# Tobacco hornworms



## lancaster1313 (Jul 13, 2010)

I found what I think are tobacco hornworms on some sunflower plants that my daughter planted. I heard that they can get big,  but wow! I used a tailors measuring tape, to measure them and they are over 4 inches, with thier heads tucked in! The wierd thing is that they are on the sunflower plants when 3 feet away there is a tomato plant. I have seen this kind before, but they must have been younger. These things are monsters. My daughter won't leave them alone, I have to lock the deadbolt or she will sneak out and bring them in. They feel so smooth and soft, but it is funny when they try to hit with thier heads. I can't help but to flinch every time. :lol: They are worth the defoliated sunflower plants.


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## hibiscusmile (Jul 13, 2010)

Oh dear me, don't let her touch them, worse than ticks! I can't stand em... haha, soft, what a loon!




Lock that baby up until she grows out of it


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## Ntsees (Jul 13, 2010)

Sorry, but I can't stand tobacco hornworms. I like the moths though. Everytime I see or hear about the word "tobacco hornworm", there's only one thing that pops in my mind - the parasites on the backs of those things...yuck.


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## lancaster1313 (Jul 13, 2010)

No parasites on mine.  What can they do to a human? They have got on my nerves, when I was trying to grow tomatoes. I heard that they can be hand picked off tomato plants. I touched the horn and it didn't do anything. All I got was whacked with the head a couple of times. :lol: They are kind of frightening, with thier horn, and thier size. I always wash up after touching critters, even dogs and cats.


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## Colorcham427 (Jul 13, 2010)

likebugs said:


> No parasites on mine.  What can they do to a human? They have got on my nerves, when I was trying to grow tomatoes. I heard that they can be hand picked off tomato plants. I touched the horn and it didn't do anything. All I got was whacked with the head a couple of times. :lol: They are kind of frightening, with thier horn, and thier size. I always wash up after touching critters, even dogs and cats.


can you catch them ALL and ship them to me? pleeease i pay you shipping !!!  

hornworms are beautiful cats and hawkmoths are extrordinary flying moths


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## lancaster1313 (Jul 13, 2010)

Brian Aschenbach said:


> can you catch them ALL and ship them to me? pleeease i pay you shipping !!! hornworms are beautiful cats and hawkmoths are extrordinary flying moths


I wouldn't know the first thing about shipping live creatures, There are only 2 of the 4 and a half or maybe 5 inchers. My daughter is attached to them. We were thinking of raising them ourselves, once they start looking like they will pupate. Here in S. florida we get a few generations per year though. I am sure there will be more, I find eggs and small ones all the time. Can I pm you? Perhaps we can work something out.


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## Ntsees (Jul 13, 2010)

likebugs said:


> I wouldn't know the first thing about shipping live creatures, There are only 2 of the 4 and a half or maybe 5 inchers. My daughter is attached to them. We were thinking of raising them ourselves, once they start looking like they will pupate. Here in S. florida we get a few generations per year though. I am sure there will be more, I find eggs and small ones all the time. Can I pm you? Perhaps we can work something out.


They just don't look appealing to me that's all.

If you plan to raise them, I recommend you keep them in a container. At 4 or 5 inches, they are very close to pupating. The thing is that before they pupate, in my experience at least, they bury themselves in the ground and that might make it difficult to find them. They are not like Monarchs that pupate on the stem of plants.


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## Rick (Jul 14, 2010)

I like what they turn into, but I hate finding them on my plants. THey can do alot of damage. When I find them my turtles enjoy eating them.


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## LauraMG (Jul 14, 2010)

I just looked up a picture of a tobacco hornworm, and they look terrifying!


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## hibiscusmile (Jul 14, 2010)

Well they are just awful ugly beautiful worms, I hate em and yea, seeing the white maggots lined up on them is just awful!


