sick silkworms or what????
- Thread starter Chamster
- Start date
dodolah
Retired Moderator
white liquid trail indicate your silkworms might have the sickness called grasserie. Most likely your whole colony is infected already.
I would take out all the silkies (except the one that is sick). and transfer them to a new clean container.. Although, I quite doubt this will do anything.
If it worked, then you should be able to care as normal; if not, you should see massive die out and your silkie should turn into goo pretty soon.
Sorry to hear it... sometimes it just happened. Silkies are very weak to disease as they have no immune system left due to the selective breeding and domestication for hundreds of years by human.
ColorCham427
Avid Member
seconds.. lol more like 2-6 days. hope the best! silkworms are a B!tch when it comes to this sort of "clean clean clean" business..
OldSkoolxReasons
New Member
The only time I've seen this happen with silkworms is if they were not cleaned everyday to every other day. I've never had it happen but it does and it is devastating. My cousin lost 1000 silkworms in 4 days flat. The only thing that would eat them after that were his fish, prob not a good idea to feed dead/ill silkworms to fist but the goldfish loved them and are still kicking. If I were you I would remover the sick silkworm and throw it out along with any they feel extra soft and can't move normally and get rid of them. Also any that came in contact with the sick one/white stuff I would quarantine in a separate container and only touch them after you have dealt with your still healthy ones. you can still save some of them hopefully as long as you caught it early enough some should survive.
Justin
Justin
ColorCham427
Avid Member
Note: Don't keep silkworms in a room with other feeders such as crickets, flies, anything that can escape.
Silkworms are easy to keep, but once this happens, there is very little hope.
If they're over crowded some could die from getting tangeled in the silk/dry poop media.
Once worms get past that 1 inch mark, they eat fast. But since yours were small, did their food last longer? Did you keep a lid on their container? Hopfully it didn't get too humid, that can do some damage, and surprisingly murder a few rather quickly.
Silkworms are easy to keep, but once this happens, there is very little hope.
If they're over crowded some could die from getting tangeled in the silk/dry poop media.
Once worms get past that 1 inch mark, they eat fast. But since yours were small, did their food last longer? Did you keep a lid on their container? Hopfully it didn't get too humid, that can do some damage, and surprisingly murder a few rather quickly.
dodolah
Retired Moderator
It is called a gut dump and it is something they must do in their 5th instar stage before they being to cocoon..
but if this happens at any other stage..be worried
even so, it should not be milky.
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Could indicate they are ready to pupate - how big are they?
dodolah
Retired Moderator
the pulsing line is normal.
That's when they are ready to become a cocoon.
But, they should not turn black.
Chamster
New Member
i got home and found a bad smell.....i found 5 worms dead....5 more kind of soft and starting to mush.....and about 10 more that i had a feeling were sick because theyre not moving and stand still...
i think its better to throw out more than i need because this way i make sure the disease is gone as opposed to throwing out less than i need and still have the disease there right.
now i dont know if i threw out any good ones but i think i got the situation under control.
i found 2 full circle cocoons when all this was happening.... i put the cocoons in front of a light and saw that the worms inside are working very hard which i think means theyre ok and not infected so thats good......
im keeping a close eye on the rest now.....i got about 25 today from 50 yesterday.... that is a MASSACRE.......
i think its better to throw out more than i need because this way i make sure the disease is gone as opposed to throwing out less than i need and still have the disease there right.
now i dont know if i threw out any good ones but i think i got the situation under control.
i found 2 full circle cocoons when all this was happening.... i put the cocoons in front of a light and saw that the worms inside are working very hard which i think means theyre ok and not infected so thats good......
im keeping a close eye on the rest now.....i got about 25 today from 50 yesterday.... that is a MASSACRE.......
whitespyder
New Member
yeah sometimes when my silkies dump their gut when theyre ready to cocoon theres some white frass or liquid in it. hopefully thats whats going on with some of them, but if some are getting black and stinky its probably not good. good luck!
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
I dont incubate them. Just leave them alone.
chamlover
New Member
Gotta love silkworms. If they weren't such good feeders i would have stopped getting them along time ago. And i agree. Cleaning doesn't have anything to do with them getting the disease. I spoke with Mulberry Farms about this for quite some time and sometimes just using something that isn't sanitized to pick them up (and possibly contaminate the container) is enough to do it. Like they said, no immune system.
