I originally wanted to breed silkworms for my upcoming chameleon, however after some thought I've realized that mulberry chow/leaves might get annoying to keep buying after a while. What worm has comparable nutrition to silks, can be bred with similar effort, but can eat and grow on regular food found in grocery stores.
Alternative to silk worms..
- Thread starter KRuehle
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Andee
Chameleon Enthusiast
There really is no comparable worm to silkworms. Hornworms have more water content, less protein, and less calcium though they are still high in both, and grow extremely fast. Black soldier fly larvae are tiny, take tons to fill up your cham, but are the highest calcium feeder, but when they are fed they smell and their set up for breeding... is interesting to say the least. Silkworms are easy to take care of, are low in fat, high in water content, pretty high in calcium, pretty high in protein, I just ended up buying a mulberry tree online. They grow like weeds but I kept it trimmed and feed my silks off it.
Davecameos
Avid Member
I wish we could get hornworms over here 
zlew
Member
Where'd you get your mulberry tree? I got a small one off of amazon and it died within two days, and I'd like to find one that has been growing a little bit longer.
Andee
Chameleon Enthusiast
I got a small tree off amazon and grew it, they are really easy to grow. I grew mine in the house for the first, I tthink six months to a year. They don't do well outside for the first few months, saplings never do. I don't usually transfer them to a very big pot. I transfer them to a smaller growing pot just a little bit bigger than their root system. I get an organic potting mix with organic fertilizers such as earth worm castings and stuff. It helps the little thing grow.
chamsarecool
Member
I just order the chow and eggs, it works out pretty well that way. When I lived in the midwest, Mulberry trees were very common. You could collect the leaves in some parts of the country pretty easily.
