Sven vs Silkworm

[CammieNLeno]

Just got my shipment of silks from costal. I attempted to feed one to my little guy (almost 4 months old now) and here is what happened!



Im gonna keep trying here and there, but there are not that many i can feed em to begin with. I ordered SMALLS from coastal and definatly got larges

This was about the smallest in the entire pod - the rest are entirely too large to feed.

Brad - want some silks?

 

[summoner12]

Let the big guys cocoon and then save them. Maybe he'll want to eat the moth that emerges. Or you can read up on how to breed the moth and then breed your own silkies.

 

[CleanLineChameleons]

Looks to me as if he was "pissed" at you...lol He was looking at you when he was puffed up. Try leaving it on a branch (normally they can't hold on to leaves very well).

-chris

 

[bucky]

Ive never really seen a panther get so mad at someone just from going into their cage,it seemed like a veiled thing

 

[AFH]

I agree with Chris. I think he was riled at you. Except for my most piggy chams, most won't eat silkworms from my hand. They do the same thing as Sven. I stick 'em around the screen sides and on the vines. Then they come out and eat them.

 

[CammieNLeno]

Its not that he is riled at me at all. I feed him crickets exclusivly, and when I place his "cup" (you can see it in my other video) i cant even get it hung up compleatly before he runs over to chase em down. I only handle Sven once a week to move him out of his enclosure for cleaning, and he has yet to fire up at me. I even showed him a mirror this weekend in attempt to get some fired up coloration to check the progress, but he wouldnt even get pissed then.

To test your above theory, i just put my hand in the cage with my finger out as if there was a worm on it. He just looked at me like i was an idiot and that was that. I turned around, put the silk on my finger and tried again, and he was hissing and lunging at it.

Sven hates silks, thats all there is to it.

 

[CammieNLeno]

Update - I tested the other theory of placing silks around his cage and leaving em alone. I put 3 up under his basking area and where he eats his crickets. He marched up there on his vine, puffed up, and started shaking back and forth lunging with his mouth open. He didnt even see me as i snuck up behind em, and I totally busted em in the middle of a fight.

I just removed the intruders, and he is currently sleeping after defending his branch from those awful little white invaders

 

[christyo2o2]

thats the same way scooter acted when we first tried to feed him silkies and horn worms. he eventually figured out they were food and now he loves them!

 

[summoner12]

I am sad that my guys get over silkies kinda fast....

I hold a silky on the tip of my finger and its gone in a minute... hold another its gone... next day they don't seem to care... so I put in crickets... and BAM they are snatching up 3 at a time! lol so... i dunno I have a bunch of large silkies errr i'd say jumbo.. that.. won't get eaten... I think they like them small? I don't know.

 

[nightcrawler]

ea if he doenst like the worms let them grow and turn into moths.
i did to get my own eggs and all that jazz, but afterwards i let my cham eat
them and he seemed to like them a lot. they are neat. they dont really
move in the cage or anything, and they are small so your cham can handle
them. the one thing they do do is flap their wings so it makes my cham
want to eat them more.

 

[Cainschams]

Beautiful guy you got there. You can try giving him something he will eat and then slip one of those bad boys in his mouth. He probably just needs to taste them first hahaha.

 

[CammieNLeno]

I know he will love em!!! Im gonna jsut keep trying here for the next few days leaving some around on the branches, and see if he eventually eats em. Its hard to monitor becuase half the time, I can barely find HIM muchless a small silkworm that may have wandered off

 

[desultadox]

One of my Panthers I think likes the moths even more than the worms. Since they don't move much and can hang on a branch much better than their worm form, I place moths around his favorite tree so he can "hunt," whereas all his other food is cup fed to him, so it's fun for him.

 

[CammieNLeno]

Hrm interesting!! How large do these moths get? Are there readily available nutrition facts for the moth form of these? Is breeding them a pain? (moth form)

I might have just found a little side project here . I already talked to some of the local petstores around here who would all LOVE a local supply of silks. Any "proft" you guys think? I mean.. enough to basically cover supplies and stuff for the chams?

I certainly wouldnt expect to make any big money here, but would be cool to try out!

 

[Billyjack187]

I certainly cant find much selection out here in the mountains! I was lucky to find, fruit flies alive to feed the cham I got from Joe! Say where did you get sven from he is a nice specimen!

 

[CammieNLeno]

I certainly cant find much selection out here in the mountains! I was lucky to find, fruit flies alive to feed the cham I got from Joe! Say where did you get sven from he is a nice specimen!

I got em from Joe, remember?!

 

[ken2414]

you could try puting the silkies in with his crickets in his feeding cup. he may figure out that whatever goes in the cup is edible since he knows the crickets are edible

 

[desultadox]

Silkworms are ridiculously easy to breed. The moths are relatively small ... certainly smaller than a full grown worm. As far as costs go, it's the chow that would kill you ... it's pretty expensive (especially because I can only find it for sale online and shipping a 10 pound bag isn't cheap...) and they eat A LOT. A lot of people say silkworms are very sensitive, but the ones I've had could take a beating no problem ... I don't think I lost a single one from ~100 and it was my first experience with them.

 

[CammieNLeno]

I tried that, the crickets mauled the worm, poor guy was flailing left and right trying to fend em off. Did i just discover a new cricket gutload?!!!

Didnt expect that either, I separate the crickets each night prior to feeding him in the morning so they get all fat and loaded up!

 

[CammieNLeno]

Silkworms are ridiculously easy to breed. The moths are relatively small ... certainly smaller than a full grown worm. As far as costs go, it's the chow that would kill you ... it's pretty expensive (especially because I can only find it for sale online and shipping a 10 pound bag isn't cheap...) and they eat A LOT. A lot of people say silkworms are very sensitive, but the ones I've had could take a beating no problem ... I don't think I lost a single one from ~100 and it was my first experience with them.

Yeah, i have read the same thing that people loose em left and right- we had a ton of em in hawaii, so I used them as a staple and never really lost any either. Since I was in such a small studio, the chirping crickets just wouldn't work for me. I actually ultimatly had to get rid of my male from my landlord finding crickets that escaped and snuck into their office.

Check these vids out him chowing down, and one of his "release day" - I was heartbroken after that one