornworms at the Hamburg PA reptile expo and I was curious cam these be used as a staple food for salamanders and newts. The food the worms are eating is non toxic it looks like oatmeal and honey mix smells very sweet.

 

[Joost]

I'm curious to what species you would feed the hornworms? I know they are fed to large lizards, but they chew their prey, salamanders and newts don't. The large sting maybe could be a problem? I've found these caterpillars here in the wild and that sting can hurt, I know

 

[Roney]

Tiger Salamanders how do they sting, the horn is soft.

 

[Joost]

Just to make sure: You refer to this species?

That sting is very hard and sharp, but I don't know about captive bred caterpillars what are ment for food.

 

[Roney]

Yes but the captive ones I have have a soft horn I asked the guy would that hurt my animals he said no touch it and it was very soft and flexible. Also the ones I have are blue because their food is different from those in the wild. I got mine from Thebugdepot.com.

 

[Kaysie]

I know wild hornworms eat tomato plants, which makes them extremely toxic.

I would think they're too big for any salamander save for maybe a siren or amphiuma.

 

[Roney]

They are smaller than night crawlers and my sals eat nightcrawlers without any problem but they only get those once or 2wice a week because their so big.

 

[Jake]

At the expos I go to you can buy several sizes of hornworms. They make a nice treat for salamanders but probably not a good staple. Feed the appropriate size and you can use them to feed any salamander.

 

[Teeglor]

I am curious about this as well! I saw some at the petstore today and asked a lady if she knew if they were safe fot sals to eat as I did not know if they were toxic or not. She said no but did not eleborate on why.

My tiger salamander is 9 and a half inches or 24 cm. He eats whole night crawlers larger than these worms! So I am not worried about size.

I would be worried if it would make him sick or be able to do damage if it bit him. The lady at the petstore said they have a nasty bite.

 

[Cindygao0217]

I have feed my axolotl horn worm before they seem to enjoy it