Silkworm issue, what should I do???

[jamest0o0]

I ordered silkworms last week, they arrived this wednesday. They were small, everything looked fine though, just a bunch of them balled up usual. noticed a smell started arising Thurs, figured it was the food, but it just got stronger and stronger. I hadn't fed any off because they were too small. I was just cleaning their poop and letting them eat in peace. So today I finally figured I'd take a closer look and half of them were dead almost overnight and there were little white worm/maggots all through it! I am not even sure what to do. There's still a couple alive, I contacted the place I ordered from, still waiting on a reply. Should I even try saving the couple, or are they hopeless? It's pretty disgusting and I haven't had anything like this happen before. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it, but in another container of BSFL that I ordered with the silks, I noticed what I am pretty sure were 2 phorrid flies(little bigger than gnats, raced around on their feet, and had the humpbacks). I killed them and haven't seen anymore so far (they were in the container before I opened it), the BSFL seem fine although there are a bunch of empty skins of them(are these molts?) I also refrigerated the BSFL so maybe that stopped an outbreak, if that is what happened in the silk container?

I feel like I deserve new silks or money back from this, but wanted to see what you guys think from everything I listed.

 

[Andee]

Should take a picture of the silkworms and maggots, then get rid of the silkworm containers and I would spray them with insecticide outside, don't save the containers.

 

[jamest0o0]

Yeah was going to get a pic and email to them. Should I just dump all of the silks then? got 60 of them all to waste :/

 

[Andee]

Yes dump them. There is no way to save silkworms from phorid flies, especially since it sounds like they are a parasitic breed of phorids. Make sure none of your other feeder have it or your reptiles do. Keep on the look out. Roaches can be controlled with it, but if they are truly parasitic you would have to re-do ALL colonies even roaches of anything your breeding and be really careful with your reptiles. They can be dangerous to reptiles too.

 

[jamest0o0]

it looked like they were eating the silkworm chow, but they were all through it. Got some good pictures and then tossed them outside. looked to be about 10 silks still alive out of the 60 i bought. Definitely going to keep a look out. seems the silks were the only thing affected.

 

[Andee]

I hope for good luck on your part, phorids are nasty.

 

[jamest0o0]

thank you andee! hoping for the best. Think I deserve a refund for this? Would most places reimburse for that???

 

[kinyonga]

Do you see any tiny fruit fly sized flies ?
I would get the whole thing out of your house ASAP.

 

[jamest0o0]

I saw 2 in my BSFL container that came with the silks, killed them and haven't seen any larvae or anymore in their container. I have them in the fridge though. Took the silkworm container outside already wasn't taking a chance with that. just mad I have no silks now

 

[jamest0o0]

did not see any flies in the silk container, I think I got it out before the maggots pupated.

 

[kinyonga]

Phorid flies are hard to get rid of.
They can even squeeze between the gasket on the fridge and the door...and they carry bacteria.

 

[jamest0o0]

It's in my mini fridge for my worms. Should I maybe take the BSFL out as well? I haven't seen any other evidence in their container.

 

[phatjackfarms]

The mulberry feed given to silkworms attract fruit flies quite a bit. You have to be careful to not let it get too moist otherwise you will have this issue. Also, you're silks probably died off because of moisture. Silks cannot stand moisture. I lost about 3,000 - 4 day old silks because it got a little warm here in Texas over the weekend and the containers were still covered. There was a little condensation and wiped them all out!

We usually recommend people get an open flat container, get some netting (gutter netting) and place food on top of the netting. Silks will go up to the food and keep them somewhat dried. Or if you have mulberry trees feed them the leaves but make sure you have enough. It's hard to go from leaves to chow again!

 

[jamest0o0]

I usually just leave them in the cup with gutter guard and the cup turned over. They crawl to the top and poop falls to the bottom. I'll definitely keep an eye on the moisture though.

 

[Andee]

I also don't ever recommend keep silkworms in a cup. The only worms I keep in cups are hornworms and only if I have a small amount. If I am raising from eggs then I switch them to larger containers. Silkworms do NOT do well in cups at all.

 

[jamest0o0]

That makes sense, i was going to move them to a new container using the gutterguard and plastic bin, but never had problems before so i figured screw it. I'll have to make sure i do that when more come.