Best Batch of SilkWorms!

[Malicious]

I purchased 200 small Silk worms for Mulberry 3 weeks ago today. If you have ever ordered them, as many of you already know smalls are about the size of an eyelash hair. Not much use for feeding chameleons at that stage...

I always order 200 smalls, infact the last 8 orders have included 200 smalls. I like to raise them myself, I find it to be an acomplishment.

Anywhoo... Theres always well over 200, mabey 275-300 in that petrie dish, and getting all of them to survive is a challenge in itself. Well I am always trying new things to achieve total success, and this is the best batch so far!

I have lost 4 worms total in 3 weeks, and that was in the first week!! I know it's only been 4 since I hand clean and sort them daily...(I know, I have no life...) Practice makes perfect I guess!

I really hope the gang is up for some worm feasting, or I am going to be knee deep in jumbos real soon!


If that wasn't bad enough, I have 200 eggs warming on top of my cable box...

Do I have a sick worm fetish??? Do they even have meetings for that??







-Jay

 

[Powers]

Im interested in raising silkworms fron babies too. Raising from eggs seems to involved. How diffucult is it to do what you're doing?

 

[CleaTheChameleon]

jay i love your setups. You keep everything so organized, im giving you some rep points just being a very nice person and caring for your chams and worms

 

[SimonBolivar]

Hmm yo carefull.. looks to me like they up to something. Military organized fashion and all. They got uniforms too. Hmm
Call in the Chameleon Strike Team yo.

 

[codiwatkins]

wow Lucky Chameleons!!!

 

[laurie]

Ok so I can have my smalls sent to you and when they are med & large you can send them on to me. I just wish I were anywhere near as good with silkies as you are. Lots of my little silkies get to die before their time.

 

[Miss Lily]

Well done Jay! I lost half of mine - I think they got too much moisture from the carrot I fed them! I love the larger ones - they've got such cute little faces, lol! Looks like they have big brown eyes and a nose, kind of like a cartoon caterpillar. I feel bad when I feed them off cos they look so cute!

 

[chams1]

Im interested in raising silkworms fron babies too. Raising from eggs seems to involved. How diffucult is it to do what you're doing?

Jay - you are way too organized. I usually get mine from Mulberry Farms also and yes, you get way more than you pay for and they have quality stuff (although shipping is a drag).

I often raise my own silkies here and moreso in the summertime due to our large mulberry tree. It helps when you have an endless supply of mulberry leaves.... If you want to get some eggs, it's really easy. You just get them to at least 75 degrees (in the petrie dish) and then it will be 7-10 until they hatch. After they hatch, it is approx. 24 hours until you see they develop a white head. After that, then they can start eating mulberry leaves. Then you watch them grow (and they will go through mulberry leaves by the bag full) and they can get pretty huge if you let them. We usually get several hundred at a time and we separate them by size.

 

[warpdrive]

Hi Jay,

I'm realy glad you've posted pics of your silkies.
while I've been looking at all your ideas on silkworms, I too desided to just use small deli containers for size based seperation.

now while I'm not as anal as you. my goal is to also have little to no die-offs and ease of use for feeding.
this method works great and Splat is starting to eat silkies again.

to be honest, I still think that Splat wont eat any silkies if they even smell like "silkie-poop" a little bit.
but if I keep them clean, he has no problems eating them.

silly Splat, he makes me work so hard to make him happy.

in the end it's all worth it tho.

Harry

 

[AJA]

There is hope for me yet! I got a bunch in the other day and have them in a huge tub. Should I separate them into smaller containers? If they dont' eat the silk chow can I feed it to my dubai?

 

[chambabysitter1]

Jay - you are way too organized. I usually get mine from Mulberry Farms also and yes, you get way more than you pay for and they have quality stuff (although shipping is a drag).

I often raise my own silkies here and moreso in the summertime due to our large mulberry tree. It helps when you have an endless supply of mulberry leaves.... If you want to get some eggs, it's really easy. You just get them to at least 75 degrees (in the petrie dish) and then it will be 7-10 until they hatch. After they hatch, it is approx. 24 hours until you see they develop a white head. After that, then they can start eating mulberry leaves. Then you watch them grow (and they will go through mulberry leaves by the bag full) and they can get pretty huge if you let them. We usually get several hundred at a time and we separate them by size.

How long do you let them dip to 75 degrees for?
7-10 days they hatch after that?

 

[chams1]

How long do you let them dip to 75 degrees for?
7-10 days they hatch after that?

When I get them, they are usually cooler than 75 degrees so I have to bring them up to 75 degrees (our central air is set at 76-78 in the summer, so basically just room temps). Then you wait 7-10 days till they hatch (when kept at at least 75 degrees). Easy as pie.

Addition to my earlier post: We raise silkies all year round, but in the winter not so many from the egg due to the extreme cold here and no easy access to mulberry leaves. So, during the winter months, I generally purchase smallies from Mulberry Farms and then they feed on the food you get from them. Although, you can freeze mulberry leaves and then thaw them when you need them.

 

[AJA]

Julie, please send me one garbage bag full of mulberry leaves.

 

[chams1]

Julie, please send me one garbage bag full of mulberry leaves.

Fine, but I warn you: that garbage bag full will only last you less than a week (I'm serious....)

 

[merumontanus]

If they dont' eat the silk chow can I feed it to my dubai?

I suppose you could, but they'd probably end up dying in the interim. That's a loooong trip

Flawless larvae, Jay.

Fabián

 

[Malicious]

I have found that breaking them up and seperating them by size is the best way to keep them alive.

The 3 reasons you get dead loss silks are...


1. Bacteria: If your not clean and handle chow, containers, and the worms themselves your going to run into problems. Once a few die it seams to spread to the whole colony like wild fire.

2.Temp/Humidity: Too hot they cook, too cold they don't eat got dormit and die. Humidity also plays a big factor, too much and they basically drown and they die. If the chow is too wet or the container does not provide proper ventilation you run into problems.

3.Overcrowding: If you keep to many worms in one container the build up of silk traps smaller worms, they then starve or get crushed. The medium to large worms are far easier to care for then the smalls, as they are much hardier.



I keep them as shown in plastic apropriately sized deli containers with lids. I rest the lids on top and allow them to ventilate just enough to keep the chow from drying out to quick, and condensation from building in the container. The room temp averages from 72-80 degrees. I seperate them by size to keep the larger ones from trapping the smaller ones in the silk they produce. I also allow the chow to completly dry out between feedings, it makes it 10x easier to remove and seperate the worms from the poo and silk/poo mix. I feed them daily by placing thin strips of chow over the worms. Once the food is completly gone and the poo dries out, the poo is removed and the worms are fed again, usually in 24 hrs.



-Jay

 

[Fearaffect]

To much hassle....lol I hate silks and horns....all that worm poop is so annoying!!!
Its funny, I can reach into a glob of newborn boas...yes a glob!! but I get grossed out by worm poop.....mmmm

 

[ciafardo 4]

i suppose you could, but they'd probably end up dying in the interim. That's a loooong trip

flawless larvae, jay.

Fabián

hahahaha wise ass thats to funny!!!!!

 

[ciafardo 4]

Jay i bet your silks are kept better then some members chams! Very nice neat feeder station looks cool!

 

[Malicious]

These little devils are still going strong!! What the heck am I going to do with all of them, they can't eat them fast enough!!!