Silkworms

I've hatched my own eggs before, here's my experience:

1. When you buy eggs you normally get 250+. Since these have already been chilled, they do not have a long shelf life when they get to you so you pretty much need to hatch them all when you get them. The first time I bought eggs I thought I could keep the eggs in the refrigerator and take X out as needed for hatching. This is not the case.

2. You need to constantly replace the mulberry chow (if you do not use real leaves), it dries up pretty quickly. I've since learned from buying silkworm cups that if you keep the mulberry chow and silkworms in a container with only a few air holes, it stays moist much longer.

3. Cleaning poop daily is recommended, they poop a lot as they get bigger.

Since I have only 1 chameleon, I found it easier to buy 25 small silkworm cups at a time. If you buy them small you can feed them off once they grow to a decent size and as time goes on the worms remaining in the cup get larger and larger (obviously); what I am getting as is buy them small, not as adults unless you can feed them all off relatively quickly otherwise they will begin to cocoon on you at some point. A cup of 25 lasts me a few weeks with 1 adult panther male, mixing silkworms in with other feeders. You can control growth rate based on the temperature. When I first get my cup I keep them on top of my cage near the basking lights, this gets the cup to around 75-80F which is a good temp range for growth. When I want to slow down growth I put them (the cup) on the floor.

It's a bit of work but they are a good staple feeder.

Here's a cup I got a week or so ago from mori feeders (site sponsor)
IMG_20200425_142124.jpg
 
I followed @snitz427 instructions and have had good success with breeding my own. I never had any success with my three orders of eggs, so just let some bought silkies cocoon and make eggs. I’ve found that I have the best success with hatching the eggs if they’ve been in the fridge for at least 2-3 months.
 
RyanBRZ said:
I've hatched my own eggs before, here's my experience:

1. When you buy eggs you normally get 250+. Since these have already been chilled, they do not have a long shelf life when they get to you so you pretty much need to hatch them all when you get them. The first time I bought eggs I thought I could keep the eggs in the refrigerator and take X out as needed for hatching. This is not the case.

2. You need to constantly replace the mulberry chow (if you do not use real leaves), it dries up pretty quickly. I've since learned from buying silkworm cups that if you keep the mulberry chow and silkworms in a container with only a few air holes, it stays moist much longer.

3. Cleaning poop daily is recommended, they poop a lot as they get bigger.

Since I have only 1 chameleon, I found it easier to buy 25 small silkworm cups at a time. If you buy them small you can feed them off once they grow to a decent size and as time goes on the worms remaining in the cup get larger and larger (obviously); what I am getting as is buy them small, not as adults unless you can feed them all off relatively quickly otherwise they will begin to cocoon on you at some point. A cup of 25 lasts me a few weeks with 1 adult panther male, mixing silkworms in with other feeders. You can control growth rate based on the temperature. When I first get my cup I keep them on top of my cage near the basking lights, this gets the cup to around 75-80F which is a good temp range for growth. When I want to slow down growth I put them (the cup) on the floor.

It's a bit of work but they are a good staple feeder.

Here's a cup I got a week or so ago from mori feeders (site sponsor)
View attachment 265390
Click to expand...
Thanks! I would definitely like to take the small route with only one chameleon.
 
I hatched a batch of 2000 eggs, yea I'm crazy for first timer. Still going strong knock on wood they are about 1-2 weeks old from hatching. Plan to sell some to friends to make money back to buy more and do again. I have 4 chams though. Also a side note right now I have them separated into 4 groups in case one goes bad.

This is a pic from one batch when they hatched. I can post updated pics tomorrow if your interested to see progress a little over a week old.

20200424_212027.jpg
 
SourGrape4u said:
I hatched a batch of 2000 eggs, yea I'm crazy for first timer. Still going strong knock on wood they are about 1-2 weeks old from hatching. Plan to sell some to friends to make money back to buy more and do again. I have 4 chams though. Also a side note right now I have them separated into 4 groups in case one goes bad.

This is a pic from one batch when they hatched. I can post updated pics tomorrow if your interested to see progress a little over a week old.

View attachment 265430
Click to expand...
4000! Wow you really went all out didn't you ? Also, I would love to have more pictures! At first glance, I had no idea what was happening in the picture you posted but then I realized it was just a bunch of baby silkes.
 
SourGrape4u said:
I hatched a batch of 2000 eggs, yea I'm crazy for first timer. Still going strong knock on wood they are about 1-2 weeks old from hatching. Plan to sell some to friends to make money back to buy more and do again. I have 4 chams though. Also a side note right now I have them separated into 4 groups in case one goes bad.

This is a pic from one batch when they hatched. I can post updated pics tomorrow if your interested to see progress a little over a week old.

View attachment 265430
Click to expand...
what are these?? i am farely new to the game. i own my first juev.vieled cham. would this be a food source for him>
 
Tonya adams, If you care at all for your chameleon please read up on this website about your chameleon species care requirements, (husbandry), thanks!!!
 
TonyaAdams said:
what are these?? i am farely new to the game. i own my first juev.vieled cham. would this be a food source for him>
Click to expand...
Hi and welcome! Silkworms are excellent feeders for your chameleon.
Being new to chameleons and having your first one, I strongly suggest that you start your own thread, filling out the help form https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/ (copy & paste) and someone will review your care and make sure that you are doing everything correctly. :)
 
I decided to give silkworm breeding a try (yes, after I said it's not worth it above), I just ordered 250 eggs and 1/2 lb of powder. The plan is to hatch those and feed off what I can, and then let 20-30 or so of them cocoon. Going to attempt different grow-rates out of that 250, keeping some warm and some cooler. I'm working towards having a repeatable process where I always have some on hand. Hopefully I can find someone locally to take some worms off of my hands, maybe I will unload/trade some at my local pet store.
 
That would be ideal. I don't know anyone at work that has reptiles, they are all cat, dog, and guinea pig people, I need to start asking around. There's 7000 people total, there has to be some reptile people.
 
Silkies are a tough sale/giveaway though because of the food requirement. You can't just throw in some veggies or bug burger. Unless they are being fed off quickly.
 
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