Disadvantages of Hornworms for Leopard Geckos Wild hornworms can contain parasites that can be harmful to geckos, so its best to buy feeder insects from your local store so that you know you’re getting healthy, uncontaminated hornworms. If you grow tomatoes, you may be tempted to take the hornworms off of your tomato plants and bring them inside for your geckos to eat.Īs tempting as that may be, it’s a bad idea to do so. Where to Get Hornworms for Your Leopard Gecko This ought to help you judge what is safe to feed your leopard gecko to avoid potential issues with them choking on something. This is one of the concerns with feeding larger feeders like hornworms to young geckos, however, so you should only feed hornworms to adult leopard geckos unless you just happen to find a particularly small hornworm.įor adult leopard geckos, hornworms are very safe to use as feeders for an occasional snack.Īs a general rule of thumb, you should avoid feeding a leopard gecko anything larger than the space between its eyes. I’ve never heard of an adult leopard gecko choking on a hornworm. They are a bit too big to be fed to juvenile leopard geckos, though the smaller hornworms should be safe for younger geckos as long as you get them small enough. You should generally only feed bigger hornworms to adult leopard geckos, however. Alternatively, you can do 2-3 medium or 3-4 small hornworms. It is recommended to feed your adult leopard gecko only one large hornworm at a time, no more than once per week as a snack. On the upside, they do contain a lot of calcium, so you don’t have to dust them with calcium like you do with other insects. Hornworms contain low protein content, so they aren’t as nutritious as other types of insect feeders. Here’s how they stack up nutritionally to other feeders: Insect Moisture Protein Fat Calcium (per 100g) Hornworms 85% 9% 3% 46.4mg Mealworms 59% 10% 13% 3.28mg Superworms 59% 20% 16% 10.8mg Waxworms 61% 16% 20% 13.14mg Butterworms 58% 16% 5% 42.9mg Crickets 74% 18% 6% 14mg Silkworms 76% 64% 10% 34mgĪs you can see, hornworms don’t stack up very well against feeders like crickets or silkworms. Long term, it can also lead to malnutrition. Feeding your leopard gecko too many hornworms can lead to digestive issues like diarrhea. They are a huge step up over bugs like wax worms, which should generally be avoided.Īs a dietary staple, however, they leave a lot to be desired.īecause hornworms can contain a lot of moisture, they should be fed sparingly. They’re large, have a decent amount of nutrition for what they are, and have some advantages over other bugs. Leopard geckos can eat hornworms, but they should only eat them in moderation.Īs a snack, they make a great choice for a feeder insect. Looks can be deceiving, however, so it’s important to make sure they’re safe before we feed something new to our leopard geckos. Please let me know if you have any questions.Hornworms are a pretty large insect that look like they should make a great feeder for leopard geckos. Now for our hand at an artistic hornworm photo shoot. If not for the plastic I would have it all over my walls. They fling dirt everywhere as they emerge and when flying around. Now for the dirty.the moths are extremely messy. The eggs will be small and green, but they are fairly sturdy and easy to collect. It will be important to pick the eggs daily or they could get out of control. The moths will breed by attaching their abdomens together and then the females will lay tons of eggs all over the plant and even on the cage walls and hummingbird feeder. I also place a small potted tomato plant in the cage for them to lay their eggs on. Attempting to mix your own solution could result in death of your moths. It is best to use commercially available humming bird food from your local grocery store, hardware store or walmart. The moths require the humming bird feeder in order to eat. I have a stick across the top to tie the humming bird feeder to and I line the walls and floor with plastic (you will see why later). You will want to be sure you have a cage or some other equivalent set up ready. About 3-4 weeks after the hornwoms pupate they will be ready to hatch in to hawk moths.
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