Silkworm Mulberry Leaf Feeding Tips Needed

[Masterplan]

Kind of a dumb series of questions, but here goes: I bought a container of tiny silkworms and decided to test leaf feeding vs the jar food they came with and had mixed results. A few feeding off of fresh leaves in a large Tupperware tub grew healthy and fast but several melted away and died (silkworm style). The silkworm container food ones mostly did fine. They didn't grow as fast as the few successful leaf-fed ones but mostly stayed alive. My question: I have a healthy mulberry tree in my yard and figure to capitalize off of that while I can. What's the best way to provide leafs to small silkworms? Tear up the leaves? Serve them whole? Drop the branches with some leafs attached in the silkworm tub? Stack new leaves on top of the silkworms daily? Place the silkworms on the leaves? I know its'a lot of questions! But, someone out there has this down!

 

[Steve A]

While I can't really comment much on how to use the actual leaves (I would probably just rip them into medium sized pieces and drop them on top of the silkworms), I will say that I only use container food and I always have some die off here or there. They just kinda.....wither away. It's weird. IDK if those ones aren't really eating, or the others kill them somehow? (I swear it seems like they bite each other at times). But yeah I see them die here or there too. Nothing crazy, but it happens. It's not abnormal for me to lose 1-2 every couple-few nights. But for the most part my silkworms grow very fast on the chow, and they seem to be healthy for the most part. Spike has 0 complaints!

 

[Masterplan]

While I can't really comment much on how to use the actual leaves (I would probably just rip them into medium sized pieces and drop them on top of the silkworms), I will say that I only use container food and I always have some die off here or there. They just kinda.....wither away. It's weird. IDK if those ones aren't really eating, or the others kill them somehow? (I swear it seems like they bite each other at times). But yeah I see them die here or there too. Nothing crazy, but it happens. It's not abnormal for me to lose 1-2 every couple-few nights. But for the most part my silkworms grow very fast on the chow, and they seem to be healthy for the most part. Spike has 0 complaints!

Thanks of the perspective. Yep, even a few of the jar food ones died on me! I'm hoping to hear from others about how they have leaf-fed in their own experience to see what the best practice is on that. I almost feel like the large leafs I introduced were too thick for the baby teeth on the small worms!

 

[Steve A]

Thanks of the perspective. Yep, even a few of the jar food ones died on me! I'm hoping to hear from others about how they have leaf-fed in their own experience to see what the best practice is on that. I almost feel like the large leafs I introduced were too thick for the baby teeth on the small worms!

hmm I want to say that's possible but then how would they have survived when they were alive in the wild? I know they're extinct in the wild now but surely, they thrived in the past.

You could be right though. That's interesting. I want to hear what others say as well. I keep thinking of trying to find a way to go natural leaf (I don't have mulberry trees though so idk where to get them from lol) but maybe the chow is the better route to go.

 

[nightanole]

I have only used leaves.

I get a tub with an open top
i mulch the leaves using a cheap food processor
i place hatched worms on mulch
i do this once a day till worms are in their final instar and turn white
after that its just a handful of leaves per day
Once they are good eating size i limit new leaves to every other or every third day


I never clean leaves
i never clean tub
i never remove old leaves

The worms just always crawl to the top layer over time

I never return worms to the bin if i touch them

 

[Steve A]

I have only used leaves.

I get a tub with an open top
i mulch the leaves using a cheap food processor
i place hatched worms on mulch
i do this once a day till worms are in their final instar and turn white
after that its just a handful of leaves per day
Once they are good eating size i limit new leaves to every other or every third day


I never clean leaves
i never clean tub
i never remove old leaves

The worms just always crawl to the top layer over time

I never return worms to the bin if i touch them

View attachment 355368

Wait.......you don't have to clean up their poop and pull them from it daily!?!?!?

 

[nightanole]

Wait.......you don't have to clean up their poop and pull them from it daily!?!?!?

View attachment 355369

Nope. the tub gets cleaned once per batch. So ill have weeks worth of "leaf litter" might be 6" thick at the bottom before the worms start cocooning. leaves go in, worms come out. Once you start "cleaning" etc is when they start catching colds and dying off.

 

[Steve A]

Nope. the tub gets cleaned once per batch. So ill have weeks worth of "leaf litter" might be 6" thick at the bottom before the worms start cocooning. leaves go in, worms come out. Once you start "cleaning" etc is when they start catching colds and dying off.

That's incredible. I have a setup with my crickets that allows me to do no cleaning except between batches. I am going to look into this and see if I can find a way to get my hands on the leaves. If anyone has a source for mulberry leaves I'd love to know where I can get some. I suppose I could try growing a tree here.... but I heard they grow slow.

 

[nightanole]

That's incredible. I have a setup with my crickets that allows me to do no cleaning except between batches. I am going to look into this and see if I can find a way to get my hands on the leaves. If anyone has a source for mulberry leaves I'd love to know where I can get some. I suppose I could try growing a tree here.... but I heard they grow slow.

Good luck, they are picky bastards. They will not eat leaves that were frozen months ago. they wont even eat the leaves from the fallen branches from a storm that are only a few days old. Id say after about 48 hours them leaves are no good.

I just happen to have a bush outside of work.

 

[Steve A]

Good luck, they are picky bastards. They will not eat leaves that were frozen months ago. they wont even eat the leaves from the fallen branches from a storm that are only a few days old. Id say after about 48 hours them leaves are no good.

I just happen to have a bush outside of work.

ahh ok. Do you have any ideas on what I could replace as the mulch for this setup? I can just continue using the chow if I can find the correct mulch I'd imagine?

 

[nightanole]

ahh ok. Do you have any ideas on what I could replace as the mulch for this setup? I can just continue using the chow if I can find the correct mulch I'd imagine?

Uh mulch= chopped up mulberry leaves. Its not real mulch.

Hmm. i wonder if you could just use normal (maple?) leaves with chow on them vs chow on a paper towel?

 

[Steve A]

Uh mulch= chopped up mulberry leaves. Its not real mulch.

Hmm. i wonder if you could just use normal (maple?) leaves with chow on them vs chow on a paper towel?

Right I understand lol but I mean why could I use in replacement? I'm partially afraid to just use maple leaves from outside due to contamination. But it would be nice to come up with something. hmm

 

[nightanole]

Right I understand lol but I mean why could I use in replacement? I'm partially afraid to just use maple leaves from outside due to contamination. But it would be nice to come up with something. hmm

Shredded lettuce coated in chow?

 

[MissSkittles]

My most recent batch of around 1300+ silkies has made me start wondering how I can easily remove them from the old dried chow and their poop without having to carefully move each one. Out of such a huge number of silkies that I was having to move at least every other day, there was almost no deaths until they’ve started cocooning. I’ve used gutter guard before to keep the silkies out of their poop, but many fall or climb thru to the bottom and never figure out how to climb back up to reach the chow and then they die.

 

[Steve A]

Shredded lettuce coated in chow?

That actually sounds interesting. Not like that would harm them or anything. Though I'd be worried about the lettuce going bad quickly. Maybe I worry too much