Silkworm questions,

[jakeg]

I would like to start feeding 2 month old cham small silkworms instead of crickets, I just ordered some from MF. He seems to only like worms, he doesnt eat much crix in his cage. Can you refridgerate small silks to keep them from changing? Also any help on keeping them? They are comming with food so thats covered. Thanks

 

[jannb]

No you can't refridgerate them. If you got the pod just keep them clean and empty the poop. They eat and poop all the time.

 

[suzi]

You can order the eggs and refrigerate the eggs, then hatch them out as you need them. But you have to tell the people you buy them from so they can ship them to you properly

 

[Ozzie2011]

I got Ozzie some silkworms because he stopped eating crickets and let me just say be prepared because when Ozzie spotted the silkworms he changed colors for the first time and went bazzerk! I had never seen him change colors before so this was very exciting. Ozzie loves loves loves silkworms and I guess the only down fall to them is that they only live 10 days and I ordered 2 cups and I am giving one cup to my friend that has a Chameleon because Ozzie will never be able to finish eating all that is even in one cup.

 

[jakeg]

I thought I had read somewhere that if you withhold food from silks, they wont grow, and you can keep them longer. My baby panther likes any worms but rarely eats crickets, there have been 4 in his cup for a day and hasnt touched them.

 

[carol5208]

I got Ozzie some silkworms because he stopped eating crickets and let me just say be prepared because when Ozzie spotted the silkworms he changed colors for the first time and went bazzerk! I had never seen him change colors before so this was very exciting. Ozzie loves loves loves silkworms and I guess the only down fall to them is that they only live 10 days and I ordered 2 cups and I am giving one cup to my friend that has a Chameleon because Ozzie will never be able to finish eating all that is even in one cup.

who told you they only live for 10 days? Or are yours just dying after that period of time?. Mine last for well over a month and some get big enough to cocoon and turn into moths. If your silks are dying within 10 days you are doing something wrong.

 

[ladysilkworm]

I got Ozzie some silkworms because he stopped eating crickets and let me just say be prepared because when Ozzie spotted the silkworms he changed colors for the first time and went bazzerk! I had never seen him change colors before so this was very exciting. Ozzie loves loves loves silkworms and I guess the only down fall to them is that they only live 10 days and I ordered 2 cups and I am giving one cup to my friend that has a Chameleon because Ozzie will never be able to finish eating all that is even in one cup.

Hi Ozzie, glad he loved them Gues i packed a little too much

If you must keep them cool, they can go into a fridge, but not too long, and not over a day at a time..... it makes them weak and they may not waken..if kept too long.. try a beer cooler. Maybe better.

the best way, is as suggested, remove them out of the cup, and put the food away.. scrape off the silk and the tainted top part. The bottom part is still fresh, but be sure it doesn't already smell sour..
and you feed them a little bit of food each day. If the food has turned sour, they will kill off your silkies in no time.

If anyone wants to let the silks grow larger, you can turn over the chow with a backend of a plastic knife and expose some fresh food to them. Small silkworms in a cup is harder to clean.. but you can lift them up by their silk, rearrange the chow and put the entire silk web back.. they'll find fresh food.

 

[ladysilkworm]

who told you they only live for 10 days? Or are yours just dying after that period of time?. Mine last for well over a month and some get big enough to cocoon and turn into moths. If your silks are dying within 10 days you are doing something wrong.

they come in a cup and the cup is only good to last 10 days with that many silks and food in it..

 

[ladysilkworm]

You can order the eggs and refrigerate the eggs, then hatch them out as you need them. But you have to tell the people you buy them from so they can ship them to you properly

I will be offering diapaused eggs for sale soon. This way, you wouldn't have to worry about them being warmed up when shipped to you. Shipping is free also. They are laid in natural pattern on paper. Put them in the fridge for 2 months is all you need.

 

[carol5208]

they come in a cup and the cup is only good to last 10 days with that many silks and food in it..

but they live longer than that if not in the cup, so I think he is confused. If you buy the chow or have access to mulberry they live for a month or so. Well, atleast mine do. I understand if they run out of food they will die.

 

[ladysilkworm]

but they live longer than that if not in the cup, so I think he is confused. If you buy the chow or have access to mulberry they live for a month or so. Well, atleast mine do. I understand if they run out of food they will die.

a chow cup is never the ideal set up for silkies. Yes, it is his first time so I recommended that over anything else.. so that he gets a sense of it. After that, there is the advanced stage

yes, they live for 28-31 days depending on the line and how much food is fed. If you feed on and off they will prolong the larval stage, but won't cocoon well nor lay a lot of eggs.. ideally, you feed NONSTOP day and night . LOTS OF work!

If well controlled, a technician can get a 1/3 more eggs out of a brood of breeders than an inexperienced one, and get unfertilized eggs to hatch!! Isn't it amazing?

 

[Miss Lily]

I think silkworm care is an art in itself! I have just hatched my first ever eggs and it takes forever to move them to new chow every other day! I will be very happy if I get half of them to a size big enough to feed the chams! How long does it take from hatching to pupation if fresh food is always available to them?

 

[ladysilkworm]

I think silkworm care is an art in itself! I have just hatched my first ever eggs and it takes forever to move them to new chow every other day! I will be very happy if I get half of them to a size big enough to feed the chams! How long does it take from hatching to pupation if fresh food is always available to them?

There are indeed easier ways for mass silkwrm producers to do this. Imagine if I had to brush kegos every time and every hour of the day I would be driven mad!

28-31 days if you have constant, fresh food always available. But they eat a lot. ONe small tree won't be enough to feed 100 to cocoon.

One bag of dry chow MAY take 100 to cocoon... thanks a lot to waste and their own appetite.

