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Dragon Lover View Profile |
BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
I don’t know if this actually helped anybody, but I realized that I had moved and deleted some pics from my photobucket account, and that the pics were gone from the thread. So I thought I would put it out there for anyone who may want to see it. Thanks!!! Edel Silkworms will grow as much as you feed them and can live up to a week without food. However, they will lose hydration, so to keep a healthy silkworm you must feed at least once a day. Temperature: Keep them at a temperature of about 78 to 88 degrees, but be careful that there is not a lot of condensation in the container. This humidity can cause mold to form and kill your worms. Allow the food to dry completely daily before placing the new wet chow on top of the old and the worms. They will move onto the new chow by themselves. Clean the container once every two to three days by pulling off the silky threads and emptying it of the poop. Make sure you always wash your hands before handling them. Enclosure: They can be kept in a Tupperware-like container without any substrate. Make sure you’re not crowding them or some will not grow due to they won’t be allowed to eat.
A healthy silkworm will eat for 26-30 days and then start weaving a cocoon. Breeding: When the silkworms are ready to weave their cocoon, they become a yellowish/brownish color. The skin is really tight, almost as if to burst. At this point they have stopped eating.
Before the caterpillar begins weaving, it will empty its belly of all excess liquid by releasing a brownish wet substance. You will notice them moving their heads in a figure eight. They have a small spinner on the lip through which they release the silk. You can slice toiler paper rolls into rings for the silkworm to weave its cocoon in the opening. I transfer my worms when they are ready to weave into another container and they weave on the edge of the receptacle. You can also place dried branches on the container and they will climb onto the branches to weave. It takes three days for a firm cocoon.
Once the cocoon has been woven, place it in a different container lined with paper towels.
The moths will start emerging after about 21 days. They emerge only at dawn by spitting a brownish/reddish liquid on the silk to dissolve it and pushing through. Each moth will urinate a reddish liquid as soon as they emerge. When dried this looks like a blood stain. Their wings will be furled and limp, so be careful not to pick the moth up at this point. Once the wings are unfurled and hardened, transfer the moth to a different container, also lined with paper towels.
It’s a messy thing.
The female is usually bigger around, and sometimes longer, than the male. The male will flap their wings quite a bit. The female attracts the male by releasing pheromones through an opening in their belly. The males have olfactory hairs on their antennae that help them detect the chemicals.
The moths don’t fly, don’t eat or drink. Their only purpose is to mate and lay eggs. They will live only a week. Once a male finds a female, they will stay attached for about a day. They separate and while the female lays her eggs, the male will find another female. Sometimes another male will grab the same female before she starts laying. If you have more females than males, at this point you can transfer the female to another container where she can lay her eggs. This way, the male will find another female, therefore allowing more females to mate and hopefully giving you more eggs. Try to watch carefully and allow the females to mate only twice. Once they have laid their eggs the second time, you can feed to your dragon. They will not live much longer to lay more eggs. Each female lays between 200 to 500 eggs. Replace the paper towel when eggs have been laid. The eggs are a bright lemon yellow. Wait three days. The eggs that turn black are fertile, the eggs that don’t turn are infertile. Because in the wild the moths would lay their eggs in the fall and hatch in the spring, you will need to place the eggs n a zip loc bag - in the crisper of your fridge. Make sure you date the baggie. It is said you can keep in the refrigerator at least three weeks and up to 5 years, but I have only kept up to a year. After the 3 weeks, take out the amount you want and place in a deli container. Keep warm. (I usually put it on top of my beardie’s tank.) Punch holes for air. Again, be careful mold does not form. The eggs will hatch within 1 week to 21 days. If you look closely, they are ready to hatch when you can see the inside of the egg turning a light gray.
The new silkworm hatchlings look like tiny little moving pieces of string. They only eat Mulberry tree leaves or the prepared chow you can buy.
