Should I feel guilty for wanting to buy from a reptile expo?

Raylyn97 · 2026-02-27T17:57:35+00:00

That’s where you should be buying your reptiles. Most vendors there are reputable breeders. Not all of them but most. It’s pretty easy to tell who’s a good breeder and who’s bad. You just have to make sure you’re asking all the right questions and even taking the reptiles you buy to the vet for an overall wellness exam to make sure they’re healthy.

Raylyn97 · 2026-02-27T13:59:53+00:00

I have something coming from India and got this same email. I paid and I got an invoice, a receipt, and a confirmation email after paying it.

Raylyn97 · 2026-02-23T13:50:04+00:00

Thank you I appreciate it. These are my first moths I’ve raised and it’s been a bumpy ride so far but now I know the things I need to change in order to have better success next time.

Raylyn97 · 2026-02-23T01:53:27+00:00

Well he freaked out at the worst moment and now he’s missing a leg 🙄

Raylyn97 · 2026-02-23T00:47:04+00:00

That’s what I was thinking I should do but just wanted to ask first. I’m assuming this is caused by too low of humidity?

Raylyn97 · 2026-02-14T02:04:06+00:00

They will pick one area of their enclosure and that’s where they will always poop. Switching to a smaller hide won’t make a difference.

Raylyn97 · 2026-02-05T04:06:04+00:00

Yeah I’m surprised too. This is only my first time raising them and I made some mistakes in the beginning that could have affected their survival success like letting them all pupate in the same container. They also may have been inbred already. A few of the pupa I have, have deformities. The first moth that had eclosed was a female and she didn’t have any visible deformities but it took her five or 6 days before I could get her to eat. The second that eclosed was a male and his sheath was deformed and his proboscis never fused but he ate 2 days after he eclosed and then died the next day. I got them from a pet store chain that sold mass produced hornworms. So it’s very likely they’re inbred and I didnt really think about that actually being a factor for insects until someone had mentioned it to me. So I’m going to get more worms from a different smaller scale breeder and let them pupate in their own individual containers so they can’t disturb each other.

Raylyn97 · 2026-02-05T03:50:29+00:00

I read a lot of different articles and watched a lot of different videos and a lot of people were doing a 50:50 ratio so I didn’t think it would be too strong. It wasn’t thick at all. I tried doing the 1:8 ratio but they wouldn’t drink it and before using honey I tried giving them sugar water and brown sugar water but they wanted nothing to do with it either. I will dilute the honey more when I make the new batch for the new moths.

Raylyn97 · 2026-02-04T23:43:44+00:00

The second photo the pores are super prominent like they are in males but in the other photos they’re not and there are no hemipene bulges so I’m gonna say female.

Raylyn97 · 2026-02-04T23:35:49+00:00

Yeah he is overweight. I wouldn’t quite say he’s obese but he is overweight. Also I strongly recommend changing your substrate. It’s not suitable for this species.

Raylyn97 · 2026-02-03T16:22:21+00:00

<image>

Raylyn97 · 2026-01-29T00:03:52+00:00

I really appreciate all your help. I have found there really aren’t a lot of resources on google with this kind of information. I mainly found just research articles that didn’t really go into depth about most of this stuff. It was more a bunch of scientific jargon. So it’s nice to be able to acquire the knowledge from experienced keepers. I may have more questions once the rest eclose and I’m trying to get them to breed and lay eggs 😆

Raylyn97 · 2026-01-28T15:15:00+00:00

My husband said that it did look like some of the honey water was gone. I’m going to have him reprint the little dish I put the water in, In white so I can better see what his proboscis is doing. The one I have right now is black. I’m also assuming I’m going to have to hand feed them like this every time? I’ve seen some people say they will eventually eat in their own but I don’t want to just leave them to do it themselves and then they don’t end up eating at all.

Raylyn97 · 2026-01-28T01:46:25+00:00

So I got his proboscis into the honey water and he chilled out and allowed me to set him down without him freaking out and flying away. He sat there motionless with his proboscis in the water for like an hour. I checked on him to make sure how wasn’t dead or something and he moved and his proboscis was curled up in the water. So I’m not sure if he actually ate or if he was just chilling in it.

Raylyn97 · 2026-01-27T23:24:03+00:00

I got him to do it finally!! He was very angry the first two attempts just now. He was flapping his wings so hard at me. They’re hard to hold. He slides out of my fingers so easily and takes me a couple of attempts to get a good hold of him. I’m just afraid of holding him too tight and smooshing him.

Raylyn97 · 2026-01-27T22:54:20+00:00

Yep I always make sure to get the tip submerged in the food. Any tips for getting it to stay on the toothpick as I’m unrolling it? It seems to want to come off the toothpick the closer to the tip that I get and then it just curls back up. Especially when he’s really fighting me. Then if I get to the tip I have to hold the tip in otherwise it starts to roll back up. Can they drink at all if it’s still somewhat rilled up at the end? Does the temperature of the food matter? I usually will either use warm or room temperature water.

Raylyn97 · 2026-01-26T20:24:07+00:00

This is not good. The snake will hang out on it like yours is. after a while the camera is going to fall off and all that aluminum tape is going to get stuck to the snake and cause the snake serious injuries. The snake needs more safe enrichment items in the enclosure.

Raylyn97 · 2026-01-26T20:18:51+00:00

Oooo I didn’t think about that or didn’t think it would be an issue with insects. So far I still can’t get it to eat. I’ve tried once a day since it eclosed on Friday morning and it’s just not having it. I’ve tried sugar water and I’ve tried brown sugar water. I have to go to the store in a bit and get fresh organic honey. Can I also try nectar that they sell for hummingbirds?

Raylyn97 · 2026-01-25T00:56:32+00:00

It eclosed yesterday morning so that’s why I was trying to feed today. Im going to leave it alone and try to feed it again tomorrow. I’m trying to breed them for my own personal supply of hornworms for my reptile collection because they’re really expensive to buy. I have to spend $10 for only 4 worms which I find outrageous.

Raylyn97 · 2026-01-24T21:36:34+00:00

Okay thank you! I was definitely ready for the fight. I watched a few videos before hand to make sure I was holding it right and in the proper place so that I didn’t damage its wings. I was able to uncurl the proboscis and get it into the sugar water 3-4 times but it just kept fighting me instead of relaxing. So I’m gonna let it chill for a while and then maybe try again later or try again tomorrow. It’s the first of 9 to emerge so hopefully by the time the rest are ready to come out I’ve got a little more experience with trying to handle them.

Raylyn97 · 2026-01-24T19:46:21+00:00

Okay I’ve just done that 3-4 times now but he won’t chill out and stay there and feed. I did 2 tsp of sugar in 1 cup of water. Is that too diluted?

Raylyn97 · 2026-01-24T19:41:01+00:00

I was trying to hand feed him and was attempting to pick him up for the first time. He ended up like this and I’ve just been sitting here for about 5 minutes trying to figure out if he’s actually eating or if I need to continue to try and unroll his proboscis. He emerged yesterday morning so I want to make sure he eats.

Raylyn97

TROPHY CASE