Silkies!

[Wowbango]

Boom! After about 10 days, they finally started hatching! This alone is an achievement for me, I thought they were never going to hatch! Time to feed and get these suckers nice and juicy. How long should I leave them in the dish before trying to move them? When it comes to that time, what's the best way to move them?

 

[shrum]

I do about 24 hours from hatch of the first one....they should all be out by then. Once out I put a nice clump of food in a Tupperware and transfer them all over. You will need to feed them each day because they eat like pigs. Also you should try and get some to turn to moths and get your own eggs.

 

[LoosePin15]

Boom! After about 10 days, they finally started hatching! This alone is an achievement for me, I thought they were never going to hatch! Time to feed and get these suckers nice and juicy. How long should I leave them in the dish before trying to move them? When it comes to that time, what's the best way to move them?

Congrats! And I really appreciate the pic. I've got some eggs in a dish right now and was wondering how big they'd be when they hatched and what they would look like.

Did you glue your eggs down or leave them loose in the dish?

 

[ChameLIonLover]

I'm definitely going to start trying to hatch out silkworms once I get back in town in a couple weeks (HOPEFULLY my mom keeps Alby in good shape). What's better, hornworm or silkworms, or does it depend on what the cham likes more? Honestly, my cham hasn't been eating too much lately, maybe 3 feeders a day; I think if i added silkies or horns to the diet, he would be a lot happier. I currently feed BB flies, cricks, dubia, supers, mealies, soldier flies and larvae, and butterworms.

 

[Wowbango]

Congrats! And I really appreciate the pic. I've got some eggs in a dish right now and was wondering how big they'd be when they hatched and what they would look like.

Did you glue your eggs down or leave them loose in the dish?

They came already glued to the dish, I got them from coastalsilkworms since they were out of live ones. I was very nervous about it and thought it wouldn't go well, and poof! I didn't have any kind of heat lamp on it, I actually just put the dish on top of my Chan's cage next to his heat lamp and they got some residual heat from it which I think helped. I saw somewhere they recommended using a paint brush to move them. I went to walmart and picked up a $.49 paint brush and that did the trick!

 

[Wowbango]

I'm definitely going to start trying to hatch out silkworms once I get back in town in a couple weeks (HOPEFULLY my mom keeps Alby in good shape). What's better, hornworm or silkworms, or does it depend on what the cham likes more? Honestly, my cham hasn't been eating too much lately, maybe 3 feeders a day; I think if i added silkies or horns to the diet, he would be a lot happier. I currently feed BB flies, cricks, dubia, supers, mealies, soldier flies and larvae, and butterworms.

Well from I hear too many hornworms can be bad and should only be used as a treat. I guess it gives Chams diarrhea? Someone please fact check me. I feed mine Crickets, Dubia Roaches, Phoenix worms, super worms and soon to be silkworms. I also heard that mealworms are not the greatest for Chams due to their hard outer shell and can cause digestion problems, so take it easy on those.

 

[LoosePin15]

They came already glued to the dish, I got them from coastalsilkworms since they were out of live ones. I was very nervous about it and thought it wouldn't go well, and poof! I didn't have any kind of heat lamp on it, I actually just put the dish on top of my Chan's cage next to his heat lamp and they got some residual heat from it which I think helped. I saw somewhere they recommended using a paint brush to move them. I went to walmart and picked up a $.49 paint brush and that did the trick!

Awesome, thanks! The ones I have aren't glued, so I'm hoping they turn out OK. I've seen posts that say it doesn't really matter, but other posts say it's best if they are glued. Maybe this will be a good definitive experiment!

 

[Wowbango]

Awesome, thanks! The ones I have aren't glued, so I'm hoping they turn out OK. I've seen posts that say it doesn't really matter, but other posts say it's best if they are glued. Maybe this will be a good definitive experiment!

Definitely, keep us updated on how it goes!

 

[LoosePin15]

Definitely, keep us updated on how it goes!

I've got silkies! Couldn't get a good pic since they're so small, but some have definitely hatched. Not quite half, but I expect the remainder to hatch in the next couple days. Now all I have to do is keep them alive!

 

[Wowbango]

I've got silkies! Couldn't get a good pic since they're so small, but some have definitely hatched. Not quite half, but I expect the remainder to hatch in the next couple days. Now all I have to do is keep them alive!

Congrats! I'll have to post a new picture when I get home, they grow super fast! So far I'd say I have about a 95% Hatch rate, so that's pretty good. There's a few eggs that have not hatched...and it does not look like they're going to. Of those that hatched, I'd say about 90% are still alive. Not bad for a first timer

 

[LoosePin15]

Congrats! I'll have to post a new picture when I get home, they grow super fast! So far I'd say I have about a 95% Hatch rate, so that's pretty good. There's a few eggs that have not hatched...and it does not look like they're going to. Of those that hatched, I'd say about 90% are still alive. Not bad for a first timer

Not bad at all! I'm going to hold off on speculating if gluing is better than not until I can get a better idea of my hatch rate. But, after having to put food around unhatched, loose eggs, I can see how having the eggs glued in one place would be helpful.

 

[Wowbango]

Not bad at all! I'm going to hold off on speculating if gluing is better than not until I can get a better idea of my hatch rate. But, after having to put food around unhatched, loose eggs, I can see how having the eggs glued in one place would be helpful.

I think that may be the only advantage of having them glued to be honest. So I just have small strips along the outside and they all swarm the pieces. I've moved them to a small Tupperware container with a plastic canvas screen so that the poop falls to the bottom. I still get a lot of silkies that fall through (the smaller ones) and I have to pick them up and put them back on top. It shouldn't be an issue in a few days I'd imagine once they get even bigger.

 

[LoosePin15]

I think that may be the only advantage of having them glued to be honest. So I just have small strips along the outside and they all swarm the pieces. I've moved them to a small Tupperware container with a plastic canvas screen so that the poop falls to the bottom. I still get a lot of silkies that fall through (the smaller ones) and I have to pick them up and put them back on top. It shouldn't be an issue in a few days I'd imagine once they get even bigger.

I found a little syringe-type thing that we got from the pharmacy when we got medicine for the kids last time they were sick, so it's small strips and they definitely swarm it. But, I had to place it in just the right places to avoid laying food on top of eggs. Not sure how successful I was, so I'm hoping that doesn't hinder the eggs. We'll see...

How did you get them from the petri dish to the container?

 

[Wowbango]

I found a little syringe-type thing that we got from the pharmacy when we got medicine for the kids last time they were sick, so it's small strips and they definitely swarm it. But, I had to place it in just the right places to avoid laying food on top of eggs. Not sure how successful I was, so I'm hoping that doesn't hinder the eggs. We'll see...

How did you get them from the petri dish to the container?

I bought a small cheap paint brush ($.49 at lowes) and used that to pick them up. The bristles are soft enough where they don't get hurt.

 

[LoosePin15]

I bought a small cheap paint brush ($.49 at lowes) and used that to pick them up. The bristles are soft enough where they don't get hurt.

You mentioned that in an earlier post...sorry for not paying attention, and thanks for the info!