I suck at raising silks from eggs. Please help.

[djfishygillz]

So does anyone have any good instruction videos on raising silks? I ordered 5000 eggs, and where I went wrong was I had them under a heat light over night because I thought it would get toooo cold and kill them. But I may have cooked them. But other then that I still do not think I am the best at raising them so any info would be greatly appreciated on how to raise them from hatching.

Thank you!

 

[jannb]

Rachelle has an excellent blog on raising silkworms.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/pigglett79/silk-worm-rearing-and-breeding/

 

[pigglett79]

Did they hatch or do u just think the eggs are no longer good?

 

[Kerrek]

I get mine on ice in 25k quantities I glue them to a Petri dish with a non toxic glue stick. Cover with the Petri dish cover and keep them in a room at @ 75 degrees. They usually hatch 10-14 days. Once they hatch I use a small paint brush to move them to a shoe box with a paper towel then shred the silkworm chow over them finest shredder you can find. Clean as needed. Try to keep them under 80 degrees.

 

[pigglett79]

I hatch mine in petri dishes in an incubator at 84-85 degrees. Once they hatch I pull them out of the incubator and raise them at room temp.

 

[little leaf]

you sound just like me- LOL my first batch hatched, ran amuck on the cable box - and all died when I splattered to much food on them- but my 2nd batch is doing GREAT - this is how I did it - I put them on top of my cable box, in a OPEN zip lock bag w/ a moist paper towel - you dont want to much humidity, but some - and it keeps them just perfect for heat - they hatched in like 6 days - I got them from Coastal - 500 and I will tell you, I think ALL 500 hatched - I did not see one gray egg at the end- after they hatch, they kinda sit there- I took my powder, made a kinda "runny" batch of food, and put little dots of food all around the edge of the dish, ( I use the syringe because I am to much of a clod to get the food in tiny drops, I got it all over the first batch, and I think that is part of what killed them -) they go to it, I could not get mine to get on anything to move them at first - for the first week I feed them the s/w chow, after the 1st week I started to put in mulberry leaves still on the stick - and every day I add a new batch of branches, and they climb to the new ones- every few days I take the whole batch out, and change the bottom of the cage ( i keep a coffee filter in there, and just pull it out, and add a new one - mine are in a 1 gal fish tank w/ NO heat ) this is just MY way, but the link Jann put is what I TRIED to go by - LOL don't give up !! you can do this and its kinda fun to watch them grow

 

[djfishygillz]

Rachelle has an excellent blog on raising silkworms.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/pigglett79/silk-worm-rearing-and-breeding/

thx!

Did they hatch or do u just think the eggs are no longer good?

Only a few hundred seemed to of hatched... I normally get better numbers.

I get mine on ice in 25k quantities I glue them to a Petri dish with a non toxic glue stick. Cover with the Petri dish cover and keep them in a room at @ 75 degrees. They usually hatch 10-14 days. Once they hatch I use a small paint brush to move them to a shoe box with a paper towel then shred the silkworm chow over them finest shredder you can find. Clean as needed. Try to keep them under 80 degrees.

Okay thank you. I will try lower temps.

I hatch mine in petri dishes in an incubator at 84-85 degrees. Once they hatch I pull them out of the incubator and raise them at room temp.

I am curious to what the perfect temp is.

you sound just like me- LOL my first batch hatched, ran amuck on the cable box - and all died when I splattered to much food on them- but my 2nd batch is doing GREAT - this is how I did it - I put them on top of my cable box, in a OPEN zip lock bag w/ a moist paper towel - you dont want to much humidity, but some - and it keeps them just perfect for heat - they hatched in like 6 days - I got them from Coastal - 500 and I will tell you, I think ALL 500 hatched - I did not see one gray egg at the end- after they hatch, they kinda sit there- I took my powder, made a kinda "runny" batch of food, and put little dots of food all around the edge of the dish, ( I use the syringe because I am to much of a clod to get the food in tiny drops, I got it all over the first batch, and I think that is part of what killed them -) they go to it, I could not get mine to get on anything to move them at first - for the first week I feed them the s/w chow, after the 1st week I started to put in mulberry leaves still on the stick - and every day I add a new batch of branches, and they climb to the new ones- every few days I take the whole batch out, and change the bottom of the cage ( i keep a coffee filter in there, and just pull it out, and add a new one - mine are in a 1 gal fish tank w/ NO heat ) this is just MY way, but the link Jann put is what I TRIED to go by - LOL don't give up !! you can do this and its kinda fun to watch them grow

Thanks for the detailed response. I will buy a bunch of silks and try each method listed and go from there.

