Posting my silkworm experience

[Beman]

I have 1000 at week one right now. So far it’s going better then my last 200 I killed. Wasn’t careful about bacteria this time gloves and sanitize everything.

OMG THAT IS A TON OF WORMS!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JoXie411]

OMG THAT IS A TON OF WORMS!!!!!!!!!!

Yea I’m trying to start a colony. I hate the post office. I would like to also learn how to spin the silk one day. I’ve always wanted my own yarn boutique

 

[JoXie411]

So I’m trying my hand at raising silkworms. Figured I’d share my experience and photos along the way...

I ordered 250 eggs from @Spyro88 as well as 20 or so live silkies. The live silkies came with plenty of food to last a week, however, once the worms grew a bit I decided to break them into groups/new containers. I’m glad I did, as the food showed signs of mold developing after a week from shipdate. I figured splitting them into two containers would cut down on the risk of me killing them all!
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The eggs were glued to a small card and looked like small, matte grey pebbles. It sure doesn’t look like 250 until you start counting (I quit at 25)!! The anticipated hatch date was 3/23, however, the eggs didn’t hatch until 3/27 (with much anticipation). I believe this was due in part to a delivery delay thanks to USPS, coupled with cooler ambient room temps.

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Around the 23rd I decided that my house was probably a bit too cool (around 70-75 degrees). So i took a small keeper bin and slapped an extra small heat pad I had to it, and placed the eggs inside within another vented container. The thermastat usually shows between 77-80. Tonight, I finally had caterpillars!

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In the picture you can see the empty eggs, which are white, and the eggs about to hatch are a blueish grey.

These guys hatched sometime during the 12 hrs I was at work. I am not sure how people “grate” their chow, as mine is soft, not hard. So I santized two clean knives with alcohol, dried them, and then used them to chop very small chunks of chow. Even then, I was worried about dropping the chunks and crushing the cats. I very carefully placed the chow around my babies and within a minute they started to swarm the chow.

(I make sure that I sanitize anything that touches the container or food, including my hands, tongs, knives, etc. Nothing goes near the container without being sterilized.)

My live silkworms grew quite a bit over the week! I placed the two groups into cheap leftover containers that I washed and wiped out with alcohol (and thoroughly dried). I santized scissors and poked holes in the top. Then I took gutter guard and cut a piece to fit, dropped it into some boiling water to santize before placing in the container. Then I placed a few small chunks of food around the container, making sure the cats weren’t crowding around one. Every night I spend about 5 minutes santizing my hands and utensils, then lift the gutter guard to shake out the poop, and replace the food. I’d rather do this nightly then to add too much food that spoils or gets poopy. They create a LOT of poop per day! Especially when they get bigger!

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Since I only had 10 or less worms per group, I didn’t need a big container, however, I will definitely need to size up for the next batch!

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Once I started to notice the pulsating vein down the cats backs, and they grew to around 2-3”, I moved them to the “spin bin.” Its hard to judge when they’re large enough... they grow so much! I moved some skinny 2.5” cats over, but they’ve continued to grow and fatten up over the last few days! They are easily the width of my pinky, and slightly longer.

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I panicked and fed off a few small caterpillars that I thought might be weak or ill... in hindisght I suspect they were just molting and shedding their skin. I didn’t want to take a chance, with the silkworm paranoia of waking up to a dead colony! Maybe next time I’ll move them to a different bin for observation.

I will circle back with the babies growth and when my cats start to spin. So far this has been much easier than I expected. I just make sure they are kept at room temp (slightly warmer for the eggs), and spend 5 mins a day giving fresh food and emptying poop. Again, I’ve made sure that I keep a paper towel with rubbing alcohol nearby to wipe down anything that comes into contact with the caterpillars, their food, or the inside of their enclosure.

Are you using premade chow or are you making your own?

 

[snitz427]

Are you using premade chow or are you making your own?

I'm using Coastal Silkworm's chow. I bought it in bulk, but individually wrapped, so it stays fresh as long as possible. I have another 1,000 eggs on the way as I'm going to try black and zebra silkworms, as well. I'd like a stable, sizable amount of my own eggs so I can refrigerate and hatch them as needed, instead of 500 at a time.

 

[JoXie411]

I'm using Coastal Silkworm's chow. I bought it in bulk, but individually wrapped, so it stays fresh as long as possible. I have another 1,000 eggs on the way as I'm going to try black and zebra silkworms, as well. I'd like a stable, sizable amount of my own eggs so I can refrigerate and hatch them as needed, instead of 500 at a time.

I was looking at the zebras as well. I think I’ll need to buy in bulk soon. Just that shipping is a killer. I read some where that the zebra should be more hardy but who knows if it’s true. My eggs are from coastal and they hatched super fast once I got them. I think only 100 died because they didn’t go to the food for some reason

 

[snitz427]

I've heard the same. I have no idea why I dropped a small fortune on different silkworm colors since they're all the same. They are like M&M's... everyone has their favorite color but they all taste the same. I probably should have stuck with normals but
I am hooked on bugs all of a sudden. I'm justifying it my mind by thinking that by spending the money now, I'll save a lot more later by raising my own. That logic hasn't worked yet as I somehow keep buying bugs.

