Silkworm Chow

[camothechameleon]

Hi everyone,

I was at the reptile store near my house about three weeks, and I saw they had those containers with Silk worms in them. So for $14 I said, "I'll give it a shot." I figured since I had a few months until my roaches are ready to be fed off, and the cricket only diet is probably boring my little friend. So I picked up a container, but the worms were tiny. I shook it around and threw out all of the waste that had accumulated. Then I left the container on it's side so that they worms could access the food without the waste accumulating on it. I left it for about a week, pulling one or two out and feeding him. Then I went to look after the weekend, and the worms were enormous. I started feeding them off three to four a day. The best part is, that he has been so unfriendly prior to the introduction of the worms. Now he is still unfriendly, but I can hand feed him. I will try to post a video soon. It's hysterical, he hisses and puffs up, but still eats the worm. It's almost like he wants me to know that he is pissed, but not too full of himself to turn down a nice juicy worm.

Now, onto the issue that I ran into. I was feeding the worms off, but they pretty much finished off the food in the container. I didn't know what to do, So I just fed him as many as I could. I went back, and bought another container of worms this past weekend, and threw the few that made it from the first container, into the second container, with food. Now this batch was smaller sizes, but about twice as many. So, as not to run into the same problem as the first batch, I went and ordered the Silkworm Chow fromo Mulberry Farms.

Now, onto my question: (Sorry about the whole story, but I thought it would be entertaining, to say the least)
It says that it make chow 4 times it's weight. I am assuming that I will need to add something to it. What will I need to add? I am expecting the chow to arrive on Friday, and I just want to be prepared if I need to add something other than water. Thanks everyone

 

[JoshCrane1]

water is all you need, carefull to not use too much water or the chow will become runny, and hence the poo of the silkies will be runny and nasty; no fun cleaning that crap up.

 

[summoner12]

lol Chams LOVE silkies. If the container has the besh inside you can stand the up on its top with a pen under one side to prop up the cup for air to get inside. This way no poo is in the food. If you keep the cup at a cooler temp next time the worms won't grow so fast and you can keep them for longer. If you get coccoons from these worms... put the cocoon in the cage where he wo'nt eat it... when the coccoon opens up and the moth comes out he might enjoy it.. might not. good luck

 

[Nightoff]

Silkworm breeding

My little girl LOVES silks. She never eats in front of me and this morning she ate four silks off my hand. (She hadn't had any for a couple of months.) I haven't been working with silks for very long but have successfully hatched and raised silks to the point that they cocoon, emerge as moths, breed and then lay eggs. Once the fertilized eggs have been refrigerated for a while, I take them out to hatch then you start the cycle over. My first hatch rate was only about 50% but my second batch was more than 99%. I only have a one year old Jackson's so I often have silks that get too big to feed her and end up cocooning. I must have several thousand eggs in my refrigerator. My hope is to never have to purchase eggs again. We'll see.

Good luck.

 

[Dsignrguy]

add water, nuke, refridgerate.......instructions should be on the bag. You can also use fresh mulberry leaves (wash them first, and leaves get hard to find in winter). WARNING: once you give them fresh leaves, they wont eat chow anymore so you'll be stuck.