Silkworms or shrinky dinks 🤔

[RescueMom]

I recently purchased some feeders for my juvenile Panther. I've gotten silkworms many times in the past from different vendors, but this time I purchased from Josh's Frogs. I could have gotten them from a few others, but the FedEx 2 day shipping rate was absurd with the others, so I went with Josh's frogs... Big mistake!

When they arrived, OMGOSHHHHHHH! I know I ordered small, but it was how they were sent as well as their quality that was a shock.

No mesh so you can keep the container upside down so the frass falls to the bottom and the silks can grow without suffocating. Instead they stuck a piece of broken egg crate in the container. What was that??

I contacted them, but they were terrible with their customer service.

Not only did they not care about what they sent, but they won't post a review on their website unless it's positive, which is complete garbage! If you notice, they only have 1 review about the silkworms and it's just mildly "okay" to say the least.

It's been a week now and, shocking I know, but the silks haven't grown, they shrunk. Yes, I kept them warm, made sure the food didn't dry out, all that stuff.

I'm attaching pictures of how they were when I got them, and how they are today.

I ordered another feeder from Josh's frogs and it was fine, but because of their lack of concern for customer satisfaction, I won't ever get anything from them again. Not that they care, but it's really bad business and people like that are the worst!


The sad little shrinky dinks in the second picture is what's left of them after a week

 

[Fchamel]

I have never ordered with joshes frogs before. But, I have heard good things about them. I would say next time order from Morrifeeders or dubiaroaches.com. I can't stand terrible customer service, that is strange that they shrunk

 

[jannb]

I recommend coastalsilkworms or BeastModesilkworms.

 

[RescueMom]

I have never ordered with joshes frogs before. But, I have heard good things about them. I would say next time order from Morrifeeders or dubiaroaches.com. I can't stand terrible customer service, that is strange that they shrunk

I've ordered from Morrifeeders before, but they were sold out.

I think they shrunk because they're drowning in their own waste. They have no way to breath

 

[Fchamel]

I've ordered from Morrifeeders before, but they were sold out.

I think they shrunk because they're drowning in their own waste. They have no way to breath

Oh, ok. I have never ordered silkworms before but I would buy from who @jannb suggested

 

[RescueMom]

I recommend coastalsilkworms or BeastModesilkworms.

I can't remember which one it was, but the FedEx 2 day was about 40 dollars, and Josh's frogs FedEx 2 day was 14 dollars.
I wish someone could explain why some sellers Jack up the shipping cost like that and others don't.
I paid 69 dollars over night shipping for my chameleon!
I don't get it!!

 

[PoseidonTheChameleon]

That's crazy. I order from Joshes frogs and I usually dont have an issue.

 

[Beman]

what temps are you keeping them? Did you move them out of that cup into a different plastic container? They can have issues growing because they are unable to molt.

 

[RescueMom]

what temps are you keeping them? Did you move them out of that cup into a different plastic container? They can have issues growing because they are unable to molt.

Temp is around 75.

No I didn't move them to another container. I've never purchased silkworms that didn't come in a "pod" with the mesh attached to the bottom so that you can properly turn the container upside down, allowing them to grow, breath, eat, everything, without having to basically rehome them
The description says blah blah blah comes in deli container with enough food to grow them for up to one week, and blah blah make sure food doesn't dry out by misting it slightly blah blah blah.

 

[Beman]

Temp is around 75.

No I didn't move them to another container. I've never purchased silkworms that didn't come in a "pod" with the mesh attached to the bottom so that you can properly turn the container upside down, allowing them to grow, breath, eat, everything, without having to basically rehome them
The description says blah blah blah comes in deli container with enough food to grow them for up to one week, and blah blah make sure food doesn't dry out by misting it slightly blah blah blah.

