Got some Silkworms!!!

[Rst_Cham]

Lol yep - I have a dedicated mini fridge for my animals largely due to push back from my housemates. They found a stash of red wigglers, meal worms, and a pinkie mouse I was defrosting, once. That was the end of animal food in the communal fridge, though to be fair I still think they shouldn't have been snooping through my dedicated shelf!

My husband went to get milk out of the fridge the other day and found a container of blue bottle flies instead (I had them in there to slow them down so I could get them in the cage), lol, he wasn't very happy with me!

I found a dubia roach up my sleeve recently. Didn't even phase me.

 

[CC's Baby]

Wow ok well that is really cool. Not sure if my family would be ok with me adding bugs to the freezer but I might be able to talk them into it

I was really interested until I read "add them to fridge part"

 

[Beman]

I was really interested until I read "add them to fridge part"

Lol! I would be afraid I would kill them I was reading though some stuff on how you incubate them in Petri dishes. They are freaking tiny when they hatch.

 

[Rst_Cham]

I was just about to give up on the silkworm eggs I bought and have been incubating but then they finally started to hatch this morning. Man, they are TINY. I also have 17 silkworm cocoons that should be moths soon! They're so neat!

 

[Beman]

I was just about to give up on the silkworm eggs I bought and have been incubating but then they finally started to hatch this morning. Man, they are TINY. I also have 17 silkworm cocoons that should be moths soon! They're so neat!

Sooooo I am going to venture into this as well. I have 18 that are getting close to spinning... I think lol. How are you growing the newly hatched ones? When you say tiny are we talking BSFL tiny or reallyyyyyy tiny lol?

 

[SirWilliamj]

Who has a good, functional silkworm growing system that i can copy? I have used screens, removable bottom storage bins, etc.. yet still once they blow up in size their pile of feces stink up the room and i have to keep them in the garage. I was hoping it wall fall through the screen material where i could simply dump it, but it all ends up sticking together in a big clump and turning very nasty after a few weeks. I don't over feed them.

 

[Rst_Cham]

Sooooo I am going to venture into this as well. I have 18 that are getting close to spinning... I think lol. How are you growing the newly hatched ones? When you say tiny are we talking BSFL tiny or reallyyyyyy tiny lol?

I made an "incubator" with a plastic container, heat mat, and a thermostat set to 82 (the probe is attached to the petri dish). I raised the petri dish off the mat by an inch or so by using a small tupperware lid between the mat and petri dish. I also have damp paper towels in the bin off to the side, to maintain some humidity.They've been incubating for around 2 weeks I think. They are so tiny (MUCH smaller than small BSFL) I almost didn't notice them this morning, I can barely see them. I added in a bit of silkworm chow near the hatched ones and they immediately crawled over to it. I'm going to run home on my lunch break to check on them!

From what I've read, I keep them in the petri dish for a week or two until they are big enough to transfer. I have a great bin with gutter guard and removeable bottom that works well for bigger worms but I'll need a different bin for the smaller worms. I still have to figure that out. So in the end, I think I'll have the incubator/hatching bin, the small worm bin, the big worm bin and spinnery, and the cocoon bin for moth breeding/egg laying. (I need to buy a shelf unit for my laundry room I think! I'm running out of room!)

I haven't had any luck yet getting my massive hornworms to pupate. They just keep eating and getting bigger. I have a bin of damp eco earth in their habitat with them, and they are heated by ceramic heater, but they are entirely uninterested in it. I'm getting tired of feeding them if they are just going to keep growing indefinitely!

I'm having luck pupating the blue bottle flies and having them turn into flies, but not much luck with the BSFL yet, I've only had two turn to flies so far. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I have them in coconut coir and I gutload them with tons of stuff and they eat well. But then they seem to die eventually...

 

[Beman]

I made an "incubator" with a plastic container, heat mat, and a thermostat set to 82 (the probe is attached to the petri dish). I raised the petri dish off the mat by an inch or so by using a small tupperware lid between the mat and petri dish. I also have damp paper towels in the bin off to the side, to maintain some humidity.They've been incubating for around 2 weeks I think. They are so tiny (MUCH smaller than small BSFL) I almost didn't notice them this morning, I can barely see them. I added in a bit of silkworm chow near the hatched ones and they immediately crawled over to it. I'm going to run home on my lunch break to check on them!

From what I've read, I keep them in the petri dish for a week or two until they are big enough to transfer. I have a great bin with gutter guard and removeable bottom that works well for bigger worms but I'll need a different bin for the smaller worms. I still have to figure that out. So in the end, I think I'll have the incubator/hatching bin, the small worm bin, the big worm bin and spinnery, and the cocoon bin for moth breeding/egg laying. (I need to buy a shelf unit for my laundry room I think! I'm running out of room!)

I haven't had any luck yet getting my massive hornworms to pupate. They just keep eating and getting bigger. I have a bin of damp eco earth in their habitat with them, and they are heated by ceramic heater, but they are entirely uninterested in it. I'm getting tired of feeding them if they are just going to keep growing indefinitely!

I'm having luck pupating the blue bottle flies and having them turn into flies, but not much luck with the BSFL yet, I've only had two turn to flies so far. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I have them in coconut coir and I gutload them with tons of stuff and they eat well. But then they seem to die eventually...

Yeah I have to buy a mini fridge. My mother is kicking me out of our fridge. I got large BSFL today and she was standing in the kitchen with me when I opened the container. About had a heart attack when there were flies in the tub that tried to come out. NOT expecting it at ALL! They started buzzing and that was it for my mom. I about died as well. But I am going to give the silk worms a go... I have one lone hornworm that was too big to feed. Needless to say I keep feeding him and he just gets bigger and bigger lol. I named him Moe.

