Silkworms - how to slow growth?

[Miss Lily]

You may remember that just before Christmas I had all my silkworm eggs hatch at once. Since then, Monty has been eating a few every day and about 40 or so are now too big for him and I hope to grow these and have them pupate and hatch, mate and lay me more eggs! My question is this - I have one tub of silkies that are smaller than the rest and I would like to slow down their growth so Monty can still take advantage of them for a while longer! I know that chams can have slightly larger soft bodied prey, but pretty soon the will all be too big for him. Is there a way to slow their growth? Do I just feed them less? Keep them cooler?

 

[carol5208]

I feed mine every other day or every couple of days. I want mine to grow but I don't want to keep buying the chow as it is expensive. I have used leaves before from a neighbors tree but they seem to die off after eating. She says she does not use insecticide but I don't know.... the feeding less seems to work for me!

 

[Goggles]

I was told a while back to put hornworms in the fridge to slow their growth. Not sure if the same goes for silks though.

 

[clarkrw3]

I was told a while back to put hornworms in the fridge to slow their growth. Not sure if the same goes for silks though.

No...they die I honestly never have tried much to slow them down....I have a hard enough time just keeping them alive

 

[Miss Lily]

Yes Rob, I know! They are so hard to raise, but this time (fingers crossed) they seem to be ok! I make up chow once a week or so, but I am convinced that the fact that they hatched when I was too busy to do much with them is the key to them doing so well! I just want to keep the smallest ones growing slower so Monty can keep having them.

 

[Miss Lily]

I suppose feeding them less often would slow them down too, but how long can silkworms be left without food?

 

[Chadbot]

Sounds like you need to do some experiments and report back with the info!