snared99
New member
DOes anyone use silkies as a staple diet and what does everyone think about using them as a staple diet? mius the expensive nature of them of course.
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What you guys think about Silkworms??
- Thread starter snared99
- Start date
groovygeckos
GroovyGeckos.com
How easy is it to breed silks and raise the worms from eggs ? I just hate waiting for them to grow
shrap
Freelance Philosopher
groovygeckos said:
Mr. Poe!!! Always a pleasure to see you, sir.
Once you have figured out the little nuances it really is not hard at all. And the nice part is that each female moth will typically lay between 200 and 400 eggs.
The eggs can then be kept in the fridge for up to a year. So you really only need to raise a batch of them to moth stage twice a year.
groovygeckos
GroovyGeckos.com
Why Thank You ! Sir ? LOL
How many moths twice a year though ? Thats sounds pretty good to me !
How many moths twice a year though ? Thats sounds pretty good to me !
shrap
Freelance Philosopher
That really depends on how many mouths you have to feed. All my adult Leos will eat 3 to 5 one and a half inch to 2 inch silks each feeding that I offer silks. My only juvi (thanks again Cody!!! Will send you a pic soon.) will will not touch a silk, he is purely crix and roaches. So I really can not tell you how many smaller silks (one inch) a young leo will eat.
Hope that gives you rough idea of how many you will need. It takes about 2 weeks after hatching for them to get to about 1 inch. Then they grow like no tomorrow. By week 3 they are 2 to 3 inches. They go from 1 inch or so at week 2 to 4 inches and ready to cocoon at week 4 or so. So their life cycle is pretty quick.
They other cool thing is the silk moth does not fly, eat or drink. The worm will cocoon for about 3 weeks. The moths will emerge, mate, lay eggs and die all in the matter of a week.
It is really pretty cool and fun working with these little things. The chow is a little pricey. Although, they eat more in the last week before cocooning than they do the entire 3 weeks prior to that. So if you are feeding them all off in the first 3 weeks even the chow bill is not that bad.
Anyway, I am done babbling now.
Hope that gives you rough idea of how many you will need. It takes about 2 weeks after hatching for them to get to about 1 inch. Then they grow like no tomorrow. By week 3 they are 2 to 3 inches. They go from 1 inch or so at week 2 to 4 inches and ready to cocoon at week 4 or so. So their life cycle is pretty quick.
They other cool thing is the silk moth does not fly, eat or drink. The worm will cocoon for about 3 weeks. The moths will emerge, mate, lay eggs and die all in the matter of a week.
It is really pretty cool and fun working with these little things. The chow is a little pricey. Although, they eat more in the last week before cocooning than they do the entire 3 weeks prior to that. So if you are feeding them all off in the first 3 weeks even the chow bill is not that bad.
Anyway, I am done babbling now.
groovygeckos
GroovyGeckos.com
Sam , Thanks its good info ! So less than 2 months to get baby worms again isnt too bad .
Can you do that in the winter months , i mean raise them that quick? Any special temp. requirement ?
Think this is the last questions if you dont mind .
But what do you raise them in or on ? And what do you raise the large ones into moths in , where do they lay etc. ?
Ok a few questions ...sorry
Can you do that in the winter months , i mean raise them that quick? Any special temp. requirement ?
Think this is the last questions if you dont mind .
But what do you raise them in or on ? And what do you raise the large ones into moths in , where do they lay etc. ?
Ok a few questions ...sorry
shrap
Freelance Philosopher
groovygeckos said:Sam , Thanks its good info ! So less than 2 months to get baby worms again isnt too bad .
Can you do that in the winter months , i mean raise them that quick? Any special temp. requirement ?
Think this is the last questions if you dont mind .
But what do you raise them in or on ? And what do you raise the large ones into moths in , where do they lay etc. ?
Ok a few questions ...sorry
Yeah Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall... it does not matter. I just let one set go to moth and lay eggs. Then pull out the amount of eggs from the fridge that I need each week so I have a constant amount at different levels of development. It takes one week to hatch eggs once they are removed from fridge.
You need to incubate the eggs at 85 degrees and keep the new hatchlings at the same temps. Once they get to about 12 to 14 days they are much more temp friendly. 70 degrees or warmer. The warmer they are, they quicker they grow.
The eggs I place in large 5" petri dishes to incubate and the hatchlings will live in that also for the first two weeks. Then I switch them over to sterilite tubs.
For cocooning I also use sterilite tubs. I just cut the cardboard toilet paper rolls in half and paperclip them together for stability and place them in the tub with the worms. Once the worms are ready to cocoon they will climb up in them and do their cocooning thing.
Once the moths emerge I will will put a single male with a single female in a Glad container like the one most people make humid hides out of. I will cut a piece of computer paper to fit perfectly in the bottom of the Glad container and then place the pair of moths in it. The female will lay the eggs all over the piece of paper. You can tell the sexes apart easily. The female will have a thing much like adult female crickets coming our their backside. But be careful of that thing. It can shoot this nasty brown liquid out of it of to five feet away. Make sure it is pointed in the other direction when you go to move the moth.
Once eggs are laid they will go from a yellow color to dark purple or black. Takes about a week or two. Once they turn black then you can refrigerate them. Not before or they will die. Once in a while the eggs will not turn black but instead they will turn blue. If they turn blue do not refrigerate them, they are going to hatch.
groovygeckos
GroovyGeckos.com
Thanks !
raiquee
New member
Thanks, i stuck a batch of silkie eggs in the incubator and didn't offer any humidity. Maybe why the didn't hatch. It looks like they were going to, as there were black rings around the inside of the eggs. And one did hatch and died. 
I suck at silkworm raising! lol
I suck at silkworm raising! lol