Read through this... Your temps are a little low http://www.mulberryfarms.com/Care-Raising-Tips-12.html

They gave you a crap container for them. Do you have more food? They will eat carrot if your food is bad and you need to get more.
I move mine over to another container.. You can do a plastic one and then cut out the top to hot glue screen to. Then I buy the plastic needle point canvas... Looks like this. They can crawl on this and the poop goes through.

Unfortunately they are not the only seller that sells them in a stupid way. Rainbow mealworms tosses them in a container with a wet paper towel and a loose clump of food. When I got mine most were dead from the food chunk landing on them in shipment. I only order them from coastal silkworms or mori feeders now.

 

[RescueMom]

Read through this... Your temps are a little low http://www.mulberryfarms.com/Care-Raising-Tips-12.html

They gave you a crap container for them. Do you have more food? They will eat carrot if your food is bad and you need to get more.
I move mine over to another container.. You can do a plastic one and then cut out the top to hot glue screen to. Then I buy the plastic needle point canvas... Looks like this. They can crawl on this and the poop goes through.

Unfortunately they are not the only seller that sells them in a stupid way. Rainbow mealworms tosses them in a container with a wet paper towel and a loose clump of food. When I got mine most were dead from the food chunk landing on them in shipment. I only order them from coastal silkworms or mori feeders now.

View attachment 284880

Thanks!
Yep, crap container for sure! And some of the food came loose in shipping and I had to carefully move it and rescue the little guys
There is still some food left after I took them out this morning and rewet it a bit. I'll see about better housing for the ones that are still living
I'll see about raising my Temps too.

I wish I understood why some shippers charge so much for FedEx 2 day and others (like Josh's Frogs) are reasonable

Hey... On another note, any magic tips about the horrible little gnats that seem to have infested every area of the house? They're so bad they're even driving my little cham from his favorite spot

 

[Beman]

Thanks!
Yep, crap container for sure! And some of the food came loose in shipping and I had to carefully move it and rescue the little guys
There is still some food left after I took them out this morning and rewet it a bit. I'll see about better housing for the ones that are still living
I'll see about raising my Temps too.

I wish I understood why some shippers charge so much for FedEx 2 day and others (like Josh's Frogs) are reasonable

Hey... On another note, any magic tips about the horrible little gnats that seem to have infested every area of the house? They're so bad they're even driving my little cham from his favorite spot

uggg probably soil gnats... Some use sun dew plants to help control these. There are other options like buying a katchy for the room. Normally mine die off without major overwhelm but I do not have a bio active enclosure.

Honestly I personally pay for the 2 day shipping when I order silks or hornworms. Otherwise regular priority mail for other feeders since they can stand a longer shipment. I do not order from Josh's frogs though.
Typically I pay about $15 for fed ex two day. $8 ish for priority.
Silks from coastal silkworms
Dubia and other feeders from Dubia roaches
crickets and other feeders from rainbow mealworms.

I keep crickets, dubia, BSFL, Blue bottle spikes, superworms, and hornworms regularly and buy silks when I can get them.

 

[RescueMom]

uggg probably soil gnats... Some use sun dew plants to help control these. There are other options like buying a katchy for the room. Normally mine die off without major overwhelm but I do not have a bio active enclosure.

Honestly I personally pay for the 2 day shipping when I order silks or hornworms. Otherwise regular priority mail for other feeders since they can stand a longer shipment. I do not order from Josh's frogs though.
Typically I pay about $15 for fed ex two day. $8 ish for priority.
Silks from coastal silkworms
Dubia and other feeders from Dubia roaches
crickets and other feeders from rainbow mealworms.

I keep crickets, dubia, BSFL, Blue bottle spikes, superworms, and hornworms regularly and buy silks when I can get them.

I'll have to look into the sun drew plant. I think I saw them on Amazon.

I don't have bioactive either, just all live plants. That and the cricket and bug I guess causes them Currently I have bowls and apple cider Vinegar, dish soap and water near a light in each room of the house so the stupid bugs go there and not in my face! My house smells like a douche though

I can't get dubias in Florida but I can get discoids and horn worms locally. so far this little guy won't eat anything but crickets, which I totally hate! I have some bsfl and he's super curious, same with superworms but so far, he hasn't gone for them.

