Silkworm Science Fair

[Ellron]

Hey guys!
I need some ideassss...
In early preporation for my Science Fair Project this year, I want some ideas.
I know I want to do a silkworm related project, but I don't know what about.
Here are some of my ideas....
1. Petri dish incubated at same temperature , but one of the dishes has the silkie eggs surrounded by magnets. Do you guys think that would effect the development of the eggs?
2. Heres a pretty complex one.
I take the petri dishes before hand, and in one petri dish I would put a couple of lemon juice drops ( as an acid ) and let it evaporate in the sun leaving a thin residue.
Then in another I would use water and do the same proccess, letting it evaporate.
Do you guys think the eggs that sat on the acid ( lemon Juice ) would do better or worse than the ones sitting on the watered petri dish.

Do you guys have any other ideas?

 

[Eltortu]

If you feed them some carrots, they will spin orange silk!

 

[Ellron]

Cool!
Can they live off carrots?
Or do you just feed everyone and a while to get their silk orange?

 

[Eltortu]

Yes, just as they get in to 1- 1.5 inches feed them some carrots, not as a staple but twice a week as a treat.

 

[Ellron]

Alright cool.

 

[Ace]

If you feed them some carrots, they will spin orange silk!

That's cool!!! I will try that out once I get silkies... But as treats of course

 

[Syn]

If you eat enough carrots you turn orange, kind of like those kids on Jersey Shore.

Too much red dye (as in frosting) makes your excrement red.

Good luck on your science experiment.

 

[Eltortu]

Shredded carrots that is...

 

[Ace]

If you eat enough carrots you turn orange, kind of like those kids on Jersey Shore.

Too much red dye (as in frosting) makes your excrement red.

Good luck on your science experiment.

Yet another comment on jersey shore...
Not from you Syn personally but just been hearing about it lately...

 

[Eltortu]

Too much red dye (as in frosting) makes your excrement red.

Holly Molly!

 

[Ellron]

Thank for all the great ideas guys!

 

[Syn]

Yet another comment on jersey shore...
Not from you Syn personally but just been hearing about it lately...

I've never watched the show. Never will, either. However, that doesn't stop my news feed on FB from filling up with that garbage.

 

[kinyonga]

I think the experiment might be very interesting if you tried an electro-magnetic field near the eggs when trying to hatch them....just something that I would be curious about!

 

[KingJulien]

I like the orange silk idea. what if you dyed the oranges red or black (plant them in dyed water) and got them to spin other colors?

If you hurry it would look super cool for halloween.

 

[Ace]

I like the orange silk idea. what if you dyed the oranges red or black (plant them in dyed water) and got them to spin other colors?

If you hurry it would look super cool for halloween.

awsome let the experiment commence!!!"buwahahah"

 

[ladysilkworm]

Thank for all the great ideas guys!

I tried dying the chow with red dye, because in CHina a dyed chow is sold, in blue, purple and red. But sadly the experiment did not work. After one week on this red chow that I made they didnt turn red.

so, i got the color chow imports sent to me from China.

I sell them on my website in 2 weeks and on ebay. If you want them you can send me separate email. they turn the white worms into magic purple, cotton candy, and glowing cyan. Of course their silk cocoon will take up that color too.

For pictures you can see them on my fan page ladysilkworm.

I don't know if that makes a good science experiment because it is not original.

however, you can do a comparison of sorts.

Also, for hornworms, you can also use different color combination and make them take a diff hue. This explains why horns fed on wheat germ is teal and fed on leaves is green. The leaves have the carotenoid pigments in them. If you can dye the horn worm chow red you will probably get a purplish hornworm.

the lemon juice (I think it is alkalinic instead of acidic) is not going to harm the eggs.. there is such thing as an acid wash, where eggs are dipped into HCL acid for some time to 'damage' the egg's outer shell and allow more Oxygen exchange.. this breaks the eggs out of diapause and make them hatch when they are not supposed to hatch..

 

[ladysilkworm]

this is a picture of the silkworm color chow sent to me from manufacturer..