silk worm questions

[RealIzeRecognIze]

I just got my silkworms yesterday and the media they came in smells kind of good. I'm guessing it is mulberry? Can I just leave them in the tub with the climbing material they were givin? How do I empty the poo? Do they bite? And how do you feed them off? They seem to stick together when I put them in a feeding dish. Also are they supposed to be white? They look very strange to me and Camille put on a show when I tried to feed her one for the first time. Very nice colors and she loves them!

 

[carol5208]

yes leav in the climbing material. Turn the cup lid side down, not up. Most of the poop will fall on the lid but some of it will get caught up in the climbing material once they start spinning silk or whatever it is they make that looks stringy. They don't bite, you can feed them every day if you want and yes they are supposed to be white.

 

[RealIzeRecognIze]

Thank-you! seems pretty easy to care for. Do they mold? I noticed moisture in the media when I got it.

 

[carol5208]

when you say media, do you mean cup??? The chow can mold if it gets too old but mostly likely they will have it long eaten before that can happen!

 

[RealIzeRecognIze]

Well the packing media I guess its called? I think its mulberry but yea I keep them around 66-70 and ill probably have them fed off by the time they could mold.anyways just wondering tho.

 

[carol5208]

so you mean the little deli cup they came in or do you mean the large cup with the chow and the little trellis for them to climb? I you just go the deli cup that food is gonna run out if it hasn't already and mostof that is poop by now. Did you buy the chow seperately?

 

[AngieL]

If they are in the silkworm pod then you can leave them in. If they came in a little pot with straw?sawdust looking stuff you wilk need to move them into a sterilised tub.

They need to be kept VERY clean if you do not want them to die. Do not handle them until you are just about to feed them off. Moving them should be done very gently with sterile tongs, things can be sterilised by being soaked in boiling water. If you play around with one and put it back in the tub it will die and may pass an illness on to the rest of them. If one dies, remove it and move the rest into a new clean tub. Mould is not good as they are very susseptible to bacteria. Condensation is not good either as they don't do well with moisture. If the get condensated you need to poke more holes in the tub or take the lid off for a while.

If you want to grow them bigger they should be fed twice a day. If the are big enough then you just want to feed them once every two days. They produce a lot of waste so need to be cleaned out daily. Also be careful when you handle them and try not to handle them unless they are about to be eaten. The can go about a week without food and will die after that if not fed.

I like to feed them off one at a time by cup feeding. They will stick together and will be difficult to eat otherwise. They have very sticky butts so you cant put them on a vine because they will stick very strong and your cham tongue wont be strong enough to pull it off! Or you could hand feed.

The should be a white?greyish sort of colour if they are helthy.

 

[RealIzeRecognIze]

Thank you for the extra info! I've never kept these and didn't know about illnesses. Ill be sure to empty the poo most definitely and yes they came in a deli cup with vented lid. Mulberry I'm assuming and climbing/ hanging material? I didn't buy seperate chow I figured they could sustain life with what they came with but I will be getting some because I think I would like to breed them for one. Is it very hard? Does anyone have a breeding guide or should I just Google it when I get home?

 

[Branman]

This should hopefully help

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleoman/530-breeding-silkworms.html

 

[AngieL]

I have never bred them yet but if you want to start the cocooning then feed them LOTS! They eat tons of that chow and it goes pretty quick. Would be handy if you could feed them something else but if you do they will die mulberry chow is like a dark green mush. The poo is loads of little round things that look pretty much like the chow

 

[RealIzeRecognIze]

Thanks guys!