SILKWORM ADDICTION

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kingofnobbys

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My boy Caesar has decided he only wants silkworms … I don't mind as I hatch and grow my own silkworms, and only need to buy either chow powder or fresh mulberry leaves so the only cost is the leaves or the chow when I run out of fresh leaves (or blanched frozen mulberry leaves).

Just got my last consignment of 200 fresh mulberry leaves for the season ( is moving into winter here and the leaves will soon be getting shed by the mulberry trees) . I should be fine for worm food for several weeks .

He's currently polishing off 2 large silkworms per day and a little bit of salad each day.

Anyone got any tips for dealing with a worm addiction ?
 

CooperDragon

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At least he has chosen a pretty healthy option for his addition :lol: Darwin is addicted to horn worms but he only gets them a few times a year. I let him indulge a bit when I have them but otherwise keep him on a mostly veg diet. As far as that goes he is addicted to squash. He will completely ignore a lot of the other options in his dish but will really go to town on his squash. I figure the same thing, at least he has picked a healthy option to get addicted to. My advice is to just keep variety available and let them take what they want as long as it's reasonably healthy.
 

kmwilson042182

Hatchling Member
One of my guys decided he was only going to eat silkworms at one point. I just let him go at it as I raise them too. Lasted about 2 months. The only other thing he would eat was hornworms, but that's another story in itself. I just continued to offer everything up and eventually he went back to eating his other bugs. Now he doesn't even really care for the silkworms anymore.......guess he got burned out. He is at the point now where he is 80-90% veg, but he is probably full grown. I have noticed that my guy is very cyclical in his bug eating. He picks a favorite and tries to only eat that particular bug for a period of time. Best I know to do is just keep offering up everything and eventually he switches to another bug. I did notice my guys silkworm run coincided with a huge growth spurt, so I'm guessing he wanted all that extra protein and nutrition. At least he chose a healthy bug.....

My other guy is just plain addicted to food and is gonna eat me out of house and home so.....

Kyle
 

kingofnobbys

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kmwilson042182":2zfj9601 said:
One of my guys decided he was only going to eat silkworms at one point. I just let him go at it as I raise them too. Lasted about 2 months. The only other thing he would eat was hornworms, but that's another story in itself. I just continued to offer everything up and eventually he went back to eating his other bugs. Now he doesn't even really care for the silkworms anymore.......guess he got burned out. He is at the point now where he is 80-90% veg, but he is probably full grown. I have noticed that my guy is very cyclical in his bug eating. He picks a favorite and tries to only eat that particular bug for a period of time. Best I know to do is just keep offering up everything and eventually he switches to another bug. I did notice my guys silkworm run coincided with a huge growth spurt, so I'm guessing he wanted all that extra protein and nutrition. At least he chose a healthy bug.....

My other guy is just plain addicted to food and is gonna eat me out of house and home so.....


Kyle

Yep , growth wise , Caesar has been growing nicely with the silkworm diet.

I offer crickets , BSFL and silkworms & salad to by hatchling/juvenile beardies, and have just had a 100 large woodies delivered.

The woodies are an experiment - if the hatchlings aren't keen on them, maybe my BTs and water skink will like them, if they do, I might use some of these to set up a Woodie colony.
 

kingofnobbys

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kmwilson042182":2mco3paf said:
Only real downside I see to it is super messy poo, but on the upside the hydration and nutrition is phenomenal.

Kyle

The poos are not as messy if you feed the worms with fresh mulberry leaves, I remember really wet sloppy poos from my bearded dragons and bluetongues when I fed the chow exclusively (before I discovered a good reliable source of fresh leaves).
 

kmwilson042182

Hatchling Member
Oh yeah the silkworm poo is no problem. I was referring to the messy beardy poo when they choose to go on the silkworm only diet. My guys poo seemed to be a little messier than usual when he went on his binge. I suppose that is because of the additional hydration and lack of chitin.

Kyle
 

kingofnobbys

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kmwilson042182":pff4crvq said:
Oh yeah the silkworm poo is no problem. I was referring to the messy beardy poo when they choose to go on the silkworm only diet. My guys poo seemed to be a little messier than usual when he went on his binge. I suppose that is because of the additional hydration and lack of chitin.

Kyle
I realized that and adjusted to address that issue - fortunately my lizards when I was feeding the worms chow only , were nice enough to poo on the kitchen floor (lino) so clean up was easy.
 

kmwilson042182

Hatchling Member
Hey I got a question for you pertaining to silkworms I'm sure you can answer. I just started raising these guys at the beginning of this past winter and am just now switching over to leaves. What's a rough estimate of the number of leaves it takes to get 100 worms through full cycle? Need to know how many I need on hand and how long they will last. May have to go hunt/buy some more. Thanks!

Kyle
 

kingofnobbys

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Original Poster
kmwilson042182":3c26yuoz said:
Hey I got a question for you pertaining to silkworms I'm sure you can answer. I just started raising these guys at the beginning of this past winter and am just now switching over to leaves. What's a rough estimate of the number of leaves it takes to get 100 worms through full cycle? Need to know how many I need on hand and how long they will last. May have to go hunt/buy some more. Thanks!

Kyle

100 worms full cycle - depends on how big the leaves are , early season leaves are smaller than late season leaves.

I typically have about 100 - 200 worms of various sizes on the go simultaneously , I try to hatch new worms every 4 to 6 weeks .

I think you'll be using maybe 8 leaves , maybe 10 per day for average sized leaves.

My regular order is 200 fresh leaves latest me a few months ie my prior order of leaves before the one I just received was from mid February.
The end of that consignment were still fine , but I have been sorting through them to remove any that were not looking "nice".
Smaller worms about 1" long , I have 60 of these at them moment and I put 4 fresh leaves in their tub today , to top up the remains from the leaves from yesterday.
The number of leaves will , as you expect , ramp up as the worms get bigger. Big worms are eating machines.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Original Poster
kmwilson042182":1ns837ng said:
Thank you! Exactly the information I was looking for.

Kyle


Just another tidbit - I've found my worms will sort of sleep when they run out of food , this is also when they crawl through the mesh to forage for the leafy offcuts that have fallen through the mesh and are amongst the fras.

I think also that temperature has an impact on the rate the worms eat leaves.
 
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