Silkworm Incubator

JaniP

Established Member
Hi everyone,

I've always only ever had one cham at a time so breeding my own bugs didn't really seem worth it.

I just put down a deposit on another boy, my first panther boy!

My veiled LOVES silks (as he should) and I think with the new guy coming in December, it will be worth it to try to raise my own silks.

I'm Canadian so I absolutely wouldn't get away without incubating. But silkworm eggs are the only feeders that I plan to raise myself because the rest of the feeders that my Wheatley eats are affordable in large quantities.

Anyway, I am looking for some small affordable incubator ideas. I am fine with making something myself (providing it's not a fire hazard, lol!). I have zero experience with hatching and incubating anything, so any advice would be helpful! If there is an existing thread with all the answers that someone could point me to, that would be amazing.

Thanks in advance!!
 
When I hatch my eggs I just put them in a small cardboard box with half the top flaps open and half closed to create a shade area. I use a Petri dish for the eggs and put it in the box under the shade area. Using a clamp light and a regular bulb I just set it over the top of the box making sure none of the eggs are in direct light / heat. I put a temp gauge in the box as well and make sure I keep my temps in the low 80's by moving the light closer or further away. I have only hatched about 1000 eggs so far but I have great results.
 
I order from coastal silks. In the 5-7 days it takes to get to me, half are hatched. So used that logic, keep them at 75-85F in a dark box in a closed petri dish, for a week.
 
Your silk eggs will hatch at normal room temperatures, you don't need an incubator.

When you order the eggs, make sure you tell the supplier you want to keep them in diapause so they send them overnight with a cold pack, or you have to hatch them all at once.

Also ask them if they just recently got the eggs in, and if not, you will wait until the fresh eggs come in to order.

Coastal Silkworms and Mulberry Farms are the 2 US suppliers, I am not sure if they ship to Canada.

CHEERS!

Nick:D
 
Thanks guys! Good to know. I had read elsewhere that I'd be better off with an incubator so if I actually don't need one, then great! Now to find eggs in Canada! Costal appeared to ship to Canada...for 50 bucks :/
 
I agree with Nick Barta above. I order my eggs from Coastal Silkworms. When they arrive in their petri dish(es), I set the dishes on top of one of the UVB tube light hoods (that provides light to one of my screen enclosures) where the eggs get just a tiny bit of heat for 12 hours a day while the light is on. Without fail, the eggs hatch within a week. Then I move them into clear plastic "shoe boxes" with holes drilled through the top. I have hatched many this way. In fact, I currently have 500 tiny week-old worms residing in one shoe box. I make chow that I get from Coastal Silkworms or Josh's Frogs and once a day grate a thin layer of chow on top of the babies. They are kept at room temp. They are very easy to raise. Just don't give them too much food at one time because the food can rot or can cause the environment to be too damp and the silks will die. Good luck!
 
Thanks guys! Good to know. I had read elsewhere that I'd be better off with an incubator so if I actually don't need one, then great! Now to find eggs in Canada! Costal appeared to ship to Canada...for 50 bucks :/

They are really easy to raise. I've hatched them in really cold rooms in the winter--they took a long time to hatch, but they all hatched and grew.

I keep them in an open plastic shoe box. No lid. I put a layer of window screen on the bottom. They tend to stay at the bottom where the food is. Some crawl up and some, but they pretty much stay put.

I buy from Coastal. If you can get them shipped with a cold pack, you can put some in the fridge to hatch at different times. The Coastal eggs are glued to the petri dish, but I bet you could use a razor blade to take them off. If they haven't been kept at very cool temperatures at all times since they were laid, you can't put them in the fridge.

I try to use silk worms as a staple, so I can go through 10 medium silk worms for each chameleon. You can start feeding them out at a very small size so you don't waste any.
 
thank you for the tips, everyone!
I was able to find a silkworm person in Canada, and I'm going to order a small order of 200 eggs, just to make sure I have the patience for it :)
 
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