gurr- my silkworms are not listening

[little leaf]

I am so excited - my first " fuzzes " are forming, little cotton ball cocoons EVERYWHERE I followed piglets blog on how to ready a cage for them, but they are spinning all over, but not one in the tube- they are on the sides, under the leaves, some are spinning others right into their cocoons - its pure madness in there now- should I start just sticking them in the tubes? or let them just do their thing?
they are really cute cocoons ( I just want to pick them off and pet them ) I can't wait to see the moth !! but ugh- will they be ok like they are?

 

[SPork]

I had the same issue, they wouldn't use the toilet paper rolls so I just let them all spin and separated them after they were done.

 

[Trillian]

Yep, I'm with Spork, wait until they're done spinning, then you can pick them off and put them somewhere sensible. Mine ignored the tubes and mostly soon in the lid of whatever container I put them in... But we know silkies go out of their way to be high maintenance!

 

[little leaf]

ok, thanks- I have never kept them long enough to get to this point- lol - but feed leaves, and they are all kinda on a big branch pile now- do I just snip away the silk, and place them in a shoe box - some have made the cocoon so wide ( like in corners, I think they ran out of silk, they make the "outter" one, and then just kinda stopped- should I leave those and see if they finish , or take them out too - do they stop, and then start, or once they stop spinning , thats it?

 

[Trillian]

They usually have a limited amount of silk reserves, so if they start out too wide they can run out. I leave them, because I'm a softie, but they don't tend to make it, usually.

 

[little leaf]

ok, I will leave the ones like that- and move the rest - how long do they take to hatch generally ? like 4 weeks I think? I feel that I have kinda neglected them- it has been a busy,bad week - and i was just tossing leaves in there, not really looking at them - Olive is still not right, but much better, and Max - he is getting mean - from the feedings now - and now these dang little things have gone crazy
thanks for your help on them , they are cute little cocoons- I hope they do ok , I will just keep a better eye, and move them as they make the cocoons

 

[Trillian]

Chucking leaves in is the best thing! Moving them once they've started can cause problems too. They're just a highly nutritious pain in the ***! The fuzzy moths are so super cute too... I never managed enough moths at once to breed them, but it's pretty simple.


Poor Olive, she's got so many people worried for her.

 

[MelissaB]

My silks have started cocooning, too. Some of them are pretty spaced apart though, so I don't know if the one that started a week before everyone else will have a mate. Most of them did go into the tp tubes, I have them standing upright, don't know if that matters or not. 2 of them are in the same tube, lol. The worst thing, is that my cham won't eat the silks anymore. I'm hoping he gets a craving for them again, they're so good for them.

 

[Psychobunny]

The worst part is when they come out of their cocoon and all that gross
yellow slimy stuff come out with them and makes a big mess!!

 

[little leaf]

The worst part is when they come out of their cocoon and all that gross
yellow slimy stuff come out with them and makes a big mess!!

what yellow stuff ? LOL first I was looking for pulsing veins, EWWW- and now yellow stuff- well, thanks for the heads up

 

[Kate]

When the moth comes out of the cocoon they excrete orange/ yellow fluid it's normal. Where they make silk from the cocoons they boil them to kill the moth so the silk is not spoiled. Shame

 

[little leaf]

HA - you goofy worm !

ummmmmm ok- this one somehow got out - this is on the OUTSIDE of the tote- but when I try to take it off, it squishes - will it get harder over night? I came home, and found it- so I do not know how old it is - from today sometime - they have such a mess going on
this is NOT looking like the nice, neat , organised well behaved worms in piglets blog
she must have trained hers better

 

[little leaf]

lol - a pic

 

[Kate]

Pigglett has well trained silks. Yes it is a messy process but not really messy. It just looks that way. Silks behaving badly.

 

[SPork]

Grab it by the extra silk around the coccoon not by the cocoon itself. It should come right off.

 

[Keeneye]

I have been concerned about one of the cocoons I have that was double the size of the others and seemed like the moth was having a hard time emerging so I carefully cut it open this morning. Inside was one male AND one female with a bunch of eggs.... they must have cocooned together and mated inside the cocoon. The female was no longer alive but the male was.... strange and very neat to see