Dead cocoons

[Chamster]

Some of the cocoons that I have are a little see through and have been like that about 2 days and I don't see any progress whatsoever. Could they be dead?

I found a cocoon with a black worm inside that's not moving and the cocoon was almost white like an egg... I threw it out because of th black worm....

What's th reason for the dead cocoons??? I'm not sure what's going on..... Please help guys....

 

[whitespyder]

i dont know a definite answer, but that usually happens sometimes with my silkworms. maybe they stop halfway into it because they started their cocoons too late and instinctively pupated before they finish. sometimes if they dont have decent small spaces to form their cocoons it takes longer for them to make it. when they dump their gut after their 5th instar phase, put them into toilet paper tubes so itll be easier for them to form cocoons.

are you sure its a black worm? when they pupate they take a dark brownish red color so it could just be that inside that youre seeing. i have had some moths come out of see-through cocoons before so keep them around just in case.

good luck and i hope you get lots of moths!

 

[boj3434]

I dont know silkworms arent the smartest things. If you feed completly on the chow that happens alot more I dont know why they need the natural leaves more

 

[Chamster]

Ok thanks a lot .... I'm just going to wait for all the cocoons to hatch....if they don't hatch I'll throw them away...

 

[Chamster]

Do the worms turn black after they transform into moths during inside the cocoon?

 

[VerteX]

Silkworrms that are fed exclusively on silkworm chow (pulverized mulberry leaves) everyday or so; develop white opaque cocoons. I've only seen transparent cocoons id I hadn't fed them as regularly as I should.

Once they start spinning, the process may take 24 hours to fully complete spinning the cocoon. Once they are done, the caterpillars' form a dark brown hard shell around their body inside the cocoon. If they are good, you should see moths in about 2 weeks.