If you raise them on chow, just cut up the pieces with eggs on it, place it in a dish, and pipe or grate chow on it once they started the hatch. If you are raising with leaves, do the same. Next time you can just move the moths over to a piece of paper.

There are many methods to this, and you find whatever you are most comfortable with. If you want to get them to hatch at the same time, it can be done, by leaving them in complete darkness for two days after they have turned grey. Once they are exposed to light they will pretty much hatch out at the same time, all done within 4 hours. If not, put it back to darkness for another day. To speed up the hatch you can bring them under a light but have a wet sponge next to them as well.

But most people who breed these to feed reptiles would rather have the hatch span over a few days so that they have growing sizes.

 

[Ozzie2011]

Thank you for explaining this in detail. I think I will try to flip them over so they can grow bigger. These so far are by far Ozzies favorite and out of every live feeder we have offered him we enjoy watching him move very fast to get his silkworms We will be back very soon! Thanks again!

Hi Ozzie, glad he loved them Gues i packed a little too much

If you must keep them cool, they can go into a fridge, but not too long, and not over a day at a time..... it makes them weak and they may not waken..if kept too long.. try a beer cooler. Maybe better.

the best way, is as suggested, remove them out of the cup, and put the food away.. scrape off the silk and the tainted top part. The bottom part is still fresh, but be sure it doesn't already smell sour..
and you feed them a little bit of food each day. If the food has turned sour, they will kill off your silkies in no time.

If anyone wants to let the silks grow larger, you can turn over the chow with a backend of a plastic knife and expose some fresh food to them. Small silkworms in a cup is harder to clean.. but you can lift them up by their silk, rearrange the chow and put the entire silk web back.. they'll find fresh food.

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

So here is my silly question...
what do you do with them once they cocoon?
let them moth and feed them? If so how long does that take?
Mine last around 4 weeks, then they are too large to feed

 

[reptimanny]

No you can't refridgerate them. If you got the pod just keep them clean and empty the poop. They eat and poop all the time.

I second that When i had my silkies from mf they constantly pooped and i kept them a little warm during feedings and they were all fine.

 

[Miss Lily]

There are indeed easier ways for mass silkwrm producers to do this. Imagine if I had to brush kegos every time and every hour of the day I would be driven mad!

28-31 days if you have constant, fresh food always available. But they eat a lot. ONe small tree won't be enough to feed 100 to cocoon.

One bag of dry chow MAY take 100 to cocoon... thanks a lot to waste and their own appetite.

If you raise them on chow, just cut up the pieces with eggs on it, place it in a dish, and pipe or grate chow on it once they started the hatch. If you are raising with leaves, do the same. Next time you can just move the moths over to a piece of paper.

There are many methods to this, and you find whatever you are most comfortable with. If you want to get them to hatch at the same time, it can be done, by leaving them in complete darkness for two days after they have turned grey. Once they are exposed to light they will pretty much hatch out at the same time, all done within 4 hours. If not, put it back to darkness for another day. To speed up the hatch you can bring them under a light but have a wet sponge next to them as well.

But most people who breed these to feed reptiles would rather have the hatch span over a few days so that they have growing sizes.

Thanks for your help. They are all currently still alive so I must be doing something right!

 

[ladysilkworm]

Thanks for your help. They are all currently still alive so I must be doing something right!

oh you are definitely doing something right. Raising silkworms require a lot of time and dedication!!

 

[Miss Lily]

They certainly do take a lot of time, but I only switch them to new food every other day at the moment so it's not too bad. I have 9 tubs with the most in one tub being 23, the majority of tubs house 20 worms. I had 235 eggs (yes, I counted them!) and have currently had 171 hatch. I try to keep track and check the count in each tub when I move them as I want to keep track of the success rate with hatchlings.

 

[ladysilkworm]

As for refrigeration, it is NOT recommended. But if you must, you can do it, but only a day at a time.. and take them out to warm up for a few hours and eat, just to keep their body functioning going.

I for one have refrigerated newborn kegos and hatching eggs, with the instructions of a sericulture expert. After 4-5 days in 40degree, the eggs hatched within hrs of removing them from the cold. But these really need to be carefully controlled. A misstep can cause you to lose all of your eggs.

In general, starvation and coldness will weaken them and give them high mortality rate. Either method isn't really very good. But if they are kept as feeders, well, feeders as they are.. their destiny is the same one way or another.

When silkworms are starved, they will die in about 7 days with absolutely no food.

When silks are raised in a chow cup wit no fresh food, expect no more than two weeks and they will die off because the food will have gone bad.. they die due to overwhelming pathogens, not from refusing to eat bad food.


When silkworms are raised on leaves, unless you get a virus, they grow faster, better, more robust, spin larger cocoons. But if you don't clean their rearing bed, the ones in molt can get burried underneath and crushed over time. The undersides of the leaves can turn moldy along with frass and that will also kill off some.

If you cook chow, you can freeze them. But you should let it sit for a few hours and wipe off excess moisture before placing them in the freezer. Rapid cold will cause rapid condensation (separating water from your chow) and that water will freeze. Once removed from freezer, the ice thaws and there will be visibly clear water in the chow. That would drown your hatchlings very easily and also cause mold problems fast. So you are better to err on the dryer side.

If your chow has been in the fridge a bit longer than liked, you can put them in a cooking bag, and steam them for 20 minutes thoroughly, and that would sterilize them and give them longer shelf life as well.. lesser chance of problematic silkworms.

For some, raising silkworms is easy. For some it is too demanding and high maintenance.. so, if you got it right, it usually doesn't mean you are lucky, but that you are very diligent at rearing them. If they die on you (even after getting them raised on chow and having switched to leaves), it doesn't mean that you are not diligent with them, it probably means that they are already weakened on the supplier side before getting to you... so, don't feel too bad if you can't seem to get it. It's not your fault.