If you use the leaves, make sure you only feed the young early leaves to the baby caterpillars. At this point, their jaw muscles are not strong enough to eat the mature leaf. Change the leaves 3 times a day and make sure they have no moisture at all or your silkworm babies will drown. The babies are too weak to move from the old to the new leaf, so you will have to transfer them. Be very careful while doing this. After 5 days, they will be able to move onto the new leaf by themselves. Another option is to place the new leaf directly on top of the old. Keep warm and keep feeding and your worms will grow to a healthy size in no time. |
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| 06/12/08 11:24am |
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Dinkanber View Profile |
Message To: Dragon Lover In reference to Message Id: 1758750 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
Lisa |
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| 06/12/08 02:57pm |
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Herbivorous Herper View Profile |
Message To: Dragon Lover In reference to Message Id: 1758750 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
Thanks edel, I’m tempted to buy them now. We should make a roach breeding one! It’ll go something like this: Give a dark warm place, yadaa yada. Throw in some food and a water source daily. and leave them be. Look under the egg carton in a month. Thats my intricate care sheet *nods and smiles* |
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| 06/12/08 03:06pm |
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Clouddancer22 View Profile |
Message To: Herbivorous Herper In reference to Message Id: 1758929 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
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| 06/14/08 11:30am |
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Newfgal View Profile |
Message To: Clouddancer22 In reference to Message Id: 1760634 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
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| 06/14/08 11:58am |
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Animalover96 View Profile |
Message To: Newfgal In reference to Message Id: 1760660 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
2. where do u get youre silkies at and where is the place with the cheapest shiping 3. good job LOL 4. do u keep all of the moths in a seperate contanier 5. Do u leave the eggs on paper towel then transfer them to a bag |
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| 06/14/08 02:58pm |
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87rx7chick View Profile |
Message To: Newfgal In reference to Message Id: 1760660 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
not sure if i should expect those to die too. reason for DOA was to hot to humid conditions in san antonio tx. is that a good reason for them to still be dieing? stress durring travel? |
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| 06/14/08 03:02pm |
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Pocochu View Profile |
Message To: 87rx7chick In reference to Message Id: 1760792 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
Great info...Clouddancer and I finally figured out why my eggs were not hatching..I didn’t put them in the frig for a while....I had no problem raising the worms, I had cocoons & moths coming out my ears and eggs...but no babies worms....Well I’m going to order me some more silkies and try it for the 3rd time...they say the 3rd time is a charm... right?.....LOL....Thanks Again...........  |
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| 06/14/08 10:29pm |
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Dragon Lover View Profile |
Message To: Pocochu In reference to Message Id: 1761166 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
Quote: where do u get youre silkies at and where is the place with the cheapest shiping
I usually order from Mulberry farms or coastal silkworms. I like mulberry better, but i think coastal is a bit cheaper. Quote: do u keep all of the moths in a seperate contanier
Yes, once the wings are hardened, I put them in a separate container. Quote: Do u leave the eggs on paper towel then transfer them to a bag
Yes, when the eggs are laid they attach to the paper towel. They are very tiny, but if you wanted to remove them from the paper towel, you can use a razor blade and carefully scrape them off. It is said that they attach so it is easy for the worm to emerge. I don’t really know how true this is. I would assume that because in the wild they lay on the tree, that they attach so as not to fall. Hey 87rx7chick, Usually, even if because of the stress, when they die they are not usually mushy and wet. They kind of get soft and just dry up, sort of. If you see a mushy dark wet one, separate the others to a clean sterilized container. It really sounds like the grasserie virus, but I would not know until I see them. Would you happen to have any pics? Edel |
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| 06/14/08 11:04pm |
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87rx7chick View Profile |
Message To: Dragon Lover In reference to Message Id: 1761197 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
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| 06/15/08 12:21am |
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87rx7chick View Profile |
Message To: 87rx7chick In reference to Message Id: 1761269 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
this is how they looked when i got them. only about 25-40 servived.
