Hornworms are small insects found in a backyard that has tomato cultivation, although, at times, they are also used as food for larger reptiles and insects.These worms have a horn-shaped tail which helps people distinguish them from ordinary caterpillars. You can find hornworms feeding on tomato plants the most; it is infamous for destroying garden vegetation by chewing all the leaves.There are two kinds of hornworms that exist, tomato hornworms (Manduca quinquemaculata) and tobacco hornworms (Manduca sexta). Both these kinds of hornworms feed on plants such as tomato, potato, eggplant, pepper or tobacco. As the name suggests, the tomato hornworms prefer the tomato plant as their host plant to feed and lay eggs on. These hornworms blend in with the green-colored leaves effortlessly, hence, are difficult to distinguish. It has often been reported that tomato hornworms are spotted only when the majority of the damage is done. During the adult stage of their life, these hornworms are capable of not only damaging the leaves but also the fruits. Even though tomato hornworms prefer the tomato plant, they have at times been spotted on potato and pepper plants too. The tobacco hornworm, on the other hand, is known for feeding on tobacco plantations; it often causes financial damage to plantations that grow tobacco for commercial use. These tobacco hornworms damage the leaves of the plants and lay eggs too. People at times feed hornworms to their reptiles as hornworms are a good source of calcium and contain healthy amounts of water. Thus, your pet reptile does not need to drink water separately. Additionally, hornworms’ low fat content is a big positive along with the high calcium content.If you enjoy this article, why not also read about how long do worms live and how many hearts does a worm have here on Kidadl?What do hornworms eat in the wild?Coming on to the diet composition of these hornworms, it differs for those living in the wild and the ones that people buy to feed to their pet reptile-like lizard or chameleon. Additionally, the appearance of hornworms of both types, the ones found naturally in gardens and those available in the market for sale, are quite different. The ones that are seen in the wild are green in color but the ones which are available for sale have a blue shade on their body.The tomato hornworm, as well as, the tobacco hornworm are regarded as pests as they feed on plants. During the life cycle of hornworms, the moth lays eggs on tomato or potato or tobacco plants. The moth is careful in choosing the location to lay eggs, the safety of the eggs is a prime factor that is considered by moths before laying eggs. The larvae take around one week to hatch, once the caterpillars hatch, they start eating the leaves of the plants that surround them. Although these hornworms are usually restricted to eating leaves, in certain cases, they have consumed unripe tomatoes or other vegetables too. Once these hornworms eat them, it is toxic for human consumption and is considered a waste.How To Feed Your HornwormsHornworms that are found in soil or emerge from the rear end of leaves are quite different from those which are used as feeding worms. There is a stark difference in the diet of both these hornworms. Even though they are very much the same, if your pet reptile consumes hornworms that eat tomato leaves or other plants, it can be toxic for its health. There are homemade recipes, as well as, market available products which you can feed to your hornworms so that the nutritional value of their body is healthy for the consumption of your reptile.Hornworm chow is the most common food for hornworms as it contains all the necessary nutrients. It is necessary to feed these market products to commercial hornworms rather than just greens as it is more nutritious and at the same time helps them acquire the blue body color which is known to excite a reptile when it isn’t in a mood of eating. The hornworm chow is fed to hornworms as a paste but you can add small amounts of mulberry leaves or green tomatoes to it. Keep in mind to specifically use green tomatoes only and not the red ones. If someday you run out of hornworm chow, you can feed collard greens, mustard greens, and turnip greens to your hornworm. These are not harmful but if fed on a regular basis might change the hornworm’s color from blue to green. Although this is not a sign of worry, the green ones might not excite your reptile as much as the blue ones.How To Cook Hornworm FoodThe food that you give to your hornworm must be cooked. The hornworm chow available from the market comes in the form of a powder. It needs to be cooked in a specific manner so that it is edible for hornworms. Other than the market available hornworm chow, there is also a homemade food recipe that you can follow and cook for your hornworms.If you are cooking the commercially available hornworm food popularly known as hornworm chow, all you need to do is boil some water, for every 0.5 lb (0.22 kg) of hornworm chow, boil four cups of water. After a while, add the powder to the water and keep stirring it with a whisk till it is mixed thoroughly and there are no visible lumps. The mixing process should take around three to five minutes. Once it is mixed properly, turn off the burner and let the mix cool but keep stirring to avoid the formation of any lumps. Now, the last step is to pour this mix into a container and let it solidify at room temperature which will take around one or two hours. This hornworm chow contains all the nutrients a hornworm food must have and can be considered similar to mulberry leaves for caterpillars. This hornworm chow majorly consists of wheat germ which is an important constituent of a hornworm’s diet.Can hornworms eat fruit?Whether hornworms eat fruit or not depends upon whether it is a hornworm found on the leaf of a plant or the ones available in the market for sale. Although usually, the diet of either hornworm does not include fruits but under special circumstances, the hornworms which emerge from plant leaves or soil do eat fruits.It has been noticed that hornworms have at times not only destroyed the leaves of a tomato or tobacco or potato plantation but also attacked the unripe fruits. This is usually the activity of adult hornworms that can even consume the unripe fruits of a plant. On the other hand, in the case of hornworms that are commercially available and are grown right from the larval stage with the sole purpose of being fed to a reptile or a large insect, it is not necessary for them to eat fruits. The best food to give to these hornworms is the hornworm chow available in the market or the wheat germ paste which you can make at home. This diet maintains high nutritional levels in their body which is good for your pet insect or reptiles when they consume the hornworm.Do hornworms need water?The body functioning of hornworms is quite different from that of some other insect or animal. Unlike most of the organisms which you may have read about, hornworm is one that does not need any extra water.The necessary amount of water needed by hornworms to survive and function properly is consumed when they eat their food, i.e. either the hornworm chow or the mulberry or tomato leaves they might eat when in the open. You must be thinking about low water levels in their body as they do not drink any extra water but surprisingly, more than 80% of their body content is water.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for what do hornworms eat, then why not take a look at why do worms come out when it rains or tobacco hornworm moth facts?
Hornworms are small insects found in a backyard that has tomato cultivation, although, at times, they are also used as food for larger reptiles and insects.
