silk worms

Thehippie

Chameleon Enthusiast
I just have a few questions about silk worms for you guys that feed them as a sort of staple

now first question, how do your chams react to silkworms, Apollo hisses at them and then realized they're food... I don't think he likes the color white

second is there any sort of maintenance required in maintaining silkworms like cleaning poo or anything else?

and last is there any way to get Apollo to not be scared of the worm?
 
My guys don’t have much of an issue with silkies, but they don’t get them often due to availability. Usually with food that doesn’t move fast like silks, horns etc, I find it helpful to put some sort of obnoxious feeder in the feeder cup with them to keep the slow movers annoyed and moving around. Eg, put one super in with a few silks, and the silks get pretty agitated. A feeder run cup with a black mesh runner could also be helpful: the silkies become more visible and like to climb.

As for silky husbandry, treat the poop like hornworm poop, and clean it out. Unfortunately, the only two viable food sources/gut loads for silkies are fresh mulberry leaves, or else silkworm chow (made from dehydrated mulberry leaves). If you don’t have access to either, don’t buy more than you can feed in a week. Oh yeah, and avoid big temp changes for the silks; I find they die easy. Hope this helps
 
You can keep them in a container just like hornworms, and just shake out the poo. Or I put gutter guard down and jusr lidt that out of my box to shake the poo out.

Mine aren’t aftaid, but they dont get the huge ones. One loves them (I can attest by the exploding silk work guts in my eye), one is just “‘meh.” Maybe try small ones for a bit until they get a taste for them and arent intimidated by the white snake :p
 
Beman loves his. This is one of my staple feeders. He freaked one time with them but the next day he was over it. I get mine from @Spyro88. I have never had an issue of die offs. And I am not as careful as others with not touching them or keeping stuff sterile with alcohol wipes.
I find that mine last 2-3 weeks. Buying the silk chow I have found is a must. I took mine out of the pod for easier cleaning. They are in a plastic tupperware container. I put a few paper towels in the bottom. Then their food across the middle. I clean mine everyday. They can smell just like horns do. I just lift the paper towel up with them and the poop set it on the lid of the container. Put new paper towels in with new food and then put them in around the food. Toss the old stuff and put the lid on. :)
 
I'm trying to transition this to be Apollo's main staple, he doesnt seem to like the color white in general though... we have a silkworm "dealer" in MD who usually has silks year round, $12 per every 20 worms
 
I'm trying to transition this to be Apollo's main staple, he doesnt seem to like the color white in general though... we have a silkworm "dealer" in MD who usually has silks year round, $12 per every 20 worms

I’m in Baltimore - where are you located? There are also zebra and black versions. Im hoping to try to hatch some of each. Just for fun - there is no nutritional difference. Maybe your guys might like the black ones instead? Or you can try feeding them carrots before feeding so they get an orange tint lol
 
I've brought up silkies from eggs twice and found it is a lot of daily/bi-daily maintenance due to the food drying out so quick. I'd love to stick with them since they are a beefy feeder that my cham loves but I need to find an easier way. Especially when the silkies are newly hatched they are tiiinny, how do you separate them from the dried silk chow? this took me forever to do since you have to look really hard and avoid killing them when you pick them off to replace the food. Are there any tricks to keeping silk chow hydrated?
 
I use less chow and there is usually very little left each night. I spend about 5 mins a night adding food and emptying poop - not too bad, but I only have 20 adults at the moment. That being said they eat a surprising amount of food!

As for moving babies, I just tried netting technique tonight and it seems to be working well! We’ll see how many are left on the old food tomorrow.
 
I'm trying to transition this to be Apollo's main staple, he doesnt seem to like the color white in general though... we have a silkworm "dealer" in MD who usually has silks year round, $12 per every 20 worms
Hi, kind of random but did you meet the guy in South Riding, VA?
 
I've brought up silkies from eggs twice and found it is a lot of daily/bi-daily maintenance due to the food drying out so quick. I'd love to stick with them since they are a beefy feeder that my cham loves but I need to find an easier way. Especially when the silkies are newly hatched they are tiiinny, how do you separate them from the dried silk chow? this took me forever to do since you have to look really hard and avoid killing them when you pick them off to replace the food. Are there any tricks to keeping silk chow hydrated?
mist??? idk
 
I use less chow and there is usually very little left each night. I spend about 5 mins a night adding food and emptying poop - not too bad, but I only have 20 adults at the moment. That being said they eat a surprising amount of food!

As for moving babies, I just tried netting technique tonight and it seems to be working well! We’ll see how many are left on the old food tomorrow.
how do you gut load your silkworms, i currently just have the chow at the bottom of the cup
 
i actually get my silks from different people though which is why theyre available all year round
 
@RyanBRZ @Thehippie

You should let the chow dry out... just add enough chow that only a little is left to dry out every day or every other day... otherwise you risk mold developing which leads to certain doom for your silkies!

You don't need to gut load the silkies. Their mulberry diet is apparently pretty nutritious on its own.
 
@RyanBRZ @Thehippie

You should let the chow dry out... just add enough chow that only a little is left to dry out every day or every other day... otherwise you risk mold developing which leads to certain doom for your silkies!
Of course if you only have a premade "pod", don't do this. If you don't have backup chow and you let what is in the pod dry up...you're out of luck. If you're raising a few dozen in "bulk", it's safest to simply clean out the container daily.
i got them somewhere near chantilly, my dad picked them up for me since he works down there!
If you need some chow separate from the pod, have your dad reach out to me and we can meet again.
 
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