Which Hornworms? - Manduca sexta

Yours are the blue variety

Most wild ones are bright green. You can by a special blue variety though.

… Stephen Tapsak, 14 August, 2012 - 12:39pm

Not a special variety.

All Manduca sexta are naturally blue. Their hemolymph contains a protein called insecticyanin which is naturally blue. Caterpillars that are fed an artificial diet stay blue because they do not ingest leaves. It is the chlorophyll in plants that gives them their green color.

… Natalie Hernandez, 14 August, 2012 - 12:43pm

Beautiful Blue Caterpillars

They are a gorgeous color!

… Lynette Elliott, 29 April, 2009 - 4:50pm

Tobacco Hornworm

Manduca sexta is the most commonly sold species for food and "pets" since they're super easy to rear. I knew someone that was using them for her masters work and told me what that food was but now I forget. It was pretty much caterpillar steroids. (Not really :-P) M. sexta or Tobacco Hornworm has seven stripes on it while the tomato hornworm or M. quinquemaculata has 8 v-shaped lines.

… Natalie Hernandez, 29 April, 2009 - 3:32pm

Thank-you! Do you have an tip

Thank-you! Do you have an tips on getting them to the moth stage? They certainly are easy to take care of thus far. ^__^ Even the tiny ones are growing like weeds. Like do they drop into the ground and do I have to do anything special with them after they pupate?

… Jo Ann Poe-McGavin, 29 April, 2009 - 11:39pm

They drop

Once they get pretty big they drop to the ground and pupate in the soil. I'd put them in a container with some dirt and twigs so they can drop down and pupate, then emerge and sit on the twigs to dry out. There are quite a few websites about rearing them if you google it. Or look here: http://manduca.entomology.wisc.edu/ I went to Madison so thats usually the site I refer to :-P

… Natalie Hernandez, 30 April, 2009 - 11:51am

Thanks for the info (sorry I

Thanks for the info (sorry I was sick all last week)

One of the caterpillars is 9+cm long now! Woah!! I put them in a tank with soil and my hubby planted little tomato plants in the tank--well-the tomatoes are mostly gone-they were running out of the supplied food - so we had to make arrangements for other food.
The biggest one has been digging around in the soil.

… Jo Ann Poe-McGavin, 6 May, 2009 - 11:16pm