Silkworms as a staple diet?

Originally Posted by groovygeckos

So for me 3-4 weeks just to raise them to an inch from eggs is just a nightmare. They eat ALOT . LOL (the worms and the geckos)

They are supposed to hit 1/2-3/4" in 10-12 days and it takes them a week to hatch so that 3 weeks to get to 1/2" or more and from what Ive read they they hit 1.5 - 2" within 4 to 5 weeks, that is nothing to me compared to the mealies taking forever to get to that size.

I have 10 mealie bins with thousands of 1/4" mealies and it will take them a long while yet to be able to feed to the the leos. I made the mistake of not breeding them for a couple of months when I had plenty and did not start them back up soon enough so now Im back to the long wait and buying 10,000 mealies every 4 weeks until mine grow up enough to use.

Interesting info, they acutally get to be 3" at 4 weeks old:
http://www.mulberryfarms.com/faq.htm

Ill be getting some eggs to try out for sure and see how it goes!

Mine love silks. The feed can be kinda expensive though. Younger silks really go through that stuff in a hurry.

get to be 3" at 4 weeks old

That would be good , i was raising them from 1" and was too impatient possibly , but they didnt seem to be growing that quick. Was still cold out so may not have been warm enough in here for good growth .

Most of mine love silkworms, too. They are pretty easy to raise once you get the hang of it (took me a couple tries). It is essential that you let the food and frass dry out before adding fresh food or you will get massive die off. I use a paper towel to cover the containers at all times after the worms get to the size where you'd feed them to a hatchling, so everything is dry by the next day.

Mine won't eat full sized worms and if they try they make a real mess. Even though I start feeding the worms as soon as the geckos will eat them, there are always lots that grow too big before being fed off. These will spin coccoons, emerge & mate, then lay lots more eggs for me!

So, now I just buy the powdered chow in bulk. Also, though they need to be kept warm in order to hatch and grow early on, when they are larger, they can be kept at room temp and will grow slightly slower. I've started keeping them in an empty hatchling bin instead of the incubator to avoid opening the incubator too much. Later I move them to the top of the hatchling rack - so it may actually be a bit warmer than room temp.

I've heard mixed things about refrigerating eggs. A teacher at my son's school told him the eggs needed to be chilled in order to hatch. Although many of my eggs hatched without chilling, I put the ones that didn't hatch in the fridge and will be trying them out soon. I believe that Mulberry Farms does not recommned refrigerating eggs. So I don't know what to think.

Nancy

I ordered 40,000 eggs from Pam at silkworm wholesale...still have about 15,000 left (almost 1 1/2 months). She ships fast and has the lowest prices. I have yet to get 3" worms in 4 weeks, even at 80 -83 degrees. takes more like 6 weeks. And that is with CONSTANT feeding. The chow can get expensive but you can always plant a mulberry tree to feed the older/larger worms. The small/younger worms don't eat like the larger worms do! All of my geckos love the silkies. I alternate them woth lobster roaches, gave up on raising the waxwoms (they are a pain).

I just got an email from Silkworm wholesale. They shipped out my Silks today???? Now, they are going to be in the mail until Monday. Doesn't seem like a smart thing to do.

I have a question about breeding the silkworms, what do you keep the moths in to breed? And do the moths eat the mulberry chow too?

The moths don't eat and don't fly, they'll mate, lay eggs then die within a week. I've recently started breeding silkworms, I got my first cocoon in 20 days (counting from when the eggs hatch)!! I do feed them often though, especially when they're at their 4th instar (3-4 times a day). I don't have any moths yet, I hope at least some of them will eventually make it out to lay eggs for me...



Most of my leos love them too! Which is a good thing, because I really want to decrease the number of crickets in my house. Now, I alternate their food between silkworm and other things (crickets, mealworms and occasionally a super).

I definatly want to give silkies a try, breeding them i don't think i want too, but who knows. When i own more geckos, i just might have too!

I have yet to find one of my geckos that will eat silks! I have pretty much given up on that idea. They will attack the worm but as soon as they bite into it they are spitting them out like when you drink some pop and find a bug in it. My assumptions is that it is an odd taste for a terrestrial gecko to be eating an arboreal bug.