little silkworm army i need to keep alive!!

[Neverland]

Hiyurr.. Wondered if anyone can help!
Just got my silkworms through the post thismornin and their tiny.. I also got some mulberry chow, on the pretence of keeping them and letting them get bigger..
Only problem is I literally have no idea how to keep them or what to do about heat or how much to feed them.. I kinda thought they'd come with instructions and Im a total silkworms noob !
Any help would be useful! :-D

 

[Psychobunny]

Keep at room temp (72 to 75F) and away from direct sunlight.
I keep mine in a plastic terrarium on my kitchen table with some
paper egg cartons on the bottom.

They eat a lot, like they are ALWAYS eating!! that's all they do!

They also grow very fast.
Kept dumping the leaves (lots of them) in there for them 2 eat, no water or anything else.

 

[ZuggieTheCham]

Hiyurr.. Wondered if anyone can help!
Just got my silkworms through the post thismornin and their tiny.. I also got some mulberry chow, on the pretence of keeping them and letting them get bigger..
Only problem is I literally have no idea how to keep them or what to do about heat or how much to feed them.. I kinda thought they'd come with instructions and Im a total silkworms noob !
Any help would be useful! :-D

You want to keep them clean!
Otherwise they WILL die, have you got any spare mesh lying around? You need something that their poo can fall thru so they aren't sat in it as they will die quickly, i clean mine out every other day, and put fresh food in every other day, but if u want them to grow fast as you said they are kinda small to feed off just feed them everyday and I've also noticed that they grow faster in the dark !! So i covered my tub with tinfoil and taped around it to stick in on and they shoot up!!

 

[Neverland]

Ohh thanks guys I'll get on the mesh finding.. Not sure were I'll be able to pick that up from tho.eek! They came with like leaf puree.. So they can have a lot of that lol
typical when I have a house full of a varied amount of bugs I think rocco is due a.shed so his appetite has reduced considerably! Tut! Haha thanks again.

 

[ZuggieTheCham]

Ohh thanks guys I'll get on the mesh finding.. Not sure were I'll be able to pick that up from tho.eek! They came with like leaf puree.. So they can have a lot of that lol
typical when I have a house full of a varied amount of bugs I think rocco is due a.shed so his appetite has reduced considerably! Tut! Haha thanks again.

no probs you can use that green mesh sort of stuff people use for there gardens to put around plants and things, try garden centres i ordered some off a website but i'm from the uk so i'm not sure were you could get it from in the us, how old is your cham? zuggie went on a strike and silks got him out of it!

 

[blackened]

I gave this advice to Kate, when she asked about keeping silkworms:

Mulberry chow is the only thing they eat. If you want to fatten them up feed them every day, if just keeping them alive every other day is fine.

Silkworms are very susceptible to bacteria. It's important to wash your hands thoroughly and sterilise all boxes and tools with boiling water.

They poop LOTS. You need to clean their poop out every day. This is made difficult by the fact that picking them up, especially with tongs or fingers, can bruise them easily and they will die. We just move them gently to one side of the tub and tilt it slightly so all the frass (poop) runs into one corner and you can scoop it out with a spoon.

We tend to get 2x20 tubs of medium worms. When they arrive we seperate them into 4 sterilised tubs (we reuse cricket tubs so that the air holes are already there). Then we keep them in the sitting room where it's warm & dry.

Reading above advice, I'd say that the mesh is a better way of doing it as it minimises contact with them.

Please note that I am NO expert. The above information has been collected from multiple sources and I cannot guarantee that it's all perfect.

 

[Kate]

You are grossing me out again John. Thinking about my package as I go to bed at night. Lol Might come next week but I will be sure I let you know about it!UGGH

 

[pssh]

I find that fewer die if I leave them alone and don't mess with them as much as possible. Mesh (I think its called plastic canvas) works really well to let the poop fall through to the ground so that cleaning only needs to be done every couple of days assuming it's dry and not wet.

 

[blackened]

You are grossing me out again John. Thinking about my package as I go to bed at night. Lol Might come next week but I will be sure I let you know about it!UGGH

Sorry . TBH, they're probably my favourite feeders to work with! Much easier than crickets and locusts. They maybe just require a tiny little bit more care.

They look really sweet. Maybe even sweeter when they turn into moths

 

[Neverland]

Ahh wow thankyou all.
Looking forward to seeing my little mites grow up lol
my chams about five months now and shed a month ago, he's still eating but not as much.. Could just be growing up!

 

[laurie]

Hiyurr.. Wondered if anyone can help!
Just got my silkworms through the post thismornin and their tiny.. I also got some mulberry chow, on the pretence of keeping them and letting them get bigger..
Only problem is I literally have no idea how to keep them or what to do about heat or how much to feed them.. I kinda thought they'd come with instructions and Im a total silkworms noob !
Any help would be useful! :-D

Link to a blog about them, hope it is what you need.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleoman/

 

[blackened]

Link to a blog about them, hope it is what you need.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleoman/

I'll find this very useful too!!! Thank you, Laurie

 

[AngieL]

You are grossing me out again John. Thinking about my package as I go to bed at night. Lol Might come next week but I will be sure I let you know about it!UGGH

Kate they are really cute! I'm not a bug fan but I love these little guys! The moths look like gizmo from gremlins

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/75/224671110_a564850718.jpg