Question about silkworms

[happiness]

The dish has a label on top telling me to change the worms out into a new bin after 24 hours of feeding but I'm not sure what to put them in. Is it possible to leave them in the dish until they get big enough to stay on the gutter guard? Or can they hang on the gutter guard being so tiny?
What's the best way of moving them? There are about 500 now and a lot are on pieces of chow I laid out less than 24 hours ago.

 

[MelissaB]

I don't know how small yours are. Mine hatched and I've been keeping them in an open top container. They don't try to go anywhere. I put some chow in a zip lock baggie (squish it around a little before you cut the bag), and cut a tiny piece of the corner of the baggie off. It makes it like a pastry bag. I squeeze out small ribbons of chow over the old dry pieces, it makes a kind of frame work. I just add fresh chow every morning, and the worms move up. I don't want to touch them too much, so I don't move them. The poop just falls to the bottom. When they get bigger, I'll move them to a bigger container with gutter guard and cut off slices of food, and I'll clean their bin at that time.

 

[happiness]

So would it be okay if I left them all in the dish they're in right now? I put the food in a lot of spots all around the place. They're about 24 hours old so they're tiny!

Thanks for the great idea Melissa. I put the food in a zip lock and easily put the food all around without having to touch it.

 

[MelissaB]

You're welcome, I read about someone doing it here. What kind of container do you have them in, and are the chunks of food big? If the chunks are big, I'd be worried they'd stay wet in the middle and mold. Make some noodles with the chow, and see if you can get them to move over to the new food, that way you can take the chunks out. Are they still tiny little black caterpillars?

 

[happiness]

You're welcome, I read about someone doing it here. What kind of container do you have them in, and are the chunks of food big? If the chunks are big, I'd be worried they'd stay wet in the middle and mold. Make some noodles with the chow, and see if you can get them to move over to the new food, that way you can take the chunks out. Are they still tiny little black caterpillars?

There are a few bigger chunks. Now you got me worried.
The problem I'm having is.. there isn't anywhere to put the food without putting it on top of a few worms. They're still tiny and black and furry. There are a few that have lost their fur already but most are furry. I have them in the petri dish that they were sent in. I'm scared to move them to any container because of the whole immune system thing! It might be easier if I could see bacteria They're really crowded right now.. if I remove all the opened eggs in the center, they'd have more room. their all mostly avoiding that area.

 

[MelissaB]

I usually use a tupperware container or a shoebox sized plastic storage box, with paper towel on the bottom. Mine are small and white. I go right over them with the ribbons of food, and they climb on top.
You could try putting food in one spot and dump them into another container when they all move over there. I never tried a petri dish, my eggs were laid by the silkworm moths I had.
They actually hatched on accident, lol. I was waiting for them to turn grey to refrigerate them, and they hatched instead. If your eggs are glued down to the petri dish, they should stay put, I think.
You could also scoot them out using a soft small paint brush. I've been doing whatever I can without handling them, and so far I've been lucky.

 

[Kate]

pigglett79 has a blog on here which might be helpful. I breed my own and it is well worth the work. The key thing is to keep everything clean as they have no immunity to viruses.

 

[pigglett79]

You might want to try a cheese grater to make small shavings. Or use a knife to cut thin slivers of food. When they are tiny you want to try to only feed the amount they will eat each day or else you will start to end up with a mess of dried food or even moldy food. Check out the blog in my signature for some info on how I raise them.