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## LauraMG (Jul 14, 2010)

hibiscusmile said:


> Well they are just awful ugly beautiful worms, I hate em and yea, seeing the white maggots lined up on them is just awful!


Maggots?!?! I'm out now. I'm having trouble with my blatta lateralis I just got. I don't do maggots!


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## lancaster1313 (Jul 14, 2010)

I read on a few sites that when they are ready to pupate, you can see thier hearts beating in thier backs. I looked at them yesterday evening and saw no pulsating at all. This morning I went out to check, and they are gone! :angry: I even gently checked the soil around the plant that they were on. Next time I find some of those monsters, I will be bringing them in. They were so beautiful. On thier white stripes, there was a lavender color. I am so bummed.  I think that the birds took them.


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## lancaster1313 (Jul 14, 2010)

At least we have memories. :wub: Please don't freak out, Hibiscusmile! :lol:


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## Peter Clausen (Jul 15, 2010)

Likebugs, I appreciate your consistent appreciation for these caterpillars. Nothing in physical nature is ugly (but that's another topic, I suppose). Your daughter and her planet of amazing lifeforms are both lucky to have a mother like you! Native bugs on native plants. It's right and good. Tell your daughter to plant more sunflowers!


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## hibiscusmile (Jul 15, 2010)

That's it, encourage them Peter





They are beautiful in their own way, theres a song like that, isn't there! Everything is beautiful in it's own way, like the stary sunshine, on a cloudy day... sign it Phil!...... al together now..."Everything Is Beautiful"

(As recorded by Ray Stevens)

R. STEVENS

("Jesus loves the little children

All the little children of the world

Red and yellow, black and white

They are precious in his sight

Jesus loves the little children of the world")

Everything is beautiful in its own way

Like a starry summer night

Or a snow covered winter's day

And everybody's beautiful in their own way

And under God's heaven

The world's gonna find a way.

There is none so blind as he who will not see

We must not close our minds

We must let our thoughts be free

For every hour that passes by

You know the world gets a little bit older

It's time to realize that beauty lies

In the eyes of the beholder.

And everything is beautiful in its own way

Like a starry summer night

Or a snow covered winter's day

Ah, sing it children

Everybody's beautiful, oh in their own way

Under God's heaven the world's gonna find a way.

We shouldn't care about the length of his hair

Or the color of the skin

Don't worry about what shows from without

But the love that lives within

And we gonna get it all together now

Everything gonna work out fine

Just take a little time to look on the good side my friend

And straighten it out in your mind

And everything is beautiful in its own way

Like a starry summer night

Or a snow covered winter's day, ah sing it children

Everybody's beautiful, oh in their own way

Under God's heaven

The world's gonna find a way.

One more time

Everything is beautiful in its own way

Oh, in its own way

Like a starry summer night, or a snow covered winter's day.

© Copyright 1970 by Ahab Music Co.

- HIT PARADER 1971 YEARBOOK.


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## hibiscusmile (Jul 15, 2010)

here is what it looks like, horrible, but pretty, yea pretty for Peter





http://organicgardensite.com/bugs-harmful/tomato-horn-worms/


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## lancaster1313 (Jul 15, 2010)

"Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder", I have heard said a few times. I use it alot lately. :lol:


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## lancaster1313 (Jul 15, 2010)

Peter Clausen said:


> Likebugs, I appreciate your consistent appreciation for these caterpillars. Nothing in physical nature is ugly (but that's another topic, I suppose). Your daughter and her planet of amazing lifeforms are both lucky to have a mother like you! Native bugs on native plants. It's right and good. Tell your daughter to plant more sunflowers!


Thanks for the encouraging post :blush: , I keep many kinds of local inverts and plants for myself and my daughter, we can't go anywhere without scoping the place out for critters. :lol:


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## Zephyr (Jul 16, 2010)

One of my favorite insects for sure!  

I just started breeding these (feeders and pets, tehe!) The moths are cool to handle and when you first see their proboscis fully extended it's a true "OMG WTH IS THAT?!" moment.

