Does anyone else suck at silkworm-ing? Or is it just me?

[pssh]

Tried that. They still died. The ones that only got one feeding just grew slower (well the survivors anyways.) I have tried changing all the variables that I could think of!

 

[sandrachameleon]

I feed mine 2 - 4 times a day, so its not frequency of eating

 

[silkworm]

I have no idea what i'm doing wrong! I have an incubator that keeps them at 80 degrees, I use clean materials, fresh leaves, and they still die! I clean the poops and move them to a new clean container everyday and I feed them 3 times a day. I wash my hands for a minute with antimicrobial soap before i handle them, and if i touch anything unsterile I wash them again. The babies have more of a tendency to die on me (like 75% of my usual 1000-2000 babies.) what the heck? I'm using the same sanitary procedures that I use to pierce myself (I'm very cautious about this, I don't mess around with germies!). Everything is cleaned super well and they still die... I can raise a few to pupation, but I want more dangit!

I must just suck at bugs...

Can you take pictures of death ones and share with us.
How big the silkworms are?
I think about poisonous leaves. Here are the symptoms
Right after eating, the worm painfully spins around themselves (look like crocodile death roll)
Spout out water. They try to eliminate the poison.
Die with and Death body has the heads look bigger than the other ends.

 

[pssh]

Nope, they just die. They look like normal silkies except on their sides. When you poke them there is no response. They are just slightly more squishy than a live one, but not so much that I can't pick up a 1/4" with my fingers and not smash it. They generally die before 3/8"-1/2" (before they turn grey-white)


Triple negative. Yes, they're real

 

[holliehawk]

This is from the Mulberry Farms site:
"5) CLEANING: Many customers have reported that the more the worms are handled and their containers cleaned - the more they experience a die-off. It is not necessary to clean the worms containers (until they get large) as long as the old Chow is allowed to dry-out thoroughly before each new feeding. Old damp chow is a breeding ground for mold and other problems, dry chow is not."

 

[pssh]

Silkworms evolved and became domesticated just to spite me! I finally figured out the worms, but now they suck at pupating! Out of my 25+ worms that I let cocoon, only two pupated correctly. I decided to cut open a few of the cocoons to see why they were taking so long. Most of them were dried up worms or squishy pupae! I only have one fat one, and one skinny one that are alive!

Silkworms suck...

 

[Lil nasty]

get it down so i can come buy some