silkworms from the east coast

[whitespyder]

im interested in purchasing some silkies for my cham but it seems that all the sellers are on the west coast. do you know any silkworm breeders that sell them on the east coast? its the overnight shipping cost thats preventing me from buying them from Cali lol..

 

[jannb]

I buy here: www.coastalsilkworms.com

 

[warpdrive]

I order 90% of my feeders from http://www.mulberryfarms.com/

yes the shipping on standard overnight is not cheap and can be almost as high as the cost of the bugs.
but to cut down costs, I order the following...

25 butterworms...they keep in the fridge for at least two months.
a cup of hornworms...ask for small ones, and slowly feed them off. keep in the fridge every other day to slow their growth. you'll toss out half of them, but they make a great feeder.
50 small superworms...some will be large enough to use right away, the rest you can grow up untill ready.
100 small silkworms...they will come way too small to use right away. so start feeding the hornworms, then the supers that are ready, then the butters, then your silkworms will be ready to start feeding.

buy a cup or two of 100 crickets to add in to the mix and you wont pay any extra for the shipping.
just remember to buy smaller then you'll need as you will only be feeding crickets every other day or so, and they will grow almost as fast as your silkies and hornworms.

total price should be around $100 with overnight shipping, but that's for a months worth of food for your cham...maybe even more.

Harry

 

[AncientCritters]

Im in Cali and I buy from Coastal all the time. I dont see why it wouldnt work for you being your closer.

 

[whitespyder]

thanks guys! i didnt realize coastalsilkworms was on the east coast and i even went to that place first to look

warpdrive, maybe ill consider mulberryfarms because i am interested in getting phoenix worms and small superworms as well. ill check out both places and see which one comes to being the cheaper one

 

[SingingShooter]

Why No Silk Worms?

Does anyone know why a lot of the distributors are saying out of stock? I'm trying to give my veiled more variety, but it is hard to find a distributor that still has them in stock

 

[carol5208]

I have been checking with Coastal for weeks now and no silks. I think they have a run on them sometimes but I know of once occasion where there was some type of disease that wiped out their whole product.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I buy here: www.coastalsilkworms.com

I also buy from Coastal. I only buy eggs. They can be mailed and I just hatch them myself. The eggs are not as delicate as a live worm and it is a lot cheaper to have them mailed.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I have been checking with Coastal for weeks now and no silks. I think they have a run on them sometimes but I know of once occasion where there was some type of disease that wiped out their whole product.

I just ordered some eggs last week. Try buying just eggs and hatch them yourself.

 

[shrum]

The silkworm shop always seem to have stock. They are a little bit more money but I get great hatch results from the eggs.

 

[lainezor]

im trying to buy some from mulberry farms and they say they ship internationally but the country selection box only has US and Puerto Rico... i live in Ontario Canada

 

[jajeanpierre]

I just ordered some eggs last week. Try buying just eggs and hatch them yourself.

My eggs (500) were less than $15 shipped.

 

[PascalsWager]

So who would be the most reasonable supplier of eggs on the west coast? The overnight shipping live feeders is just too cost prohibitive for one small chameleon.

 

[jajeanpierre]

So who would be the most reasonable supplier of eggs on the west coast? The overnight shipping live feeders is just too cost prohibitive for one small chameleon.

Coastal ships both east and west. Their pricing is a little funny. They'll sell you eggs and ship for free, but the same eggs that you pay for shipping cost a few dollars less (maybe $3). I wish they would just say, eggs are so much and offer the shipping at the price of first class mail.

Hatching the eggs is the cheapest because you don't have to have expensive shipping. You also need food. So if you are using Coastal, buy the cheap eggs and the food and pay for priority mail. If you have access to mulberry leaves, you don't need the food.

 

[JoCarp]

I just ordered an egg kit setup from costal. How long would you all say it takes from receiving them to being able to feed them off? I saw it can take around a week for them to hatch. I'm new to this so I was trying to get a better grasp before they show up. A brief rundown of the process would be greatly appreciated from someone who has done this before. I read their care instructions, but more info always helps right?

Thanks!

 

[jajeanpierre]

I just ordered an egg kit setup from costal. How long would you all say it takes from receiving them to being able to feed them off? I saw it can take around a week for them to hatch. I'm new to this so I was trying to get a better grasp before they show up. A brief rundown of the process would be greatly appreciated from someone who has done this before. I read their care instructions, but more info always helps right?

Thanks!

How many eggs did you buy? How long they take to hatch depends on your temperatures. My first bunch of eggs were kept really cold (winter) and they took weeks to hatch.

They are really tiny when they hatch and take a few weeks to be big enough to use. I'm feeding some I ordered May 28th. They are fairly small, maybe an inch long.

If you have mulberry leaves, they are really easy to transfer from the petri dish to wherever you are keeping them. You can adjust growth by how often you feed.