Regs and Zebras... All mixed in now?

[SoCaliSon]

Back when Zebra silkworms were new on the market an order of regular silkworms would get you all white silkies. Same with Zebras. But I have noticed with my last few orders of silkies, where I just ordered regulars, I would also end up with lots of zebras. I haven't ordered Zebras exclusively in several months, I wonder if it is the same way...If you would end up wit lots of regular silkies also? Kind of makes you wonder if paying the extra for Zebras is really justifiable anymore. I suppose this could be just an issue with the vendor I have been dealing with, but I just thought that maybe the gene pools just got to hard to keep separate and now they will forever be mixed in...I dunno... Anyone else notice this?

~Joe

 

[summoner12]

Back when Zebra silkworms were new on the market an order of regular silkworms would get you all white silkies. Same with Zebras. But I have noticed with my last few orders of silkies, where I just ordered regulars, I would also end up with lots of zebras. I haven't ordered Zebras exclusively in several months, I wonder if it is the same way...If you would end up wit lots of regular silkies also? Kind of makes you wonder if paying the extra for Zebras is really justifiable anymore. I suppose this could be just an issue with the vendor I have been dealing with, but I just thought that maybe the gene pools just got to hard to keep separate and now they will forever be mixed in...I dunno... Anyone else notice this?

~Joe

A batch of zebra eggs will yield black/white and white silks. The stripes tell you who is male...... errrr female...not sure who is who..... but if you put a black/white and a white silk together... let them cocoon and then hatch out... the moths should mate. rather than guessing with all white silks.

When I order from Mulberry Farms I don't specify zebra so for those of you who order from me locally we might just get the 'good treatment' from Mulberry Farms.... Where as ordering online you can choose.

It seems these days that having viable eggs is sorta hard to come by (the last couple of months) that I think they sell whatever hatches.

 

[SoCaliSon]

That could be... But the last order from them I placed on my own that came in the mail a couple weeks back was a mixed batch, that is what sparked the question. I didn't know that about male and female Zebras... that is pretty cool.

 

[ciafardo 4]

Summoner why have they had problems with silks hatching

 

[summoner12]

Summoner why have they had problems with silks hatching

Most mass production of silk worms are not cultivated locally..... So a batch of a million eggs coming from China can run into delays or climate changes too drastic for the eggs to handle and there are losses when attempting to hatch the eggs.

Tthe care of the eggs will impact the outcome.

 

[summoner12]

That could be... But the last order from them I placed on my own that came in the mail a couple weeks back was a mixed batch, that is what sparked the question. I didn't know that about male and female Zebras... that is pretty cool.

Sounds like you got males and females to me.

 

[SoCaliSon]

Sounds like you got males and females to me.

I meant to specify that I ordered regulars and received a mixed batch. Not that I really care what they send me as long as its a silkworm. It makes since about viable eggs being hard to come by, and selling whatever hatches, I wouldn't be surprised if that is the case.

 

[summoner12]

I meant to specify that I ordered regulars and received a mixed batch. Not that I really care what they send me as long as its a silkworm. It makes since about viable eggs being hard to come by, and selling whatever hatches, I wouldn't be surprised if that is the case.

oh aight haha i thought that is what you meant...

yeah.. lol I was wondering the same thing a few months back when i kept getting zebras from them.... but I was like "why bother"?

 

[dodolah]

I missed my old time caring for white silkies..
The striped one is female and the no stripe one is male..
I like that sometimes I get the one that spun yellow cocoon..
Although I am not sure what I am gonna do with those yellow cocoon

tomorrow, gonna go get my morus alba tree 4ft tall..
Wonder if I can put it in my cham's cage. The branches are sturdy.. The leaves are basically silkies chow.