Too many silkworms.

Kate

Kate

Avid Member
Well it looks like I'm going to have in excess of 1000 silkworms..I took eggs out of fridge begining of Dec when we got home from holiday. They have been in the incubator since then. Nothing! Last week I bought 250 eggs. I've just checked incubator and they are all hatching, December ones as well! I'm going to have to do some cooking tomorrow. Ones in fridge were there about 3 months..
 
Sinfulintent said:
My guess... scrambling to make food for the hornworms as well as raising them :D What are you going to do with so many:confused:
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Haven't a clue! I really didn't think the old ones would hatch. There are quite a lot of eggs intact. Do you think I could put them back in the fridge without harming them. I'm sure I read that you could only chill them once.
 
Ya cant put eggs back in the fridge if the eggs have been at room temp for over 3-4 weeks. Then they are starting to mature, vs being dormant for the first 2 weeks.
 
DavidBuchan said:
Most sought after feeder in the uk? Get on ebay, sell them........
Here's the only current listing for live silks - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-Live-E..._Reptiles_Spiders_Insects&hash=item43b77dd600

Also no expert but I'm sure I read somewhere to only chill them once too :)
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At least there IS a listing in the UK! I haven't seen them for sale anywhere... the last listing I found was from 2007 :( I would love to get some in Germany for my babies!

Congrats on all the silkworms by the way! How long to do the worms live for? Maybe you could grow a couple to moths and start breeding them? :)
 
Ferrah88 said:
At least there IS a listing in the UK! I haven't seen them for sale anywhere... the last listing I found was from 2007 :( I would love to get some in Germany for my babies!

Congrats on all the silkworms by the way! How long to do the worms live for? Maybe you could grow a couple to moths and start breeding them? :)
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The 700? That I thought were duds came from breeding 12 moths after Popeye got fed up of them. They were laid around Sept and were in fridge till December. I was going to bin them last week. I've just made up some chow. They eat loads and their growth depends on how often you feed them. I would check suppliers for eggs as they should travel ok.
 
Kate said:
Haven't a clue! I really didn't think the old ones would hatch. There are quite a lot of eggs intact. Do you think I could put them back in the fridge without harming them. I'm sure I read that you could only chill them once.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately you can't cill the Silkworm eggs once they have started to develop. They won't go back into diapause/hibernation and will die.

You're going to be up to you armpits in Silks.

I have a Red Ackie monitor who's my cleanup crew. Anything too big, too many, or refused by my chams is hers. Named her Piglet because she's such a bottomless pit.

Before I got her a lot of things like Silks and Horns would be wasted because they got too big or started spinning cocoons.

Good luck with all the baby worms.
 
dlegare said:
Unfortunately you can't cill the Silkworm eggs once they have started to develop. They won't go back into diapause/hibernation and will die.

You're going to be up to you armpits in Silks.

I have a Red Ackie monitor who's my cleanup crew. Anything too big, too many, or refused by my chams is hers. Named her Piglet because she's such a bottomless pit.

Before I got her a lot of things like Silks and Horns would be wasted because they got too big or started spinning cocoons.

Good luck with all the baby worms.
Click to expand...
Ta:D Have just cooked some chow. Sorting them out now. They are so tiny. Pet shop going to take some and offer free samples to customers. Mind you they are still in the early stages.:eek:
 
Psychobunny said:
Maybe you can sell silkballs to the fabrics and garments companies :D ;)
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Ha, yeah. But unfortunately you can't let moths hatch as they ruin the silk when they hatch. In order to use the silk you have to bake the cocoons to kill the moth. I can't imagine how many cocoons it takes to get enough silk to make anything. ;)
 
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