kingofnobbys
BD.org Sicko
I was sent this by email by a friend who does this every autumn with her surplus LARGE silkworms, she got it from the beardie breeder who sold her first beardie hatchling to her who also bred silkworms and was a vet nurse.
Thought I'd just put this up because its silkworm time for you good folks north of the equator and you might find it useful.
I've not done this myself, but I've seen the results and the blanched then frozen and thawed worms are good (just dead so you probably need to wriggle them to get your lizards interested).
So if you want to have silkworms all year round (that are the right size to use immediately but when there are no mulberry leaves available , and especially for when you have a sick beardie, this is the recipy.
you need:
>>>> 1 wide pot
>>>> metal sieve
>>>> lots of ice cubes
>>>> plastic bowl
>>>> paper towel
>>>> baking paper
and biscuit trays.
If you have several hundred (or thousand) of whatever sized ,mixed silkworms feed them up with lots of fresh (red or white or black) mulberry leaves for a day (or prepared chow) to get their nutritional content up.
Fill your pot with water hot water from the hot water tap and bring it to a good rolling boil.
Put on your earmuffs and put a handful of silkworms in the sieve and hold the sieve in the boiling water for about 5-10 seconds (the earmuffs are so you can close your ears so you won't hear them screaming
).
Then move the blanched worms in the sieve and tip the blanched worms into a bowl of water with prechilled icewater mixed with ice cubes(This stops them from continuing to cook).
Repeat until you have enough to fill a tray.
Scoop the silkworms out of the ice water and lay them on paper towel and pat them carefully with another piece of paper towel.
Cover the biscuit tray with baking paper and put the silkworms on so they are not touching each other.
Put the tray in the freezer for half an hour and then take the silkworms off and put into another container or sealed freezer bags to be stored in the freezer for when you want them.
The idea of not letting them touch each other on the tray to freeze is so that when they are in your storage container / bags they wont all stick together so you can take out and thaw as many as you need.
To thaw put them in a chinese container and put hot water from the tap on them and let them sit for awhile.
Just make sure they arent cold or still partially frozen when you feed them out.
If you dont blanche them in the boiling water before freezing them, they go all mushy and green and unedible.
Thought I'd just put this up because its silkworm time for you good folks north of the equator and you might find it useful.
I've not done this myself, but I've seen the results and the blanched then frozen and thawed worms are good (just dead so you probably need to wriggle them to get your lizards interested).
So if you want to have silkworms all year round (that are the right size to use immediately but when there are no mulberry leaves available , and especially for when you have a sick beardie, this is the recipy.
you need:
>>>> 1 wide pot
>>>> metal sieve
>>>> lots of ice cubes
>>>> plastic bowl
>>>> paper towel
>>>> baking paper
and biscuit trays.
If you have several hundred (or thousand) of whatever sized ,mixed silkworms feed them up with lots of fresh (red or white or black) mulberry leaves for a day (or prepared chow) to get their nutritional content up.
Fill your pot with water hot water from the hot water tap and bring it to a good rolling boil.
Put on your earmuffs and put a handful of silkworms in the sieve and hold the sieve in the boiling water for about 5-10 seconds (the earmuffs are so you can close your ears so you won't hear them screaming
).Then move the blanched worms in the sieve and tip the blanched worms into a bowl of water with prechilled icewater mixed with ice cubes(This stops them from continuing to cook).
Repeat until you have enough to fill a tray.
Scoop the silkworms out of the ice water and lay them on paper towel and pat them carefully with another piece of paper towel.
Cover the biscuit tray with baking paper and put the silkworms on so they are not touching each other.
Put the tray in the freezer for half an hour and then take the silkworms off and put into another container or sealed freezer bags to be stored in the freezer for when you want them.
The idea of not letting them touch each other on the tray to freeze is so that when they are in your storage container / bags they wont all stick together so you can take out and thaw as many as you need.
To thaw put them in a chinese container and put hot water from the tap on them and let them sit for awhile.
Just make sure they arent cold or still partially frozen when you feed them out.
If you dont blanche them in the boiling water before freezing them, they go all mushy and green and unedible.
