I begin with the silk worm, as most of you will start with worms ordered from various suppliers.
When you receive the silk worms they are typically housed in a deli cup or “pod”. As silkworms have a low immune system you must be very careful with cleanliness and moisture. The pods are not ideal for growing the worms without bacteria or mold; therefore I usually move mine over to separate containers. I use the sterilite 6Qt (5.7 L) Tupperware containers that state they are for shoe storage. Any Tupperware that is around that size should do. I then cut out the lid and hot glue some screen to it as shown below. I also cut some gutter guard (http://www.lowes.com/pd_11632-205-85198_0__?productId=3009380&Ntt=gutter+guard&pl=1¤tURL=?Ntt=gutter+guard&facetInfo=) and place that inside for the frass to fall through. You can raise it up with bottle caps or some equivalent.
If the silk worms are kept too humid they may develop mold or bacteria and die, I find that the container noted above works well. I have not had a mass die off to date.
Feeding the silk worms can be tricky. If you start them off on mulberry leaves it can be difficult to get them to eat the chow or any alternative later. I tend to use the silkworm chow from mulberry farms and also gutload with greens and carrots. You can feed them non-mulberry food; however they may not survive well without some mulberry in their diet. Chameleon forums member sandrachameleon has found that they did not thrive well unless they were offered at least 25% mulberry based food. If you run out of mulberry chow you can feed them greens and shaved carrots and they will survive temporarily. I have had some who were fed mulberry chow the first half of their life and then fed greens and carrots the second half. They survived until either fed off or cocooned. Those that cocooned did result in healthy worms.
Silkworms get their water from the food so it is not necessary to provide any type of water source.
I usually put enough food in the container to last up to 2 days. After about 2 days the remaining food may be dried and need replacing. I also use this opportunity to empty out any frass from the container. You can lift the gutter guard with worms on top and pour out the frass from the container. Be sure you have thoroughly washed your hands prior to touching the containers, worms, or food.
Here are some zebra silks just prior to cleaning the container.
This is how I raise the silk worms for feeding off to my chameleons. For the next steps and beginning of breeding see part 2.
Click here for Part 2
Click here for Part 3
When you receive the silk worms they are typically housed in a deli cup or “pod”. As silkworms have a low immune system you must be very careful with cleanliness and moisture. The pods are not ideal for growing the worms without bacteria or mold; therefore I usually move mine over to separate containers. I use the sterilite 6Qt (5.7 L) Tupperware containers that state they are for shoe storage. Any Tupperware that is around that size should do. I then cut out the lid and hot glue some screen to it as shown below. I also cut some gutter guard (http://www.lowes.com/pd_11632-205-85198_0__?productId=3009380&Ntt=gutter+guard&pl=1¤tURL=?Ntt=gutter+guard&facetInfo=) and place that inside for the frass to fall through. You can raise it up with bottle caps or some equivalent.
If the silk worms are kept too humid they may develop mold or bacteria and die, I find that the container noted above works well. I have not had a mass die off to date.
Feeding the silk worms can be tricky. If you start them off on mulberry leaves it can be difficult to get them to eat the chow or any alternative later. I tend to use the silkworm chow from mulberry farms and also gutload with greens and carrots. You can feed them non-mulberry food; however they may not survive well without some mulberry in their diet. Chameleon forums member sandrachameleon has found that they did not thrive well unless they were offered at least 25% mulberry based food. If you run out of mulberry chow you can feed them greens and shaved carrots and they will survive temporarily. I have had some who were fed mulberry chow the first half of their life and then fed greens and carrots the second half. They survived until either fed off or cocooned. Those that cocooned did result in healthy worms.
Silkworms get their water from the food so it is not necessary to provide any type of water source.
I usually put enough food in the container to last up to 2 days. After about 2 days the remaining food may be dried and need replacing. I also use this opportunity to empty out any frass from the container. You can lift the gutter guard with worms on top and pour out the frass from the container. Be sure you have thoroughly washed your hands prior to touching the containers, worms, or food.
Here are some zebra silks just prior to cleaning the container.
This is how I raise the silk worms for feeding off to my chameleons. For the next steps and beginning of breeding see part 2.
Click here for Part 2
Click here for Part 3