When I've ordered in the past from Morrifeeders, mulberry farms and a few others , the FedEx 2 day was a lot higher price

Sometime I spend more on shipping then feeders

 

[Beman]

I'll have to look into the sun drew plant. I think I saw them on Amazon.

I don't have bioactive either, just all live plants. That and the cricket and bug I guess causes them Currently I have bowls and apple cider Vinegar, dish soap and water near a light in each room of the house so the stupid bugs go there and not in my face! My house smells like a douche though

I can't get dubias in Florida but I can get discoids and horn worms locally. so far this little guy won't eat anything but crickets, which I totally hate! I have some bsfl and he's super curious, same with superworms but so far, he hasn't gone for them.

When I've ordered in the past from Morrifeeders, mulberry farms and a few others , the FedEx 2 day was a lot higher price

Sometime I spend more on shipping then feeders

Typically they come out of your soil for the plants... Are you seeing them somewhere else? You can look into something called neomotodes as well. I do not know much about using these though.

He would more then likely go for the Bsfl once they pupate into flies. They love flying targets.

 

[RescueMom]

I don't actually see them come out of the soil. They seem to swarm around water and light, so his cage is like ground zero
After the cage, it's the cricket keepers. They love those so I always clean them out really good.
After that, it's anyone's guess.
I thought they were a type of fruit fly, or a gnat. Whatever they are, in the dark, for no apparent reason at all, they will fly directly up your nose

I'll post a picture so you can see exactly what they look like. They're tiny, but look bigger in the pictures of course

 

[PoseidonTheChameleon]

uggg probably soil gnats... Some use sun dew plants to help control these. There are other options like buying a katchy for the room. Normally mine die off without major overwhelm but I do not have a bio active enclosure.

Honestly I personally pay for the 2 day shipping when I order silks or hornworms. Otherwise regular priority mail for other feeders since they can stand a longer shipment. I do not order from Josh's frogs though.
Typically I pay about $15 for fed ex two day. $8 ish for priority.
Silks from coastal silkworms
Dubia and other feeders from Dubia roaches
crickets and other feeders from rainbow mealworms.

I keep crickets, dubia, BSFL, Blue bottle spikes, superworms, and hornworms regularly and buy silks when I can get them.

I'm thinking about getting one of these plants but would there be an issue if my cham decided to try to eat it or climb on it? They're sticky right? My cham is small so I wouldnt want him getting stuck or something

 

[Beman]

I don't actually see them come out of the soil. They seem to swarm around water and light, so his cage is like ground zero
After the cage, it's the cricket keepers. They love those so I always clean them out really good.
After that, it's anyone's guess.
I thought they were a type of fruit fly, or a gnat. Whatever they are, in the dark, for no apparent reason at all, they will fly directly up your nose

I'll post a picture so you can see exactly what they look like. They're tiny, but look bigger in the pictures of course

Are you using fresh gutload for your feeders? If so are you cleaning out the old everyday and replacing with new? If they are more of a fruit fly then not rotating your gutload daily can cause this.

 

[Beman]

I'm thinking about getting one of these plants but would there be an issue if my cham decided to try to eat it or climb on it? They're sticky right? My cham is small so I wouldnt want him getting stuck or something

I personally would not use it with a small cham... But you could put it on the outside of the enclosure.

 

[RescueMom]

Are you using fresh gutload for your feeders? If so are you cleaning out the old everyday and replacing with new? If they are more of a fruit fly then not rotating your gutload daily can cause this.

I changed from fresh veggies to repashy bug burger a while ago. Would that still be an issue because it's definitely worse now than it used to be

 

[Beman]

I changed from fresh veggies to repashy bug burger a while ago. Would that still be an issue because it's definitely worse now than it used to be

Nope I have never had an issue with bug burger and fruit flies. I think they are soil gnats hun.