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Did i just kill my Avic. Purpea Sling with a horned worm?

Eevul

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So, at the local pet store I saw how quick horned worms grew, figure I'd get a pod and feed little ones to the juveniles, then let them grow to feed the rest of my brood.

One of my purpeas, the smallest one that's only had one molt, seems to not be a good hunter. Also somehow lost a leg after said molt. I hoped being worms they would basically crawl up her branch right into her waiting mouth.

So, two nights ago, put one of the smallest in...they proceeded to crawl right up the branch and she attacked it, and hung it from a leaf for a bit...the dragged it up to her web. Yesterday she spent the day chewing on it, her abdomen was nice and full.

Then last night...she let out a massive green ball of poo. I had no clue they poo'd..but the green globule hanging from the web came from somewhere. I cleaned it out with a piece of tissue and it was all liquid.

This morning I found her dead. Wasn't in a death curl, just non responsive when i rotated her enclosure. Wasn't on back like she was molting. When I tried to poke her with a paintbrush she just fell to the floor...

And now I'm kinda worried because I put two in my 3 month old cobalt blue's enclosure last night. They were gone this morning....
 

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kormath

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Depending on what your pet store has been feeding them I think horn worms can be poisonous
Sorry for your loss :(
I was just reading up on these after seeing this post. The hornworms can be found in the "wild" on tomato plants, but those worms are poisonous to inverts because of what the worm ingests from the tomato plant. I wonder if the pet store you got them from was feeding the worms tomatoes and tomato plants as they eat them naturally?

They do seem to be a good feeder though. Lots of calcium etc. and very soft body.
 

kormath

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Sorry for your loss :(
I was just reading up on these after seeing this post. The hornworms can be found in the "wild" on tomato plants, but those worms are poisonous to inverts because of what the worm ingests from the tomato plant. I wonder if the pet store you got them from was feeding the worms tomatoes and tomato plants as they eat them naturally?

They do seem to be a good feeder though. Lots of calcium etc. and very soft body.
Found a decent priced gutload feeder food also looking up the hornworms.

http://www.greatlakeshornworm.com/gutload.html

i paid for a 6 lb jar on amazon of Fluker's calcium rich gut load cricket chow for about the same price as this 5 lb. But now the amazon item is more, or was when i looked last.
 

Scoolman

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You do not want to gut load feeders for tarantulas with calcium. Tarantulas need chitin to build their exoskeleton. Calcium inhibits the absorption of chitin.
Cabbage, mushrooms, rice and oats are a good source of chitin for feeders.
 

kormath

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You do not want to gut load feeders for tarantulas with calcium. Tarantulas need chitin to build their exoskeleton. Calcium inhibits the absorption of chitin.
Cabbage, mushrooms, rice and oats are a good source of chitin for feeders.
Thanks!

Good thing I posted. I'll have to toss that food and get some better roach food. clean the colony. Have to go grind up some rice and oats till then.
 

Scoolman

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Sorry for your loss :(
I was just reading up on these after seeing this post. The hornworms can be found in the "wild" on tomato plants, but those worms are poisonous to inverts because of what the worm ingests from the tomato plant. I wonder if the pet store you got them from was feeding the worms tomatoes and tomato plants as they eat them naturally?

They do seem to be a good feeder though. Lots of calcium etc. and very soft body.
This is correct. Tomatoes are toxic, it is in the nightshade family.
 

MassExodus

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I could swear I've seen people feed horn worms to Ts before..on youtube..I could almost swear it. Maybe Kymura is right and it was the natural diet that did it, but I think you should research this..big green horn worms right? I've seen someone use them...
 

kormath

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I could swear I've seen people feed horn worms to Ts before..on youtube..I could almost swear it. Maybe Kymura is right and it was the natural diet that did it, but I think you should research this..big green horn worms right? I've seen someone use them...
I've seen them also. That site I linked sells a hornworm food. Not sure what is made of, it doesn't list it anywhere. Has to be cooked too. No colors in it so I'm doubting it has tomato product. Maybe have to email them and see if they'll say.
 

MassExodus

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You do not want to gut load feeders for tarantulas with calcium. Tarantulas need chitin to build their exoskeleton. Calcium inhibits the absorption of chitin.
Cabbage, mushrooms, rice and oats are a good source of chitin for feeders.
Mushrooms..I never knew that one..:D No wonder they love pizza...I never checked to see if the mushrooms went first..I always thought it was the bread..
 

Eevul

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Thank you for the condolences... As far as i know it was the standard light brown cooked worm chow (some sort of wheat based stuff?) , when i got them they were just hatched from eggs and had grown a few days, so no tomato based eating fwiw.

I saw the Haplo's feet sticking out of his pet hole yesterday, so he's alive and well...and he had two of them. Guess it's just a horrible lesson learned. :(

I wonder if I can get crickets to eat cabbage and mushrooms...ty for the info..
 

Entity

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Thank you for the condolences... As far as i know it was the standard light brown cooked worm chow (some sort of wheat based stuff?) , when i got them they were just hatched from eggs and had grown a few days, so no tomato based eating fwiw.

I saw the Haplo's feet sticking out of his pet hole yesterday, so he's alive and well...and he had two of them. Guess it's just a horrible lesson learned. :(

I wonder if I can get crickets to eat cabbage and mushrooms...ty for the info..
I hope u let her lay for a while. they dont always turn over to molt. If she isnt in a death curl esspecially. I dont know. i would leave her alone for a couple days to make sure. I have seen and read about even experienced people making this mistake and it turned out to be an unusual molting situation.
 

kormath

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Thank you for the condolences... As far as i know it was the standard light brown cooked worm chow (some sort of wheat based stuff?) , when i got them they were just hatched from eggs and had grown a few days, so no tomato based eating fwiw.

I saw the Haplo's feet sticking out of his pet hole yesterday, so he's alive and well...and he had two of them. Guess it's just a horrible lesson learned. :(

I wonder if I can get crickets to eat cabbage and mushrooms...ty for the info..
crickets are garbage guts and eat just about anything. they'll definitely eat cabbage and should eat mushrooms. Wonder if the mushrooms have to be raw? i was thinking about ordering an extravaganza style pizza tonight with mushrooms and all that good stuff ;) that will work if the mushrooms can be cooked.
 
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