Dead silks

[stalincat]

Today I found 3/4 of my baby silkies dead. They turned into liquid goo. I don't know what could cause it. Big ones in a different tub were fine.
I gave them food 2 days ago, as usual.. they were fine, growing little by little. Today was going to change the food, and most of them are dead!
any ideas?

 

[crocky]

I had the hardest time with silks for some reason, their food molded in a days time. Not sure why but every time I would put clean chow in there it molded. Odd as our humidity here in the house is fairly low. Never have an issue with the lighter color chow for hornworms like I did with the green chow for silks. I keep hornworms all the time without that happening. I won't be ordering anymore unless I can figure out how to keep the food fresher. Even the chow I put in the fridge molded.....

My worms did the same thing, some turned to go and others grew great but I was not going to feed any off once the food molded.

 

[carol5208]

they may have gotten a virus. There is a virus called grasserie and it can wipe out the whole bunch easily. I have had it happen also. http://www.wormspit.com/grasserie.htm

 

[KatCham]

I have had the same issue with the 170+ I had!!

 

[stalincat]

I had the hardest time with silks for some reason, their food molded in a days time. Not sure why but every time I would put clean chow in there it molded. Odd as our humidity here in the house is fairly low. Never have an issue with the lighter color chow for hornworms like I did with the green chow for silks. I keep hornworms all the time without that happening. I won't be ordering anymore unless I can figure out how to keep the food fresher. Even the chow I put in the fridge molded.....

My worms did the same thing, some turned to go and others grew great but I was not going to feed any off once the food molded.

It never happened to me before! I was always quite successful in raising them. Don't know what was it.. but it definitely upset me today. My chow stays fresh in the fridge though

they may have gotten a virus. There is a virus called grasserie and it can wipe out the whole bunch easily. I have had it happen also. http://www.wormspit.com/grasserie.htm

ugh that's gross.. but it didn't look like that. They were squidgy and watery, not milky

I have had the same issue with the 170+ I had!!

I just lost about 100.. maybe a bit more. A few survived, but I don't know how long for huh

 

[carol5208]

I don't raise silks from eggs, but I do buy them very small and raise them from there. I have found not putting a lid on the container helps. I use a shallow Tupperware container and they do not crawl out. I noticed when I put a lid on that condensation would form. I have had some bunches of them turn all squishy and ooze and I just assumed it was grasserie.

 

[pigglett79]

I had never had a mass die off before either, but my last batch that I ordered all died. I don't know if it is because they were stuck in the mail for so long or if I somehow contaminated them. Either way it sucks.

 

[Kate]

I pour boiling water in the boxes and over mesh every second day. Hand hygiene is crucial . The temp in my house is plummeting at night just now so I have mine in an incubator just now. I have tried wearing latex gloves when handling them but it is difficult when they are tiny.

 

[SMCNARY]

I have been keeping them for months with no problem but the last batch I got (200) all died within 2-3 days I was doing everything just like I had done with the other batches and had no problem with them. I got this batch from another (different) source. ?????

 

[Psychobunny]

Are you using the powder food that you mix yourself?

If it's too wet, it will mold over night when feeding and the mold will wipe out the whole lot of them!!
I have had this happen before.
Need to boil the food on the stove and use a little more food dust then the instructions say, and boil the hell out of it.

You should end up with a solid material that has little water left and isnt like jello.

I know, it looks like the small worms desolve into black goo!!

 

[crocky]

No I had the pre made that was in the cups. I ended up taking them out of the cups along with the food because it molded in less than a couple of days. I cleaned all I could off and ended up putting the food in the fridge to use little by little. It molded there too . I keep the hornworm chow in the same fridge and never have I had an issue with it. In or out of the fridge. Not sure what happened but I did not feel safe feeding the silks to my Cham after that worrying if they ate some of the mold.

 

[deadhd5]

Welcome to my life. I sucessfully breed roaches and crickets, and my chams are healthy and happy, but I can't keep silkworms alive no matter what I do.

Last time I got eggs I setup a clean room and scrubbed in like a freaking surgeon everytime I did maitenance or fed them. They still all died before reaching a feedable size.

It sucks because they are my favorite feeder, and two of my chams favorite as well. I am at a loss on what to do next. I guess I will just stick with ordering medium size and above.

 

[Kate]

Welcome to my life. I sucessfully breed roaches and crickets, and my chams are healthy and happy, but I can't keep silkworms alive no matter what I do.

Last time I got eggs I setup a clean room and scrubbed in like a freaking surgeon everytime I did maitenance or fed them. They still all died before reaching a feedable size.

It sucks because they are my favorite feeder, and two of my chams favorite as well. I am at a loss on what to do next. I guess I will just stick with ordering medium size and above.

Could you be trying too hard? I ended up with loads of the little buggers by accident and only a few died off. I've had boxes traveling around the uk getting them down to a manageable level.LOL

 

[deadhd5]

Could you be trying too hard? I ended up with loads of the little buggers by accident and only a few died off. I've had boxes traveling around the uk getting them down to a manageable level.LOL

Haha, that is probably true of that instance, but I have tried the Laissez-faire method a couple times too, to similar discaouraging results.

The only time I had success was when I fed them on mulberry leaves. I would place just enough for a days feeding on top of them, and the would eat their way to the top, leaving the leaves "skeletons" and waste below. I just have no luck with the chow (which may be the source of my problems).

 

[nightanole]

I will share my secret:

Starsan. Its an edible no rinse sanitizer(not a sterilizer) for beer brewing. You just mix up a batch and lightly spray down the tub, wait a few min (or until dry) then in goes the worms. Keep a bowl of it next to the worms to dunk your hands in before handling the little guys.

 

[Kate]

Haha, that is probably true of that instance, but I have tried the Laissez-faire method a couple times too, to similar discaouraging resluts.

The only time I had success was when I fed them on mulberry leaves. I would place just enough for a days feeding on top of them, and the would eat their way to the top, leaving the leaves "skeletons" and waste below. I just have no luck with the chow (which may be the source of my problems).

Sounds like its the wetness of the chow. I can't get fresh mulberry leaves here so use the chow all the time. It's a good lesson to learn, not to make it too wet!

 

[stalincat]

mayhaps I made the chow too wet
the big worms seem fine though.. Weird weird..

 

[Decadancin]

I will share my secret:

Starsan. Its an edible no rinse sanitizer(not a sterilizer) for beer brewing. You just mix up a batch and lightly spray down the tub, wait a few min (or until dry) then in goes the worms. Keep a bowl of it next to the worms to dunk your hands in before handling the little guys.

Does this lose its concentration when exposed to air? I know the quat used in food production has to be changed out every hour or so unless in a sealed container.

 

[SMCNARY]

i will share my secret:

Starsan. Its an edible no rinse sanitizer(not a sterilizer) for beer brewing. You just mix up a batch and lightly spray down the tub, wait a few min (or until dry) then in goes the worms. Keep a bowl of it next to the worms to dunk your hands in before handling the little guys.

where do you get it?

 

[Kate]

I will share my secret:

Starsan. Its an edible no rinse sanitizer(not a sterilizer) for beer brewing. You just mix up a batch and lightly spray down the tub, wait a few min (or until dry) then in goes the worms. Keep a bowl of it next to the worms to dunk your hands in before handling the little guys.

Do you think the sanitising gels you can buy would work? I have thought of using this but some are alcohol based and have a fragrance. I wonder if that would affect the worms? Anyone use these?