 

[Beman]

Who has a good, functional silkworm growing system that i can copy? I have used screens, removable bottom storage bins, etc.. yet still once they blow up in size their pile of feces stink up the room and i have to keep them in the garage. I was hoping it wall fall through the screen material where i could simply dump it, but it all ends up sticking together in a big clump and turning very nasty after a few weeks. I don't over feed them.

hmmmm I dunno. I clean every day. I think it is nasty with the way the poop piles up.

 

[Rst_Cham]

LMAO! I got kicked out of the kitchen fridge but luckily we have a garage fridge and so I've moved my blue bottle fly larvae out there and no one has complained (yet). We had company this weekend and my husband made me take them down to the basement to show them my laundry bug room. They freaked out and wouldn't even step inside annnnnd now they think I'm weird. I guess I am. lol

Moe! I have a couple giants too, I guess I'll have to name them! I'm not sure why I'm trying to breed them. Max wont even eat hornworms! Maybe when he gets a bit bigger. I bought another pod of them to try again with him and they went from being too small to too big in less than 4 days. I'm seriously going to dump these new worms out in the chicken run and wish them luck.

 

[Beman]

LMAO! I got kicked out of the kitchen fridge but luckily we have a garage fridge and so I've moved my blue bottle fly larvae out there and no one has complained (yet). We had company this weekend and my husband made me take them down to the basement to show them my laundry bug room. They freaked out and wouldn't even step inside annnnnd now they think I'm weird. I guess I am. lol

Moe! I have a couple giants too, I guess I'll have to name them! I'm not sure why I'm trying to breed them. Max wont even eat hornworms! Maybe when he gets a bit bigger. I bought another pod of them to try again with him and they went from being too small to too big in less than 4 days. I'm seriously going to dump these new worms out in the chicken run and wish them luck.

Yeah I don't want to try to breed them they grow way to fast and too many of them. I would be terrified of having hundreds of hornworms lol. I like the silks because you can "thaw" what you need and just incubate those.
Here is Moe this morning lol. These are the hardest for me to feed because they remind me of the caterpillar in Alice and wonderland

 

[Rst_Cham]

Yeah I don't want to try to breed them they grow way to fast and too many of them. I would be terrified of having hundreds of hornworms lol. I like the silks because you can "thaw" what you need and just incubate those.
Here is Moe this morning lol. These are the hardest for me to feed because they remind me of the caterpillar in Alice and wonderland
View attachment 224799

Agree, maybe I should just get rid of them all and just buy a few from the petstore sometimes. That's about how big mine are. They are cute!

 

[Beman]

Agree, maybe I should just get rid of them all and just buy a few from the petstore sometimes. That's about how big mine are. They are cute!

Yeah that is what I do. But this one tripled in size overnight which I was not expecting lol. I went to get it to feed him and he was huge. At least you have chickens that will thank you for them lol

 

[Zilla23]

does anyone have an actual incubator for their silkworms? I saw on one site where they sell them, wasn't sure it was really worth the expense, I have to have things pretty small though because my set up is at my office at work and I am running out of room!! lol I would love to try the silkworms though, just to have ANOTHER creature hanging out at work with me

 

[Beman]

does anyone have an actual incubator for their silkworms? I saw on one site where they sell them, wasn't sure it was really worth the expense, I have to have things pretty small though because my set up is at my office at work and I am running out of room!! lol I would love to try the silkworms though, just to have ANOTHER creature hanging out at work with me

No, I am going to be putting the eggs into a plastic container and put it on top of Beman's enclosure for heat. If it works great but I am not up for incubating them too lol. I already need to buy a mini fridge.

 

[SirWilliamj]

Yeah I don't want to try to breed them they grow way to fast and too many of them. I would be terrified of having hundreds of hornworms lol. I like the silks because you can "thaw" what you need and just incubate those.
Here is Moe this morning lol. These are the hardest for me to feed because they remind me of the caterpillar in Alice and wonderland
View attachment 224799

Hornworms are my chameleon's favorite!

 

[Beman]

Hornworms are my chameleon's favorite!

Yeah Beman gets them 2 times a week and really loves them.

 

[Toothless the cham]

Honestly I bought silkworms chow in amazon. Waited for the eggs to hatch and put small cups into the enclosure. The eat like crazy so I keep the cups full. They keep growing and then you need to provide something for them to climb on and start building cocoons. As they make cocoons you pull them out. Once they come out of the cocoons out them in a cardboard box so they can breed and lay eggs on the sides of the box. Once they lay they die so you toss the bodies and trim out the eggs on the cardboard. Refridgerate the eggs for about 2 months. Then put the eggs near a heat source and the process starts all over.

Is this the same for hornworms? I wonder because I have some horn work hachlings and I am thinking about breeding.

 

[JoshD49]

Honestly I'm not sure how the care goes for Horns. I heard horns are hard but don't quote me on that.

 

[Beman]

I was just about to give up on the silkworm eggs I bought and have been incubating but then they finally started to hatch this morning. Man, they are TINY. I also have 17 silkworm cocoons that should be moths soon! They're so neat!

Ok so how do you actually know when they are ready to spin? Am I supposed to take the food away? I have like 12 that are huge and paler. I can see the vein pulsing in their back. I have toilet paper roles that I have cut down to 1inch tubes in with them. They just keep eating...