? to those who raise silks. Diapause or not?

[chambabysitter1]

Hey there everyone,

I have something like 150+ silks that in no way possible I can feed off in time. I am giving a few away, but the rest are gonna be egg laying machines when they pupate.

I plan to breed some worms since I have an ample supply of leaves.

So for those with EXPERIENCE raising and breeding silkworms, is diapause that important?

Will I have a higher success rate if I stick all the eggs in the fridge? Or am I better off just leaving them out?
Keeping in mind there is a bit of a heatwave in socal.

Also, after the eggs are fertilized, how long do I have to put them into the fridge? Will the 85+ heat fry them if I take too long?

Thanks for the answers guys.

 

[dodolah]

Hey there everyone,

So for those with EXPERIENCE raising and breeding silkworms, is diapause that important?

Will I have a higher success rate if I stick all the eggs in the fridge? Or am I better off just leaving them out?
Keeping in mind there is a bit of a heatwave in socal.

Also, after the eggs are fertilized, how long do I have to put them into the fridge? Will the 85+ heat fry them if I take too long?

Thanks for the answers guys.

Hey, you know me.. my hands are open to silkies excess
wanna trade?
I am leaning toward the importance of diapausing. My speculation is the hatch rate is higher and faster when you do so.
How bout doing an experiment? diapause half and not diapause the other.
I am letting some eggs to not diapause now.. one batch take about 6 months to hatch.
i would not let the temp higher than 88F
you can put the eggs to the fridge when they change color to black.

 

[chambabysitter1]

Thanks a bunch Frans.
You can have the silks if Joe doesn't end up taking them. But he staked his claim in chat last night

I think I will do exactly as you said, half in half out. Or perhaps more in, and less out, since I will probably need to store the majority of them longer.

I read in silkworms 101 to diapause them for a month, anyone ever try doing it for a less amount of time? Perhaps I'll play with small batches of it.

Thanks!

 

[dodolah]

lol.. let me know if Joe does not need all of the silkies.
You got my number, yes?

 

[ponders]

Don't forget to feed off the moths after they lay the eggs, you have about 2-3 days before they die. My panthers and crested gecko love them.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I've recently wondered the same thing, and did an experiment. Some eggs left in the warm chameleon room. Some eggs went in fridge. Some were put in my basement, which is cool but not cold.

The ones from the basement and fridge (only for two weeks) have had equally good hatch rates once brought into the warmth. The ones left in the very warm chameleon room have so far not hatched at all! I think high heat is a negative factor, so your heatwave suggests refridgeration is the way to go.

Chamsitter I'd really like to hear how your experiment goes too

 

[Malicious]

I agree heat beyond 88 degrees will ruin eggs. The last batch of eggs I ordered from mulberry never hatched. I wish the guy would have been smart enough to put an ice pack in the box, especially since he knew what my weather was like..... I'm 30 miles away....


I too have a few hundred worms that will cacoon soon, and am going to do some experimenting with the eggs. Good luck with yours Chris.


Frans,

I am still confused with the articals you provided about the importance of diapausing eggs.


The only benefit I found was diapaused eggs produced higher quality cacoons (silk). Forgive me if I missed it, but I didn't see anywhere in the articals saying diapaused eggs had a better hatch rate.

Thanks Frans,
Jay

 

[dodolah]

Hey Jay, I might have send you the wrong article.
After I wrote that, I haven't had a chance to see your reply and by the time, I got back to the forum, I think it was already overrun by other threads.
But, basically, there should be some pages listed there that suggest the cool temperature produces some enzymes that halt the growth and when the warmth temp kicks in, the enzymes turned off and the body produce another one that behave opportunistically and jump start the silkies to quickly hatch.

They do not find the same one when the silkies was not introduced to diapause.
So, that is one of my speculation why the one without diapause moment hatch at slower rate and the heat might affect them more because of that.

Right now, I am making an experiment. and left a part of batch without diapausing.

 

[chambabysitter1]

Thank you for the replies, Tylene, Sandra, and Jay. Especially to Frans.

I decided to leave a small amount out, I only have 1 chameleon after all.

The next small batch I will pull out after a week of diapause.

The next will be 2 weeks, etc.

I'll do my best of trying to keep track of my success rates. This is my first time silky breeding, so I hope I have success period. Hope the temps inside my house balance out.