The 'pillars are fun to poke when they're pre-pupal too; they look like big boogers thrashing around. lol


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## hibiscusmile (Jul 16, 2010)

Big Buggers! Dear God!


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## sbugir (Jul 16, 2010)

I must say that your daughter has cajones! What a fun but oh so scary time.


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## lancaster1313 (Jul 16, 2010)

Is is funny when other people see her with her creepy critters. She will be all girly and loves to dress in pink, and then... She will come running up to someone with an especially large or scary creature. I must say that it is surprising to most people. :lol: I am trying to teach her the dangers of showing these things to people who might be frightened. She totally flipped out when a boy next door screamed and stepped on a millipede that was passing by. She tried to beat him up, and then cried on and off all day, every time she thought about it.


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## LauraMG (Jul 16, 2010)

likebugs said:


> Is is funny when other people see her with her creepy critters. She will be all girly and loves to dress in pink, and then... She will come running up to someone with an especially large or scary creature. I must say that it is surprising to most people. :lol: I am trying to teach her the dangers of showing these things to people who might be frightened. She totally flipped out when a boy next door screamed and stepped on a millipede that was passing by. She tried to beat him up, and then cried on and off all day, every time she thought about it.


Sounds like my niece. My sis has (I think) 31 tarantulas and has a few emperor scorpions and whatever else they pick up along the way. My niece tried to beat up some kids at school for stepping on spiders and squishing cacoons. She's almost 9. I think it's great that she has such a great appreciation and protective feeling for natures creatures.


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## lancaster1313 (Jul 16, 2010)

I was wrong about the larva. They were not _Manduca sexta_ (Tobacco hornworm, or six spotted hawkmoth), they were actually _Manduca rustica_ (Rustic sphinx). I was wondering why they weren't eating the tomato plant that was a couple of feet away. I also was wondering why there were pretty lavender highlights on the lines, and the rough thorax and rough green horn. I thought it was much prettier than the other hornworms. :lol:


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## Peter Clausen (Jul 17, 2010)

I almost hate to point out...(okay, not really) but mantises look very much like these when they are first emerging from the oothecae. Wriggling and maggot-like and with beady little black eyes! Sure, they shortly transform into something quite distinct, but it isn't nearly so miraculous as the adult rustic sphinx!

I find nothing about their appearance disgusting, whatsoever. Similar in shape, I find hotdogs unnatural and significantly more disturbing!


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## lancaster1313 (Jul 17, 2010)

Peter Clausen said:


> I almost hate to point out...(okay, not really) but mantises look very much like these when they are first emerging from the oothecae. Wriggling and maggot-like and with beady little black eyes! Sure, they shortly transform into something quite distinct, but it isn't nearly so miraculous as the adult rustic sphinx!I find nothing about their appearance disgusting, whatsoever. Similar in shape, I find hotdogs unnatural and significantly more disturbing!


 :lol: I also like every thing about them. I think that all anthropods are amazing. Anything that goes through any kind of metamorphosis, or even just ecdysis, is interesting to me. I couldn't wait to grow up when I was young, I only had puberty to worry about. If I had to molt, that would be a different story :lol: , add complete metamorphosis to that  and I would have refused to grow up! Life in all forms is interesting to me, but anthropods are my favorites.  I only eat kosher hotdogs  , I try not to think about how they are processed. :lol:


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## Precarious (Aug 20, 2010)

WHAT A GREAT PHOTO! I love to see kids unafraid of insects.


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 22, 2010)

Precarious said:


> WHAT A GREAT PHOTO! I love to see kids unafraid of insects.


Thanks, my husband thinks it is disgusting because that caterpillar is on her face. I worry more about her touching the dog :lol: , he has been seen running through  ,and rolling himself on a glass lizard carcass!  I still love my dog, but compared to my bugs, he can be pretty gross.


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