Breeding silkworms?

Anyone done it? Is it hard?

Yes, we tried it. It is hard. Nay, let me change that to nearly impossible. We did get the guys to coccoon, and lay their eggs, we purchased the petri dishes, collected the eggs, stuck them in the fridge for months, took them out, incubated them, and got a few microscopic worms to hatch out. They were so tiny, I had to use a magnifying glass to find them so I could place the food near them, since only 1 or 2 or 5 hatched in each dish.

Obviously, I was doing something wrong, although I did do it by the book, following the instructions here and other places online.

I comfort myself with the knowledge that even the commercial silkworm dealers seem to be having difficulty producing stock.

In the end, it wasn't worth it. At all. I would recommend trying it for the experience. Take photos. Invite the kids over to watch the various stages. Great education value.

But then purchase bulk eggs or silkworms.

Just my humble (humiliated ) opinion.

I have tried it. And, actually, quite successful at it (perhaps, it's because I live in a warm climate).
But, it such a bother. I decided to quit and let others did it.
I am happy to just buy the silkies from them.

WOW let me tell you I did it and it was not that fun to do for me. Took way to much of my time but It is a fun project to do with maybe 50 worms.

If you decide to try it out try searching for silkworm101 you will find plenty of good and valuable information that will help you out.

I'll stick to my roach, cricket, mealworm and waxworm breeding for now then lol.

silkies can be very easy if you do it right.

For example.

I bought 1000 eggs, fed off as many as I could and was left with 200 or so large silkies that cocooned. Most of those fully transformed and went on to breed. After three months I was having a good hatch rate on the eggs.

It is a lot of work, and can be hit or miss. I did it in my cham room which seemed to be of the right temps. I dont do it anymore because of lack of time and gutloaded crickets seem to be a better meal (although the added hydration from the silkies is another pro).

Ok its very easy and simple get some silkies raise them to moths and let them lay eggs them leave them somewhere warm, dark and out of the way.
They will hatch about a year later, very long wait but you get 100% hatch rate.
You should get bags full of mulberry leaves and put them in a deep freeze (incase the eggs hatch in winter the following year), mulberry trees will still have leaves in Winter but its not the same as the leaves in spring and summer so the baby silkies will refuse to eat.
When they hatch pick them up extremely gently with the edge of a knife or tweasers then place them on a leave in a box they should eat and as they get bigger start feeding them twice a day in the morning and at night.

Little kids here in SA get this right with thousands of silkies and sell them for like 50c each.

Hope this helps anyone.

I also find raising silkworms extremely easy. Much easier than keeping crickets alone, not even breeding. They are clean, stink-free and they are cost efficient. I buy bulk bags of chow and keep them in the fridge. Use as I need. Last 10 lbs bag lasted me a year near full time silkworm hatching.

Here are some visuals that I've taken in the past.

V

First Day when hatching began


Second day


A close-up


The way I keep them until they hatch fully are below. It takes about 5 days to a week to hatch. I don't go more than 2, at most 3 days to feed them, since the first ones to hatch are extremely hungry by then. Notice that There's no food in the container until majority hatches.

Getting eggs out of them is really easy, but I've never hatched anything. Then again, if it takes a year, I may still have something to look forward to!

Vertex, you take the best photos ever.

I might try one day lol

well, my parents are getting more lenient on feeders, so im now getting some eggs and a few hundred feeders. hope all the animals like them.

Do they really take a year to hatch?

Well yes here in JHB because of the climate I guess.
But this year my eggs hatched early, I kept them under my bed.
I dont know what it would be like there in the UK to hatch them in room temps, could be shorter could be longer than a year.

I was thinking of keeping them in the airing cupboard lol

It takes a year to hatch because by the time you had eggs, the growing season for mulberry leaves has ended... next spring, when the weather warms up, they will hatch.

The silkworms are very much in tune with the seasons.. they won't hatch unless they 'know' that there will be ample food to eat.

Same with the animal kingdom.. they don't breed in general when there is a shortage of food, or when they can't afford to be gravid given their own individual circumstance.

I was once a suggie breeder. You had to give them lots of protein in order for them to breed, in order for their offsprings to survive, basically, they breed when time is good.

Im in the process now I has started from eggs from mulberry farms and have made it to some cocoons so far I have taken some pics along the way

I have done it, I feed the new babies leaves and then tiny squirts of chow during the winter season. It's rather easy once you get the routine down. You have to feed them every day though because as little tiny ones they dehydrate very fast. I keep them in my reptile room near one of my bulbs until the are ready to be moved to the shoebox rubbermaid container. It keeps them about 80 degrees on a normal day. I have never needed an incubator.

If I have a container with a heat pad to keep it warmer, could I do this in the winter. We are going broke shipping silkworms for our cham and winter shipping is hard!