Tomato hornworm moths wont eat!

[cwebster]

Four hatched out from their crysalises but refuse to eat. They are in an 18 inch mesh cube with a tomato plant and humminbird feeder. Have only been able to get one to stick out his tongue and suck up nectar. I know they need to buzz around while eating but i havent been able to get a larger screen cage like a lizard cage. How can i entice them to eat and not just croak? Thank you!!

 

[Ranitomeya]

They're adapted to hovering while feeding and usually look for white, trumpet-shaped flowers. In the lab I work in, we use cups suspended on a test tube holder with white wicks for them to feed from.

If they have no room to fly, you will have a hard time getting them to feed. You can try unrolling their tongues and placing them in the sugar water, but they'll start flapping and trying to hover while feeding.

 

[cwebster]

Thank you. Am trying to get a larger cage. Have put cups and have tried handfeeding in the meantime. 

 

[Orin]

How did it go?

 

[cwebster]

Sorry for tge late reply. Am always trying to keep someone alive, with lots of species. Fed each moth individually if needed ( stuck tge moths tongue in the nectar) and set up hummingbird feeders. The moths were very very active ( and unbelievably messy) for about a week. I put a small tomato plant in the enclosure and some moths paired up and seemed to mate but the eggs have never hatched. 

 

[Teamonger]

I had the same issues the first (and only) time I tried to raise these guys. As Ranitomeya already said, white seems to be the magic color. My moths wouldn't even look at the red flowers on their humming bird feeder but would attack anything white in the room with their tongues when they got out. I ended up manually feeding mine as well. I would love to hear if you manage to sort all this out!