Hairy Babies!

[chefboyardee]

So originally I was only gonna buy a couple thousand and hatch them out as I needed. Coastal was generous enough to sell their previous stock of eggs at a killer deal so they had space for their new eggs, but couldnt ship w/ ice

result:

and then, a few days after hatching, kegos mixed in with 1st couple of instars:

They do eat A LOT... but I think a lot of the prepared chow can go to waste if its too dry, so mixing and cooking are pivotal. I also think using a small cheese grater works a lot better than just cutting slivers/slices, as those tend to mold or dry out and dont offer enough surface area for the worms to eat

No issues with mold or disease as of yet. Sanitation is obviously important, but keeping them in a container thats well aerated without getting TOO dry is important too. I cut large holes into the container and glue cloth over it; it seems to keep the airflow up and the moisture at a decent level.

I have a couple big tubs, and many individual tupperware containers and petri dishes. Ive set aside enough for my own purposes, but will need to do something with the rest. Sooooooo, socal hobbyists, Im countin on you guys to help me out w/ that.

BTW, kego apparently means "hairy baby" in Japanese

 

[chefboyardee]

So the little poop machines are finally starting to get big enough to attempt placing food on the periphery without worrying that they'll starve (yes theyre that dumb). They are about .5cm now, probably, Im terrible at guessing stuff like that

with any luck Ill be able to get rid of some of the old dried out stuff and frass

Im not even attempting anything with the big tubs yet:

 

[GabeCastro]

Thanks...

Gave me chills for a second. Thought those were maggot infested egg bins.

LOL

 

[laurie]

Holy Cheese and Crackers Batman!! that is a lot of silk worms. You really need to locate a mulberry tree near you. They are all over socal. I lived in Mission Viejo and half the schools had mulberry trees. Save you big bucks on that many worms. Then there are your friends....

 

[chefboyardee]

yeah Im tempted to just wander my undergrad campus and see if I can find any, just a bit paranoid about pesticides/residual pollution. For the time being I have enough of the powdered chow. I also will start mixing in shredded carrot and beet leaves when they get a bit bigger

I already have enough for my own cham stored separately, so once they get to about a half inch or so Ill be looking to get rid of most of them... so keep your eyes out in the classifieds!



maybe Ill have a pasta dinner and see how many of my friends notice?

 

[Psychobunny]

Wow! I have a bunch too that are just that size, only not nearly as many.

They are big enough to eat the fresh mulberry leaves i slice real thin and dump a ball of it in there.

And your right, if the food is even 1/4'' away from them, they are too stupid to find it and will die!!
You have to put them ON the food!!

PS. What's 'kegos'??

 

[robmd1]

yeah Im tempted to just wander my undergrad campus and see if I can find any, just a bit paranoid about pesticides/residual pollution. For the time being I have enough of the powdered chow. I also will start mixing in shredded carrot and beet leaves when they get a bit bigger

I already have enough for my own cham stored separately, so once they get to about a half inch or so Ill be looking to get rid of most of them... so keep your eyes out in the classifieds!



Lookin good.. I will keep an eye out I def want some...

 

[PattyCake]

I don't think I've seen so many silkworms at once in my life!

 

[chefboyardee]

PS. What's 'kegos'??

term for the little hairy hatchlings before they shed and hit 1st instar, I guess its a japanese term for 'hairy baby' makes sense


Im down about 1/4lb of powdered chow so far, not too bad for 25k hatchlings. I think using a fine grater is the key; it offers enough surface area for a lot of little worms to get food and prevents too much moisture/mold and doesnt waste chow

"operation: put food on the periphery" was suspended indefinitely due to the overwhelming failure of "operation: worms you need to move or you'll starve." So Im taking a new approach until they get bigger; Ill just allow them to feed until the food dries/gets old and then open their tubs an hour or two before adding new food. Hopefully, this will allow it the old food to dry out completely before I add new food

Once they hit 1/2" ill start them on shredded carrot, beet, collard greens, etc
Apparently as long as mulberry makes up at least 50% of their diet the worms do fine (and may provide some additional gutloaded benefits). Ill probably take a small portion out and divide it up on different gutloads and see if one particular veggie or mix of veggies is better than another

Also, beet leaves make the silk they create a slight red/pink color.... makes me wonder if there are other natural dyes in veggies that are strong enough to change the color of the worm...

 

[laurie]

maybe Ill have a pasta dinner and see how many of my friends notice?

Do it, do it and tape it for us.

 

[deadhd5]

Whoa! Thats a crazy amount of silkworms... You can probably get yourself a full robe out of all the silk they will produce

I have to hunt for Mulberry trees to raid as I don't have any on my property. They seem to need a lot of sun and I rarely see them in the woods, only on the borders of the woods. They seem to compete with Honeysuckle trees (and usually loose). I have found that along railroad tracks or roads are a great place to find them, but i prefer railroad tracks because I feel weird picking leaves off of trees while people drive by me and give me strange looks, haha.

 

[bbprinting]

I bought the 25000 also so I have the same insanity going on at my house too. I feed the premix chow for the first 4 days and now I moved them onto the leaves. I spent the last 2 weeks driving around my office and I have managed to find about 15 trees from here to my house so each day I pick from a different one and yes I get the looks, lol. I finally bought some sharp clippers so I can just go up and cut about 100 leaves and get out of there. I take them home and then wash each one off individually just to be sure. I just know I'll be posting in the next 3 weeks about the police asking me what I'm doing. One of the trees I found is in a cemetery just 1 block from my office and right after picking about 50 from there I drove off and saw a sign that says everything is being videotaped, lol oh well.

 

[deadhd5]

I have never washed my leaves and have had no problems. Do people put pesticides in trees?

 

[bbprinting]

I have never washed my leaves and have had no problems. Do people put pesticides in trees?

They spray for mosquitos all the time in Texas because of West Nile.

 

[chefboyardee]

I just know I'll be posting in the next 3 weeks about the police asking me what I'm doing.

"...Im not...doing anything..."

I have never washed my leaves and have had no problems. Do people put pesticides in trees?

I really think it depends on the grounds dept at wherever youre getting leaves from. Los Angeles doesnt have nature anymore, its all created and maintained so a lot of stuff is sprayed or the ground is full of fert

 

[chefboyardee]

hey all, bit of an update for those of you who use powdered chow to sustain your little babies:

I recently grabbed a 10ml syringe and have started using that in lieu of the grater to feed the powdered chow. Mixing the powder with a little more water or not cooking as long leaves it a bit mushier and really allows for easy feeding

the syringe puts down a bead thats a few mm wide in diameter; it weighs little enough to not crush the worms and holds enough size not to dry out too quick.

I was having flashbacks to eating toaster strudels as a kid:

after about a minute:

after about 5:

these guys are growing and taking up too much space though, so they'll be out sooner than I thought

 

[little leaf]

I wish I would have seen the egg deal - I have the opposite issue - I have like 20 trees, and almost no worms - lol I also use the syringe to feed - way less mess

 

[bbprinting]

I think yours hatched about 3 days before mine. I have mine in 10 different tubs. I have mine on all leaves now.

 

[chefboyardee]

I think yours hatched about 3 days before mine. I have mine in 10 different tubs. I have mine on all leaves now.

Non. Stop. Eaters.

its maddening, glad im not the only one with a mini-plague in their house

 

[bbprinting]

Non. Stop. Eaters.

its maddening, glad im not the only one with a mini-plague in their house

Lol, yea when I told my wife she screamed HOW MANY!!!!

Then when she calmed down she asked me why did I buy so many, I paused and thought "Because they were on sale" lol