Silkworm Moth Problem

[Yessabub]

I have had a total of 10 moths hatch and NOT MATE!! They are in a little tupperware container with paper towel on the bottom they would hatch live 2-3 days then die like there suppose to do. I spotted one pair mating and she never layed now they are all dead and i got no eggs out of them. What did i do wrong?

 

[SSimsswiSS]

You may have gotten a sterile batch. I think the eggs can be eradicated when exposed to a bit of radiation. So they go thru all the life stages, but don't produce a next gereration.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Did you for sure have both males and females?
Were the males placed close to the females? (I find they sometimes need a little help finding each other)

 

[boj3434]

could have been a lot of different things or you could be unlucky. How hot did you have it they need to have some good heat to be active

 

[Yessabub]

Did you for sure have both males and females?
Were the males placed close to the females? (I find they sometimes need a little help finding each other)

Yes im sure i could tell the males apart because the difference in size and the males will sit in one spot and vibrate there wings to attract the female. I would put them close to each other to help out but they still wouldnt mate

 

[summoner12]

Were they all white? if you have zebra silk worms they males are black and the females are white (I think... could be the other way around). If you only let the white or black silks coocoon then you had either all males or females.

 

[Yessabub]

could have been a lot of different things or you could be unlucky. How hot did you have it they need to have some good heat to be active

Im upstairs so its preety warm up here right now, they were really active crawling everywhere and wings flapping but no mating

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

I can't say I have ever not had silkmoths mate. Generally they are already going at it before I can remove them from the cocoon container and place them in the egg laying/ breeding container. However I have had a few females mate and never lay eggs or only lay one or two eggs, I noticed that they had not metamorphosed correctly and their egg laying parts were crusted over and it made it impossible for them to get eggs out without a ton of difficulty. I concluded that it was from keeping the cocoons at a high temperature and forcing metamorphosis to quickly. I was keeping the cocoons at 88 to speed up development and they were hatching out in about a week or a little over but they were coming out deformed. I lowered the temp to 80 and have not had the problem in the last 4 months since its been down their. What have you given the females to lay their eggs on? I use paper towels as the females love to stick their eggs to them or just a little piece of cloth. My female did not like laying n plain petri dish.