Where to buy hornworms, butterworms, or maybe silkworms....

[BoogiesMom]

I am going to have to try it.  Is it cheaper than buying the cups directly already made?

[LadySilkworm]

I feed my beardie roaches as her staple, but want to suppliment her w/ some worms and my geckos and hedgehog like worms as well, but through mulberry farms which I have gotten really nice worms and roaches its spendy. Wondering if there is a cheaper place.  I am paying $20 for 100 butterworms, which only my hedgehog will eat.  I pay $10 for 15-20 silkworms or hornworms which all will eat, so they don't last long at all.  Any suggestions??  I also need to order roaches, hopefully just 1 more time then my breeder babies should finally be big enough and hopefully my breeders will continue to multiply!!  BTW, how often do you need to rotate in new breeders??  Right now I usually feed them to my critters before they get to adult size so its the same breeders in there, producing more young. 

I am sorry Jessie, I just read this. I have silkworms.. have them always,, just sometimes you catch me when I am all out. I wouldnt say dont buy from MF or CS, its just sometimes its not the cleanest and yes they do have a monopoly, all I can say is they are smart.

I have them now on my website. www.ladysilkworm.com LOADS of silkworms, and much more decent than the price you pay for. I sell 100+ for $20 shipped and 200+ for $30 shipped. They are ready to go this monday at almost one inch.

I have two rearings, one on chow, and one on leaves.. its your choosing. They are both equally healthy and comparable in size.

In fact, for members of this forum, I will throw in 25% overcount with the orders.  I have chow being flewn in from overseas and they are supposed to be the new and improved formula better than MF. It will carry my own label and my wet chow is proprietarily packaged so that you never need to touch with your hands nor use a crater, and avoid contamination totally. 

Please PM me .. thank yOU!

[LadySilkworm]

i am also breeding my first cycle of horn worms.. !
and no, they dont' really eat mulberry leaves.. although they have eaten some chow.

There are postings online for the horn worm chow formula.. very easy to make, supposedly.. I will get there when I get there.. LOL.

My silks are in the thousands range and have more being hatched.. they will be hatching as long as people are buying LOL...

[LadySilkworm]

I am going to have to try it.  Is it cheaper than buying the cups directly already made?

hi, in regards of separating the horn worm from its food during shipping, as in selling them just as worms, and feeding them leaves when you get them, the way we do with silkworms, is that they will cannibalize each other if they are overcrowded and have no food. So breeders have to do them in a cup with chow.

However, if you do this at home, you can rear them like you do with silkworms. PUt strips or cubes of chow and let them at it. Just make sure you have CONSTANT food.

[LadySilkworm]

I hear you can raise horns on mulberry. Raising them all year round I think would be possible as long as you can keep their environment warm enough (kinda like the silkworms)

yes if you live in a warmer climate, hornworm do not diapause. If you in a live in a cool place, the worms need 14 -16 hr day light in order to fool them into thinking it is still summer and there are plent of food left for the next gen. Otherwise, their pupae will remain underground for 8 to 9 months.

They do eat some mulberry leaves, but not a whole lot. They can eat tomatoes and cucumbers, as in fruit, although I have never sustained their entire cycle using just those. I give them  a varied diet of what I produce in my garden 

So, depending on where you are, as in CA or TX, you can grow these plants all year round. IN that case you can order the eggs from Great Lakes and hatch them and throw them garden refuse  and raise them like you do with silkworms.