# Hornworms as feeders



## Chalc (Apr 3, 2017)

Hello! So I know feeding tomato fed hornworms can be toxic to reptiles because it inhibits calcium absorption in bones,  but is this harmful for insects?
Might be a silly thing to worry about seeing as mantids don't have bones, but I'm just curious. I'm looking for a new feeder and I think anything is better than crickets right now lol

If anyone on here breeds hornworms I would love to know if feeding them potatoes, red peppers, dandelion leaves etc has worked out for you. I cannot find hornworm chow locally so if I can get away with feeding them something else that'd be great.


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## Gemma (Aug 21, 2019)

Hi I fed my adult chinese half of a small tomato hornworm last week and they had no problems, it was bigger than the size of their head but they were able to eat it all. You could cut a big tomato horn worm into 3 or 4 and give it to the adult chinese mantises. I know eactly what you mean about crickets, they jump and hide everywhere. I tried to breed my tomato horn worms but had no success getting them to the moth stage. I just buy mine from pet smart.


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## Krissim Klaw (Aug 22, 2019)

The petstore I shop at for my dog has hornworms and I often pick up one or two for my mantises. That being said, I wouldn't consider them a good choice for a main feeder. They are really juicy (so much of their bulk is liquid). Makes them rather messy to feed as the mantises tend to get rid of some of the excess liquid. I also find it messy to culture them. I let one grow to moth status and just feeding/cleaning after that one seemed like a lot because these things are literally tubes where food goes in one end and comes out the other. They also grow really, really fast, so unless you have large adult mantises that means you will be ripping worms apart to feed. Just a something to consider.


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