 

[JoXie411]

Sounds like the same stuff I tell myself as I push the order button. I’m also trying to turn hornworms into moths. Larry really enjoyed the one I gave him last week

 

[Rst_Cham]

Sounds like the same stuff I tell myself as I push the order button. I’m also trying to turn hornworms into moths. Larry really enjoyed the one I gave him last week

I have five hornworms pupae but they haven't emerged yet, how long did yours take?

 

[Rst_Cham]

Yea I’m trying to start a colony. I hate the post office. I would like to also learn how to spin the silk one day. I’ve always wanted my own yarn boutique

Me too. I've spun silk on a drop spindle, that's fun. I also have a 275 year old spinning wheel but it's better for wool then silk. I started with silk "hankies" though I wish I could use my own cocoons (but to do that I think you have to boil them to kill the moth before it emerges and ruins the silk. That's how the silk industry does it at least.) Anyhow, I have silk work eggs incubating right now, I hope they hatch!

 

[JoXie411]

I have five hornworms pupae but they haven't emerged yet, how long did yours take?

I think it took about 8 weeks to emerge.

 

[JoXie411]

Me too. I've spun silk on a drop spindle, that's fun. I also have a 275 year old spinning wheel but it's better for wool then silk. I started with silk "hankies" though I wish I could use my own cocoons (but to do that I think you have to boil them to kill the moth before it emerges and ruins the silk. That's how the silk industry does it at least.) Anyhow, I have silk work eggs incubating right now, I hope they hatch!

Yes I’ve seen they boil them as well witch is sad. Maybe the silks that don’t even hatch you can try. I had a few that died during pupation and never emerged. Wow an almost 300 year old wheel must be beautiful.

 

[Rst_Cham]

Yes I’ve seen they boil them as well witch is sad. Maybe the silks that don’t even hatch you can try. I had a few that died during pupation and never emerged. Wow an almost 300 year old wheel must be beautiful.

I inherited it from my grandma who passed away last year, it was her very favorite thing in life. I love it so much. ️ Its sits in my living room across from my sofa where I knit, so I can see it every day.

 

[snitz427]

Sounds like the same stuff I tell myself as I push the order button. I’m also trying to turn hornworms into moths. Larry really enjoyed the one I gave him last week

Ooo I think I’m going to let a few hornworms pupate this month. What was your experience with their spray? I’m not quite sure how I want to approach them mainly due to the funky spray!

 

[Rst_Cham]

Ooo I think I’m going to let a few hornworms pupate this month. What was your experience with their spray? I’m not quite sure how I want to approach them mainly due to the funky spray!

Good question, I was wondering that as well. I have mine in a container of damp soil inside a mesh laundry pop-up with zipped lid. Worried about the spray too, so I've wrapped the whole thing loosely in plastic tarp.

 

[JoXie411]

Ooo I think I’m going to let a few hornworms pupate this month. What was your experience with their spray? I’m not quite sure how I want to approach them mainly due to the funky spray!

The the first one only spray when it came out and the second one only sprayed when I squeezed the body. I would recommend getting a glove to grab them so the spray doesn’t go everywhere

 

[snitz427]

Its been about 28 days since the eggs hatched. I’ve kept them at room temp which is usually 70-75 degrees.

The caterpillars are betweem 1” to 1.5” long. I plan to start feeding them off this week as they’ll probably start to grow rapidly from here. My guess is we are about two weeks from these guys cocooning.



The netting works great, except for stragglers. Every time I change it I have about 20-25 stragglers that I have to manually move. I could probably wait a littttttttttttttttle bit longer for the old food to be finished and then they’d surely move... but instead I’ve either moved old food over, too, or moved stragglers one by one. 200ish small caterpillars sure seem to cramped in this 10x14 box. I’ll add more gutter guard to spead them out more.

The cocooning caterpillars have had mixed success. Half spun good cocoons, half have very thin cocoons from trying different locations. The half cocooned are those who tried to spin in the corners or lid.

One moth tried to hatch last night but did not emerge. We cut it out today and I was excited to see a female! Then later I realized she had laid her eggs in and on the cocoon. She was the first to cocoon, a few days before the others, so hopefully the others hatch around the same time.




I fed the moth off and I felt terrible doing so. They are awfully cute and very helpless. She just fluttered helplessly in the corner while my cham swallowed her whole.

I have some (and by some I mean way too many) Zebra and Black Silkworm eggs waiting to hatch. Hopefully within the next week or so but room temps have been a bit cooler lately.

 

[snitz427]

Here’s a video of the silk moths final moments... R.I.P. Bertha.

Chameleon eating silk moth

 

[Rst_Cham]

Here’s a video of the silk moths final moments... R.I.P. Bertha.

Chameleon eating silk moth

Your video really cracked me up. It's good you fed her off, gave her life purpose! Your cham though, that was funny.

 

[snitz427]

Your video really cracked me up. It's good you feed her off, have her life purpose! Your cham though, that was funny.

Gotta sneak up on them slowly... those silk moths are hard to catch!

 

[Beman]

Here’s a video of the silk moths final moments... R.I.P. Bertha.

Chameleon eating silk moth

OMG I died laughing watching this. I love how Your cham was like on top of the moth like it was trying to go somewhere with its legs all up in the air.