a hot mas of wet food and poo and worms the ones that survived slowly died off one by one. heres a tiny one that died tonight. i had 2 die earlier today. the black spots on the napkin came form both ends of both worms. when they are dieing they start to kinda shorten. and look wrinkley. then they kinda arch backwards or just kinda chill out all bunched up. then they start to poo and vomit kinda. it takes a while for them to die. unlike when i gave them food that was to wet once and killed off my whole batch. yikes.. i washed the container in bleach and had it very clean when they went into this container. the food was made the right way. idk what the heck i am doing wrong. i am assuming its just post stress from the trama of travel. san antonio is 100 out and high humidity
to view larger, right click and open image in new window or tab. |
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| 06/15/08 12:26am |
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Wyland2222 View Profile |
Message To: 87rx7chick In reference to Message Id: 1761277 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
I agree this is a way more in depth info sheet with better pics than what I had, but as you know mine did not survive, they did not even weave any silk for me to clean out, just poop, rofl..........and mine did just like 87rx7chick, got all mushy and died, but slowly, not right after I got them, as you know, I sent you the picture of the fat and healthy ones, they lived on mulberry leaves alone, no chow. I think I may have figured out why mine lived so long, grew so big and fat, but never did silk or cocoon, I kept them in the cabinet in the bottom of the beardie condo, now no moisture got in there, so not a mold problem, but it was dark all the time and I am not sure what the temp in there was, do you suppose the lack of light had something to do with mine not doing as they should? I did have a couple that turned the color you show when they are ready to cocoon, but they never did, they ended up just drying up and being dead, then there were the ones that just got mushy and nasty and dying. I followed your care sheet well, except for the being in the cabinet with no light, hmmmmmmmmm, now am wondering if that is what did it, I mean they lived well beyond the 21 days it would be before they were to cocoon, I had them a couple of months before any died, but once they started to die it was very rapid through out all of them. Might try this again and see if maybe keeping them in light makes any difference, poor hub, he was going for more mulberry leaves at least weekly from a tree we have permission to pick leaves from, they were then washed and dried and then put in baggies in the fridge, boy do silks eat mulberry leaves, was fun listening to them crunch and munch their way through them, and they left nothing behind either, they were feed lots of them twice per day and within the hour all leaves were goneeeeeeeeeee, rofl. Anyway thanks for posting this again, gonna save it and maybe try again, this time maybe just feed them the chow, which oh by the way is nasty looking, rofl, but then I told you that already, and keep them someplace else, other than the cabinet. Will let you know if I do. Trish |
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| 06/15/08 08:26am |
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Wyland2222 View Profile |
Message To: 87rx7chick In reference to Message Id: 1761277 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
I agree this is a way more in depth info sheet with better pics than what I had, but as you know mine did not survive, they did not even weave any silk for me to clean out, just poop, rofl..........and mine did just like 87rx7chick, got all mushy and died, but slowly, not right after I got them, as you know, I sent you the picture of the fat and healthy ones, they lived on mulberry leaves alone, no chow. I think I may have figured out why mine lived so long, grew so big and fat, but never did silk or cocoon, I kept them in the cabinet in the bottom of the beardie condo, now no moisture got in there, so not a mold problem, but it was dark all the time and I am not sure what the temp in there was, do you suppose the lack of light had something to do with mine not doing as they should? I did have a couple that turned the color you show when they are ready to cocoon, but they never did, they ended up just drying up and being dead, then there were the ones that just got mushy and nasty and dying. I followed your care sheet well, except for the being in the cabinet with no light, hmmmmmmmmm, now am wondering if that is what did it, I mean they lived well beyond the 21 days it would be before they were to cocoon, I had them a couple of months before any died, but once they started to die it was very rapid through out all of them. Might try this again and see if maybe keeping them in light makes any difference, poor hub, he was going for more mulberry leaves at least weekly from a tree we have permission to pick leaves from, they were then washed and dried and then put in baggies in the fridge, boy do silks eat mulberry leaves, was fun listening to them crunch and munch their way through them, and they left nothing behind either, they were feed lots of them twice per day and within the hour all leaves were goneeeeeeeeeee, rofl. Anyway thanks for posting this again, gonna save it and maybe try again, this time maybe just feed them the chow, which oh by the way is nasty looking, rofl, but then I told you that already, and keep them someplace else, other than the cabinet. Will let you know if I do. Trish |
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| 06/15/08 08:31am |
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Wyland2222 View Profile |
Message To: Wyland2222 In reference to Message Id: 1761425 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
Trish |
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| 06/15/08 08:32am |
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Reflex View Profile |
Message To: 87rx7chick In reference to Message Id: 1761277 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
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| 06/20/08 01:56pm |
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Dragongirl6 View Profile |
Message To: Reflex In reference to Message Id: 1767573 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
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| 06/21/08 01:58am |
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Dragon Lover View Profile |
Message To: Dragongirl6 In reference to Message Id: 1768264 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
OMG I totally forgot I had this out there. 87rx7chick, What temps were you keeping the silks at? Were you covering the container. Covering usually causes too much condensation. Where did you get them from, and do you know if anyone that got their silks from the same place had the same problems? Usually when they are healthy and dye, they just dry up. You can stretch them and they are pretty mooshy, but not wet at all. Usually the wetness means the ’grasserie virus’. No worries, it will not harm your dragon, but it is messy and they die off pretty quickly. The only way to get rid of it is by not having silks again for at least 4 months. I’m not saying this is what your had. The virus is pretty messy. Trish, In your case I thik maybe they were not getting enough moisture. Where you drying the leaves totallyl or was there still some wetness to them? Were your just as gooey as chick’s. When I get home I’ll post pics of the virus. Edel |
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| 06/30/08 06:45pm |
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Dragon Lover View Profile |
Message To: Dragon Lover In reference to Message Id: 1778907 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
This is what it should look like when your silks are healthy. If they haven’t eaten all the food, it usually dries up and they do spin their silky thread.