 

[pigglett79]

I am enjoying seeing everyone's methods. I think we can learn from each persons methods and improve our yields.

 

[djfishygillz]

I am enjoying seeing everyone's methods. I think we can learn from each persons methods and improve our yields.

That is the goal my friend! That is the goal! lol

Trial and error is one hell of a method.

 

[pigglett79]

That is the goal my friend! That is the goal! lol

Trial and error is one hell of a method.

No kidding! I went through many trials and errors with horn worms. I think I have that down now. Silks are still a tricky business. Maybe we can get more to add to this thread.

 

[djfishygillz]

What is the difference between glued and not glued???

 

[chefboyardee]

What is the difference between glued and not glued???

not much, arguments on both sides for which is better

pro glue: worm eggs are secured to a specific spot and cant "roll over" during the hatch and create complications
anti glue: excessive glue is an easy mistake, and glue can create problems with hatching


easiest compromise is cutting a circle of textured paper towel and putting your eggs on that... keeps em from rolling around and doesnt create any issues w/ glue

 

[djfishygillz]

I think I found the solution to our problems.

http://www.mulberryfarms.com/care-raising-tips-faq-12.html

So I want to get the free shipping from coastal silks but the weather this weekend is going to reach 100... I figure the eggs will be in the mail the entire time and would probably get pretty hot at one time or another so should I just wait till temps drop?

 

[djfishygillz]

not much, arguments on both sides for which is better

pro glue: worm eggs are secured to a specific spot and cant "roll over" during the hatch and create complications
anti glue: excessive glue is an easy mistake, and glue can create problems with hatching


easiest compromise is cutting a circle of textured paper towel and putting your eggs on that... keeps em from rolling around and doesnt create any issues w/ glue

Why does it matter if they roll?

 

[chefboyardee]

Why does it matter if they roll?

some people will argue that the hatching kegos will seriously hurt themselves if the eggs roll while hatching; rolling on themselves, crushing themselves, etc

never heard any issues with the paper towel route though

 

[AngieL]

I feel your pain! I hatched my first batch of eggs a few weeks ago. It was all going so well and then they just started to die off for no apparent reason! I had raised them to a good gecko feeding size before this happened so was really disappointed too

 

[pigglett79]

It's interesting that mulberry farms says to keep the young worms in the incubator and coastal silk worms says to take them out of the incubator once they hatch. They also have a different temperature range. Guess I need to start experimenting.

 

[little leaf]

It's interesting that mulberry farms says to keep the young worms in the incubator and coastal silk worms says to take them out of the incubator once they hatch. They also have a different temperature range. Guess I need to start experimenting.

well, as it figures, and this is just ME - my first batch was from mulb/farms- they hatched fine - but all died - I did keep them warm, like they said, but I think my feeding had something to do w/ it- but also the heat - my 2nd batch was from coastal - as soon as they hatched, I took them off the heat - and all these lived - both places had great hatch rate- but I find the NO HEAT works better ( for me ) once they hatched - but I also will follow this thread, just to see who does what and how for success but both places had great eggs

 

[redsfandrew]

I had ordered 1k from mulberry and had a great hatch rate but terrible turn out after that. I used the heat light in the closet method (pre-hatch) It maintained a 82-85 degree temp. But as soon as I started the chow it was all down hill from there. I did end up finding a few mulberry trees on my property that I had no idea were there. I think I am going to by-pass the chow and just stick with the leaves. Less mess and dont really have to worry about the mold issue.

 

[deadhd5]

In my experience, removing them from the heat after they hatch is preferable. They are just so vulnerable to bacteria and mold at that stage and it is so hard to clean up old food because the worms are too small to move by hand. Heat contributes to mold and bacteria growth.