Silkworms are spinning!

[Miss Lily]

Woohoo! I have 4 silkworms that have begun spinning their cocoons! I am so excited - I have never got them to this stage from eggs before. It's been a lot of work and still is as I have loads more nearly at the spinning stage too and it takes ages to clean and feed all the tubs I have! Now I can't wait for the moths too emerge - the prettiest moths in the word!

 

[Solid Snake]

Well thats wonderful! Congradulations and good job! Now im interested, I have to go find a picture of the moths

Oh ok, Ive seen those! They are beautiful...

 

[Miss Lily]

They certainly are! When I had my first one hatch out I ws unprepared for just how cute they are, and being the soft touch that I am, I couldn't bear to feed it to either of the chams. So, I kept 'Moffy' in a tub and he lived for 9 days. At that time I only had one at pupa stage. The 'eyelash' antenna are just so pretty! They look like tiny teddy bears with wings!

 

[clarkrw3]

Congrats!! My chams LOVE the moths, cute and all

 

[camimom]

OK!
now that ive got info from you on jax care.....
I need info on silkworm care!

I just bought my first cups of baby silkworms...
and i dunno what to do with them!


Can you take pics of your worm set up, and step by step... tell me how oyu keep them alive and even get them to breed?

 

[Miss Lily]

Blimey! How long have you got?! This lot have been the easiest ones to care for - in the past I have lost a lot of them. I put it down to the fact that they hatched just before Christmas when I was at my busiest at work, so I just fed them and left them to it! They are so susceptible to any germs - once you remove one from the cup you can't put it back in if it doesn't get eaten. You can't keep everything too clean for these guys! Cleanliness is the key. If they get grasserie it can wipe out the whole tub of them! It's quite gross - they go all mushy and it's really horrid! I have had a few more go mushy recently now they are bigger. Soo gross as you can't pick them up, they just disintegrate to mush!

Aside from that, once they get to the 4th and 5th instar they eat and poop LOADS!! I have had about 20 of mine get as long and thick as my index finger! They get huge! With regard to keeping them clean - they don't like to sit in their own poop either, so I use a piece of plastic canvas inside a cricket tub so that the frass (poop) can fall through. I will see if I have pics, if not I will take some more and upload them for you. Another place I found some great info was here: http://www.wormspit.com/bombyxsilkworms.htm

 

[Hoj]

congats, i will have to get you to teach me about waht you have done. i have NO success with silks

 

[laurie]

Congrats, those monster worms are finally spinning. I am happy they did not eat Monty.

 

[Miss Lily]

Well, today I have 5 cocoons with 2 more spinning like crazy!

 

[whereswaldo]

you have very much patience i have very little these suckers grow soooo quick!! and poop a ton you wernt kidding. trying to feed them off quickly im just glad i unchecked 2 cups lol

 

[Miss Lily]

Think how I felt when approx 250 hatched all at once! I haven't lost that many either, lol! I have now got 24 cricket tubs of them and I need to separate some more larger ones into smaller groups too! They are even more hard work at this last instar, but it'll all be worth it in the end! Mine haven't actually grown that fast - they hatched on 16th December and are only just starting to spin now. They are just kept at room temps though as there was too much condensation in the tubs when I tried to keep them warmer.