The worms that have the virus do not make the silky thread.
Here are some pics of the virus:
They will always leave a film behind:
Edel |
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| 07/06/08 10:37pm |
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Dinkanber View Profile |
Message To: Dragon Lover In reference to Message Id: 1785180 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
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| 07/07/08 09:56am |
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Reflex View Profile |
Message To: 87rx7chick In reference to Message Id: 1761277 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
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| 07/15/08 02:48am |
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Dragon Lover View Profile |
Message To: Reflex In reference to Message Id: 1795841 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
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| 07/30/08 04:47pm |
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Audio View Profile |
Message To: Dragon Lover In reference to Message Id: 1813808 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
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| 07/30/08 08:45pm |
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Dragon Lover View Profile |
Message To: Audio In reference to Message Id: 1814061 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
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| 08/30/08 02:52pm |
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Clouddancer22 View Profile |
Message To: Dragon Lover In reference to Message Id: 1847091 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
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| 08/30/08 03:18pm |
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Newfgal View Profile |
Message To: Clouddancer22 In reference to Message Id: 1847112 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
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| 09/05/08 10:37am |
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Cappy8 View Profile |
Message To: Newfgal In reference to Message Id: 1851961 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
GREAT JOB with the thread! OMG, Dragon luvr, those pictures look like it came out of some gorey zombie movie...loll REsident Evil or something, hahaha. I have a couple questions... After seeing how some of you had your batch wiped out, should i order an "experiment " batch since this would be my first silkworm order? I don’t want to order 500 eggs and have something go wrong... So should i start with ordering EGGS or the silkworms? any suggestion guys? Thanks a lot. Loveeee this thread :)) Lisa |
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| 09/05/08 03:23pm |
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Dragon Lover View Profile |
Message To: Cappy8 In reference to Message Id: 1852109 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
I would just order the silks. Then the ones the dragon/s don’t eat, just let them cocoon. That way you are feeding and you are not just sitting there waiting for the eggs to hatch and the silks to get to the right size. Edel |
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| 09/05/08 05:45pm |
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Cappy8 View Profile |
Message To: Dragon Lover In reference to Message Id: 1852228 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
i’ll order like 100 small silkworms and 1/2 lb silk chow (makes 2lbs i think it said) and see how it goes. Thanks! I hope mine will catch the virus..lol Lisa |
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| 09/05/08 06:03pm |
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Dragon Lover View Profile |
Message To: Cappy8 In reference to Message Id: 1852247 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
You could probably go with mediums for the size of your beardie. Small are quite small. Edel |
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| 09/05/08 06:24pm |
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Cappy8 View Profile |
Message To: Dragon Lover In reference to Message Id: 1852266 BREEDING SILKWORMS 101 (lol)
Lol, its okay, i guess i won’t mind waiting for them to grow. oh and i think they’re all sold out on all the sizes except for the smalls on Mulberry farms. coastal is out too. Thanks a lot :)) Lisa |
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| 09/05/08 06:56pm |
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