Cleaning a Silkworm Cup

CamoTheChameleon408

CamoTheChameleon408

New Member
Hey guys,
I just got two cups of baby silkies from mulberry farms. The cup says to maintain the cup clean and dump out the poop but since the food sits at the bottom of the cup how do I clean it? With hornworms its easy cuz all the poop falls the the bottom onto the lid. Do I dump all the worms out onto a sterilized surface or paper towel and just dump out the poop and the clumps of silk? The only thing I know is that EVERYTHING has to be sterilized (hands and anything that comes in contact with them). Also, do I have to be delicate with them? I haven't cleaned it out since I got them about 3 days ago and it looks like it needs it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
I just threw out half a cup as they are very hard to clean and keep alive if you don't keep up with them.. They did last about 2 weeks though. They started to mold after 2 weeks cleaning the cup every week and all.. Everything was sterile when I cleaned them too.. I think it was a waist of money as I got both horns and silks.. Scratchie liked the horns more, but they are now 3in and probably out of his food range so I'm stuck with 3in horns now...
I should have bought one or the other.. But I called myself stocking up,,, what a mistake:D..
Best of luck with your batch..
 
LoL...I'm on the same boat...I purchased some hornworms and reptiworms (as mulberry farms were sold out of silkies). Then they had silkies so I ordered 2 cups of them and more hornworms since I thought i might as well save on shipping. Now my first batch of hornworms are almost 2 inches long and I'm trying to feed those off asap so I can start on the other hornworms before they get too big too...thats what happens when we try to save money....but yeah...so far Camo isn't too crazy about silkworms...hopefully he'll acquire a taste for them...
 
You can just dump em in a container and grate the food over them every day after the food is gone. Its much easier that way...and if they are baby worms the chow doesn't work very well for them because the chow itself can grow mold even if you cant see it and the moisture factor for them is all too much...mulberry leaves are the best choice for babies, Just make sure the container is new and the poop doesnt lodge in the food very often or theyll end up eating their own poop haha..thats the reason they will die because their poop attracts germs and the poop gets into the food and they eat the germs form their poop etc
 
Turn it upside down (lid down) prop it up with a pencil.(for air) Every day just open it over a trash can and clean out the frass. Simple and fast.
 
Hey guys!,
Thanks for the responses. I just spent the last hour picking out each silkworm from poop and the silk blobs they make. NOT FUN!...LOL...I will definitely turn the cup upside down (food up and lid down) to make it easier. I also picked out some of the bigger ones and put them in a pet carrier to try my luck at breeding. Good things is I have two big mulberry trees right outside so food should never be an issue. Wish me luck!
 
Are you saying you are going to try and breed the worms? They have to cocoon into moths and then the moths mate and lay the eggs. Not sure if you were aware of that!!!
 
I clean my silk worm containers out everyday. My silkworms last for about 5 weeks until they are all fed off. I don't use lids on the containers I keep them in so no condensation builds up. It seems to work pretty good whatever I am doing!
 
carol5208 said:
Are you saying you are going to try and breed the worms? They have to cocoon into moths and then the moths mate and lay the eggs. Not sure if you were aware of that!!!
Click to expand...

LOL...I am aware of that. When I was young someone gave me a few eggs and I was so excited to see their life cycle but at the time (I was probably around 7 or 8) I didn't know where to get mulberry leaves so they all died :(. So now I'm going to take on this challenge. And the ones I plan on growing are in a pet carrier with the screened in top so I don't think I should have a problem with condensation. As for the ones I plan to use as feeders, I am going to try to feed them off asap so I dont have any problems with mold or anything of the sort. I'm kind of excited hehe....
 
If there is food and they are not over crowded they won't leave. In places less humid than florida it is beneficial to use a lid completely on or partially on. Where I am it's too dry to leave a lid off (except spring-ish) and too humid to leave it all the way on. Wax paper does the trick rather nicely when I'm not using an incubator.
 
CamoTheChameleon408 said:
LOL...I am aware of that. When I was young someone gave me a few eggs and I was so excited to see their life cycle but at the time (I was probably around 7 or 8) I didn't know where to get mulberry leaves so they all died :(. So now I'm going to take on this challenge. And the ones I plan on growing are in a pet carrier with the screened in top so I don't think I should have a problem with condensation. As for the ones I plan to use as feeders, I am going to try to feed them off asap so I dont have any problems with mold or anything of the sort. I'm kind of excited hehe....
Click to expand...

lol! Not trying to insult your intelligence or anything!!! Just thinking, this poor person is gonna put these two worms together and think they are gonna make babies!!! haha
 
carol5208 said:
The containers are somewhat deep and they never try to crawl out for whatever reason!
Click to expand...

This reminded me of this one time when I had jumbo guys starting to cocoon. I had about 75-100 in less than 1/2 a square foot (very crowded) and in the morning I found silkworms everywhere! Most of them were trying to spin silk to pupate, but it was quite the adventure! Some of them were 8+ feet away from the container! I don't suggest you crowd them together like I did :)
 
pssh said:
This reminded me of this one time when I had jumbo guys starting to cocoon. I had about 75-100 in less than 1/2 a square foot (very crowded) and in the morning I found silkworms everywhere! Most of them were trying to spin silk to pupate, but it was quite the adventure! Some of them were 8+ feet away from the container! I don't suggest you crowd them together like I did :)
Click to expand...

ah, thanks for the headsup on that one!!! lol!!!
 
Ok...so I thought it would be a great to try to breed my own silkworms since I have quite a few from the ones I purchased. I thought "OH, i have a mulberry tree, so I'll always have food". Well I've done well for a week. I've kept them at the right temperature, i've cleaned their leaves dried them, made sure everything is sanitary and sterilized. And again, I thought it was all going great, they've already doubled in size and are eating voraciously. And then yesterday I cleaned out their enclosure, and while carefully removing the caterpillars, one of them started oozing milky white stuff. From what I remember reading i knew that was a symptom of grasserie. I threw the sick one away, cleaned and sterlized everything with alcohol. Put in new leaves etc. This morning I woke up to 2 more dead silkies. One seemed to have thrown up some reddish liquid and the other was just dead. BLAH! I am dissapointed but keeping my hopes up...but not too up...LoL...
 
They do tend to just die around the 1st and 2nd instars. Seemingly for no reason. I wouldn't worry too much yet.
 
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