New Silkworms-some are mushy

[drexciya]

I recently purchased my first batch of silkworms from Mulberry Farms. I made the chow as directed and have the silkworms feeding. I'm noticing that there are quite a few silkworms that have turned mushy and seem to be almost "melting" away to goo. Is this some kind of infection and has it spoiled the entire patch of silkworms? I've been extra careful not to touch them with dirty hands, etc.


Drexciya

 

[chamlover]

Get rid of the infected ones right away or they will all get it. Then you have to clean the container to make sure you got out all the bacteria. If you don't they will all die and rather quickly. I would contact them and tell them because they shouldn't go bad that quickly. I just got some from them and they all died within 1 week. When i emailed them and asked them what i did wrong, they told me they had a bad batch of worms in 1 room that other people complained about also and promptly replaced them. It is not the first time they have done that, they really do stand behind their product. Remember, when you touch silkworms, they have no immune system and if you don't sterilize everything that comes into contact with them, (your hands, tweezers,etc) they will also die. Mulberry Farms i believe has a care sheet that is very informative about them. Boy, i know way too much about worms.lol..

Debby

 

[chamlover]

Just remembered, did you touch the food with anything that wasnt sterilized? If you did you might have to through that batch out and make a new one. Contact the company and talk to them.

Debby

 

[dodolah]

sounds like some of your silkie has been infected by grasserie.
If you want to try to save the rest, you can throw away all the infected ones and get the healthy one to a new container.
But, i highly suspect that those healthy ones have already infected as well.

Avoid giving the "bad" silkies to your cham.
Since those silkies might taste bitter, your chameleon might develop a hate relationship with silkies for a while.

My suggestion really: if within couple of days those healthy silkies turn mushy again, you have no choice but to dump all of them.

I recommend everybody to use nitrile gloves when handling silkies.

hope that helps

 

[chamlover]

Dodolah, Someone on the forum mentioned a neat trick and i wanted to get your opinion. They said to use a net cloth and place new food on top, then place cloth on top of silkies. They said sick ones can't climb through, but healthy ones can. Then you just lift up the cloth, healthy silkies and all, and place in new container. Your right, everytime i have had one go bad, the rest usually follow, but i had never tried moving them all to a new container right after. Just was told that.

Debby

 

[dodolah]

yes, the netting technique is technique used by silkworm farm in India.
Sick silkies are usually lame and unable to climb. The trick is getting rid of them before they start oozing liquids that are highly infectious to others.
Also sometimes grasserie infected silkies loves to climb all over the place (restless) instead of eating, watch out for those silkies. They also leaves milky trail wherever they go.

check this link:
http://www.wormspit.com/netting.htm

as far as my advice in moving the "healthy" one to a new container, it is really a desperate attempt to save them, although I did mention that most likely all of them already infected by grasserie.

Since i suspect some of the silkies are already pop, there is a huge chance the liquid has already "stained" the old container.
Therefore that old container should not be used for healthy silkies at least until it gets cleaned.

My suggestion to clean the container is by submerging the whole container in a bleach solution (10 part of water and 1 part of bleach). Leave it for at least 30 minutes and then rinse real well until the bleach fume is no longer there.

After that, Sun dried them outside for a long time.

When you are about to use the container, wash it again with antibacterial soap and dry it with paper towel.

 

[drexciya]

Is there a health concern for the Chameleon, other than the bad taste, if I feed her the ones that appear healthy until I can get a new batch? Can this infection pass on to the Chameleon?

 

[dodolah]

as far as i know, there is no threat of cross infection.
However, the concern is that your chameleon might associate silkworms with bitter taste or bad insect. He might no longer view it as food.
And in my opinion, that reason alone is enough for you to throw away the whole batch.

Silkworm is far too good in nutrition wise. You want to avoid your chameleon develop a permanent hate relationship with this feeder.

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

After years of buying silkies I've decided that when they are good, they stay good and when they are bad, they were probably doomed (exposed to the disease) at birth (Maybe even the eggs are infected?) and not much will save them. Gloves, no gloves etc., if you started with a clean container and healthy silkies they'll stay good all the way to cocoons in a household environment. It seems that what will kill them comes with them from the source and doesn't seem to exist in our normal household environments. Some of this experience comes from splitting orders with other keepers and watching how each batch does in different environments... Good stays good and bad goes bad . I've experimented with high/low humidity, wet/dry silkies, handled food, old food, leaves, chow, hot/cold; the most I could do with all of those variables was make them grow faster or slower but not turn them to mush.

I am pretty careful with making the food so that I don't end-up with a container of "fuzz". I just sanitize the final container that the slices go into after cooking and cooling.

When mulberry leaves are in season, I'll pick a 100 at a time, soak in water for 1 to 8 hours, drain and then bag them all together while wet. They'll last 2 weeks stored in the frig that way with no problems .