I hated the chow thing so this will be the only time ill mention them doing this thread. The women I got my silkworms from had a very high mortality rate. I figured it was due to cleaniness and the fact she didnt consisitently feed them. I could tell from the dried up leaves that looked days old. For those that have leaves nearby, why not raise silkworms when in season. I havent seen a dead silkworm since the one I swashed by mistake. I dotn wash my hands or take any extra precautions when caring for them. The only essential is space, food, and clean up from my experience. And nowhere nearly as much as you would think. Yes they do poop alot but if your your using the netting technique or keep new leaves in thier container they will be ok. Ill post some of my set up pics to give a better idea. But leaves have made a huge difference in ease of care and how resilient they are. one of my containers I havent cleaned it since they was kegos. I just continue to layer the leaves and they eat the old leaves down to the stem. Any other faithful leaf users out there, I took on this project thinking they would be a pain in the a$$, but they are pretty easy next to roaches.