Silkworms as a staple diet?

They have come here in the same condition (not 100% alive) from different companies in either packaging. Also seem to have alot of die offs after they arrive . I agree they probably just dont ship very well . The eggs sound pretty good ,except they take soooo long to grow into feedable worms .

I actually expected for there to be some chow with the worms ,this was not the case , then i could not get chow at the local reptile show . So was feeding them carrot shavings and romaine,needless to say they didnt do well for very long .

Originally Posted by groovygeckos

d ,except they take soooo long to grow into feedable worms .

Dan, that still stumps me....

What feeders are you breeding now that get larger faster?

To get a 3" worm in about 4 - 6 weeks is awesome to me, being that they will get to be 1/2" to 3/4" in 3 weeks and be feedable in a very short amount of time.

My mealies take months to get to be at a feedable size, I have some that are 8-9 weeks now and barely if 1/2" but not 'wide" ebough to even feed out yet.

When I was raising crix, they took 2-3 weeks to get to 1/4" and 8 weeks to hit 1".

Hi Wendy,

What feeders are you breeding now that get larger faster?

None , i have a very small colony of mealies going and they are only used for babies . They do take along time , but i also dont pay them as much attention, and i dont grow them out for the large geckos.

The Silks , having to pay more attention ,feeding them ALOT everyday ,and the expense of the chow probably just makes it seem longer

No trees i would risk taking leaves from in the city .

My mealies take only 1 or 2 days to get here in the size i need . Much quicker LOL

I thought you were saying that raising the silks from egg to feedable was too long.....

Maybe thats one of my problems, I pay toooo much attention to my feeders that Im breeding, 10 mealie bins, well 14 now, slicing very very thin fruit items to not contaminate the dry gutload for them daily is just as bad to me as the possibility of feeding silks daily.

Guess I was hoping you had the miracle bug that produced a ton of fast growing feeders lol

Also you can buy a Mulberry tree at most lawn and garden shops and grow it inside all year, and no I have not done this but it is my plan based on suggestions I have been given just that money has just been a little more than tight here lately so I have to do new things as I can.

Not too long just long . The little 3/4" worms are perfect for babies but too small for anything else IMO . So feedable is like 2" , at least for me . Unless its just for the babies then 3 weeks wouldnt be too bad .

That is alot of work , i only have 4 or 5 bins for everything ( 2 sizes of worms, beetles,& wormlings is that a word ?) . which is still work when figuring in everything else , but feeding alot of silks constantly on top of that would be pushing it . Think thats why i order most of the feeders . Ive got to draw the line somewhere LOL

I just lay baby carrots on top of the gutload and dont leave them in there all the time . Gives the gutload a chance to dry out , if it was moist . Then the worms go through it pretty quick ,so i change it once a week also.

Fruit IMO ( or much of anything else ) is just asking for mold or contamination . The carrots hold their moisture pretty well and do not usually get the bedding wet .

To anyone with a carrot theory: If their color is enhanced from the carotene ide hate to see them without it . Meaning there is no noticable color difference .

Interesting enough the silkworms DO turn orange from eating carrots

Guess I should have said fruit/veges since I use oranges, squash, cucumbers, mustard greens, turnip greens etc. And every fruit or vege that is not a leaf is very very thinly sliced.

I order most of my feeders now too since I let my mealie colonies go too long but I still have to give them their moisture daily and in a way as to not cause any mold etc. Ive never had mold with my feeders moisture but it may be because of the time I take with proper care and feeding.

I only use carrots in the mealie feed bowl for the leos and would never use them as a staple of moisture for feeders nor would I use them if they are not very thinly sliced, the carrot/color enhancement is a whole other couple of threads lol

VERY Thinly slicing the fruits/veges and not using bin lids pretty much dries up the water source at the end of the day anyway, you take out the orange/orange peel in the am or whatever and put in a new one.

Your mealworms eat better than i do !

I know thats why i posted there is no difference in the colors using only carrots . Damn conspiracy theories !

Seriously if the carrots are helping my geckos then i better just quit now because orange X orange is NOT orange even with the carrots help .LOL

This is much like saying herptivite or spirulina can enhance color and shouldnt be used regularly . They can and do enhance the natural color but i do not think there is any problem with it . It is due to proper nutrition which in turn keeps your animal looking its best .

You wont have a problem with mold , you would need to let those bins sit for quite awhile with old food and/or wet bedding in there for that to happen .

Sounds like your way ahead of that game .

lol Dan my mealies probably eat better than I do too

And there is the rumor that herptivite and Spirulina do enhance color if used everyday in and out.

There is a fine line between proper supplementation and color enhancing even if the enhancing is unknown to the user of the supplements lol

Problem is, do we really know what proper supplementation is since we cannot recreate the natural food items 100% of the time and do we really over supplement at all?

But back to silkies, I still think they are a valuable, breedable feeder that will grow to a feedable size quickly, just gotta get my hands on some cash to get some eggs!