Best source for silkworm chow.

[Nicholashubbs410]

Hey guys, I just bought a bunch of silk worms. However, if there anything like hornworms they are going to go through their food in no time. I need to buy some additional food, and I was wondering if anyone had some advice. Does anyone know of a trustworthy source?

 

[janjan20]

One of our site sponsors morifeeders.com has some on sale right now and coastal silkworms sells it as well. The advice I was given and has worked well is to get a separate bin to put them in so you can control the food intake. This has worked well for me and I have had my current batch for a couple weeks now.

 

[PlowShredder]

Also beastmodesilks has that and mulberry leaves

 

[CamoChameleonsHuman]

I get mine by the lb from Ebay

 

[snitz427]

I get mine from coastal silkworms - they have been great!

 

[PlowShredder]

I get mine by the lb from Ebay

How are the prices? I usually see the 1/2" at $.40 and the big guys at $1

 

[RyanBRZ]

I recently bought a cup of 20 small silkies from MoriFeeders. 25 came in the cup with what is advertised as enough food to grow them into adults. I will order from them again for sure.

@Nicholashubbs410, get some of the silk chow, make the whole batch, freeze it in thick strips or cubes, then just take it out as needed.

 

[PlowShredder]

I recently bought a cup of 20 small silkies from MoriFeeders. 25 came in the cup with what is advertised as enough food to grow them into adults. I will order from them again for sure.

@Nicholashubbs410, get some of the silk chow, make the whole batch, freeze it in thick strips or cubes, then just take it out as needed.

How much was it for the 20 small silkies?

 

[RyanBRZ]

How much was it for the 20 small silkies?

14.99, shipped!

 

[MissSkittles]

I ordered 100 small silkies from Coastal for about $16 and they sent me about 200 of them! Have been up to my eyeballs in silkies! Also bought 2 lbs of chow from Coastal (but via eBay) for $40 with free shipping.

 

[RyanBRZ]

I think eggs are the way to go. A little annoying bringing them up, but good from a bang for your buck perspective and you can stagger their growth to keep good sized ones on hand at all times.

 

[MissSkittles]

I think eggs are the way to go. A little annoying bringing them up, but good from a bang for your buck perspective and you can stagger their growth to keep good sized ones on hand at all times.

I am having no luck hatching eggs. Got one silkie to hatch out of 250 eggs I bought. Let my silkies turn to moths and put some eggs aside on 9/21 and those haven’t hatched. Now trying some that I had put in fridge from then (only 3 days in so far). Is there some secret method to hatching eggs?

 

[RyanBRZ]

I am having no luck hatching eggs. Got one silkie to hatch out of 250 eggs I bought. Let my silkies turn to moths and put some eggs aside on 9/21 and those haven’t hatched. Now trying some that I had put in fridge from then (only 3 days in so far). Is there some secret method to hatching eggs?

I've hatched a few batches of eggs with success. I got my eggs from coastalsilkworms, used a hovabator incubator I had from years ago when I bred leopard geckos, but IIRC you can hatch them at room temp. I think the heat speeds up hatching.

 

[MissSkittles]

I think I didn’t have my first attempt warm enough. The eggs I put aside fresh from being laid are in a nice warm (about 80*) area. I wonder if not giving them a cold period affects hatching. The ones I just took from fridge are on top of cham cage by light for warmth.

 

[snitz427]

I am having no luck hatching eggs. Got one silkie to hatch out of 250 eggs I bought. Let my silkies turn to moths and put some eggs aside on 9/21 and those haven’t hatched. Now trying some that I had put in fridge from then (only 3 days in so far). Is there some secret method to hatching eggs?

I keep mine up next to my cham’s t5 lights now that its colder. They most likely need the 2-3 months in fridge to overwinter, due to cooler ambient temps. In summer I can get them to hatch within 2 weeks of being laid but now Im hatching 100% of the refridgerated eggs with excellent hatch rates.

 

[RyanBRZ]

How long do they last in the fridge?

 

[snitz427]

How long do they last in the fridge?

I believe the hatch rate declines after 6 months but still hatchable.

 

[Hashtag ChamLife]

I'm not 100% on this, but I seem to remember one of the site sponsors mentioning there was an issue with their eggs. Beyond that, I have been hatching eggs myself about 8 or 10 times. Recently however, my last 3 and working on the 4th batch of 500 eggs have all had about a 3% hatch rate. I literally just got done sending an email off to "Mulberry Farms". If it were just one or two batches that didn't hatch out, I'd just say it was my fault. But the last 3 times I've been ultra sterile, used fresh bins, changed their locations.... but nope. I still have about 1600 "unhatched" eggs. The last two times I've taken pictures daily of temps and RH... it's an issue with the product I'm afraid.

That being said, I did buy their silkworms (since I couldn't get the eggs to hatch...) I bought 6 cups (the $6 cups as I have food) of 20 worms each for a total of 120. When I received them I had a "free" cup and each cup was over filled. I ended up with just at 200 worms which was great. Since my eggs aren't hatching and I have 9 mouths to feed... well they just don't last! Yay for my new roach connection though!

Up till recently the eggs are super easy... just throw them food every now and then. Just as easy as roaches or crickets imho.

 

[snitz427]

I get mine from coastal silkworms - they have been great!

I don't know why I can't edit my earlier post (@Brad ?).... but wanted to clarify that I get my CHOW from coastal. I got my original zebra and black eggs from them as well, and used them to start breeding and getting my own eggs. Can't speak for their live silkworms as I've never tried them, but their customer service has been great.