More Silkworm help please!

[Miss Lily]

I posted before about preserving Mulberry leaves, and after advertising a 'wanted' on a local version of ebay I have someone offering me as many leaves as I would like from the tree in their front garden! Obviously I will make sure that no pesticides have been used and I will wash them very well after picking. I would like to freeze the leaves but how do I do it? If I freeze them in one lot, is it possible to then 'split' the pack of leaves to defrost and use as and when? How long do they keep their nutritional content in the freezer? Once defrosted will they 'keep' for a while in the fridge? I need some idea of how the freezing method works so I am prepared!

I have 6 silkmoth pupae at the moment and I am hoping that the moths will lay a nice batch of eggs so I can raise my own silkies! I'm very excited and I know the baby worms are going to eat a lot, so any help with freezing the leaves would be great!

Also, I have a carboard tube in the tub for them to lay their eggs in - is that ok or do I need to provide something else, like tissue paper or something? What do I do with the eggs once they've been laid? I've never managed to get this many to pupa stage before, so I don't have a clue what to do with them. I think I have just over a week before the moths emerge. Any help would be great! Thanks in advance!

 

[laurie]

Tiff send a pm to Franie, (Froggthecham) she raises lots of silkies. Also I googled making silk worm chow, and it was basically dry and grind mulberry leaves. if I could help you know I would.

 

[ColorCham427]

Making silkworm chow is nearly impossible. A whole lot more ingredients are used than most artificial chows for rearing all sorts of popular moths etc.

You need a sterile room, most of us chameleon keepers do not have such a thing. Unless of course you raise silkies on a larger scale!!!

 

[reptoman]

I posted before about preserving Mulberry leaves, and after advertising a 'wanted' on a local version of ebay I have someone offering me as many leaves as I would like from the tree in their front garden! Obviously I will make sure that no pesticides have been used and I will wash them very well after picking. I would like to freeze the leaves but how do I do it? If I freeze them in one lot, is it possible to then 'split' the pack of leaves to defrost and use as and when? How long do they keep their nutritional content in the freezer? Once defrosted will they 'keep' for a while in the fridge? I need some idea of how the freezing method works so I am prepared!

Hi Tiff, I used ziplock sandwich bags and blanched and froze enough for about a week for 100 worms or so per bag. When I thawed them out over the winter I just had enough in the bag to feed off until they were gone so I did not have to worry about the leaves being wasted. They will keep in the fridge about a week when frozen and thawed. Fresh leaves will keep well in the fridge for 3 weeks.

http://rms1.agsearch.agropedia.affrc.go.jp/contents/JASI/pdf/society/34-3405.pdf

This doc talks about the nutritional content of the frozen leaves. It gives instruction on the blanching time and the loss of nutritional value as that time increases.
Hope this helps!

 

[ladysilkworm]

Hi Lily,

all that stuff about preserving mulberry leaves are good to raise feeders, but I want to add, (not to discourage you) that newborn hatchlings will not be able to eat them. The mature leaves are tough and being that it is near autumn, the leaves are not very nutritious nor moist. The newborns need leaves with high moisture content, and these really come from bushes, not mature trees. I am not the one that is selling leaves to you obviously, but I have been requested by people who specifically needed bush leaves for the small worms. You should pick fresh leaves about an inch wide. With maturer leaves, even if you cut it up and shred them, you may not have 100% success. I just don't want to see you disappointed.

I find the easiest way to raise kegos is to feed them vermicelli thin chow.. let them grow to 1/4 inch long before switching to leaves..then they will be all good.

Hi Reptoman, I have not forgotten about you.. but the rant, hmmm.. j/k

And colorcham, I see you really don't like breeding silkworms. LOL. I find it very rewarding to raise them from the tiniest little dashes to 2 inchers, but I will say, it is quite a process before getting them to be half inchers. But as for water and mulberry powder, I do believe it will work. The only thing one may want to add, is some agar as a binding agent, if you are going to form it and crate it. Not to spam with advertisement, but I am coming up with a new way of dispensing chow that does not require crating or touching with hands and therefore minimizes contamination. Also, I have agar, hmm... I wonder if I should start selling that too. I also have the ingredients list that makes mulberry chow.. but you are right, it is too much of a hassle to make it yourself.


However, I have pure mulberry leave extracts, 100% grinded mulberry powder, packed in alum bags. Anyone care to try to make a viable chow??


And I also have a terrific recipe for hornworm chow.. but only wishing that the moths would emerge soon!

 

[silkworm]

When your moths out and couple for 3-4 hours, saparate the males from females and put the females on clean piece of paper inside an upside down bow. If you know how to check the moth's body fluid under microscope to rule out the eggs that are from unhealth mothers, then you need to put a single moth inside its own bow.

After laying out for 36 hours, if your eggs turn from ivory color to pink and get darker and darker the you eggs are either bi-life cycle or mono-life-cycle silkworms and will not hatch out. They need to be put in referigerator as an simulating winter. They will be hatched after 90 days(bi-life-cycle) or 120 days(mono-life-cyle). Temparature, humidity and light are the factors that influence on the hatching proccess.

 

[silkworm]

How to pick mulberry leaves, How to us syringe to squeeze silk worm chow

I just created an article to share with you guys how I use syringe to squeeze out silkworm chow. I also show you how I pick mulberry leaves.

Note: Pick right leaves to feed silkworms is very import if you raise silkworms to produce eggs. If you just raise silkworms as feeder for your pets, selecting leaves is NOT critical at all. It won't kill your silkworms. The worms just grow slower. Silkworm chow is mixed all kind of leaves but silkworms still survive and grow with that.
Here is the link http://www.silkwormeggs.net/blog/3-hatch-and-feed-silkworms.aspx

 

[Miss Lily]

I have eggs!

Last night one of the moths has laid some eggs!!! Trouble is she laid them on top of the cardboard tube rather than on the tissue paper in the bottom! It's all very exciting!!

 

[silkworm]

Spray water on them and wait about 4-5 minutes, you can scratch them off.
Let us know if they change color.

 

[nhoj6465]

I used wax paper then put the moths on top of that and let them have at it and when the eggs came out I would switch them into another bin with wax paper it's easier to scrap the eggs off of the wax paper.

 

[Miss Lily]

Spray water on them and wait about 4-5 minutes, you can scratch them off.
Let us know if they change color.

They have turned a kind of pinky colour today.