Got free silk worms today, please help me make sure they liv

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DorgEndo

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Devlyn
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Always check Craigslist. People do give away good stuff for free. These silkies were being "raised for fun" according to the ad. However the family was leaving on vacation so they had to re-home the worms otherwise they would simply die. I was honest with them that they would be become dragon food. However, depending on how things go maybe I could try letting them cocoon and become moths? Maybe?

I have some Mulberry leaves from the Craiglist person. My funds are tight right now so I'll find a tree somewhere close by. The person from the ad was taking leaves from a tree in their yard.

Most of the silkies are 2 to 3 centimeters long right now. Do I need to keep them at 80°F? Would keeping them at 70°F at this point be okay for now? Do these silkies look healthy for their size?

I can get more pictures if needed. Let me know. It is night as I'm writing this so I didn't want to disturb the worms after the car ride any further. Thank you in advance

June 19th Update, well they are still alive. Most of them :twisted:
I'm still undecided on breeding them because the food they eat is so picky! Getting leaves is so annoying. I've also feed them carrots and they seem to eat them. They got wrinkly looking a few days ago so I figure carrots for hydration.
 

kmwilson042182

Hatchling Member
Nice! They look healthy to me from that picture. Just make sure to keep their container very clean, that is the key. Remove the frass at least every other day. Feed them daily. An easy way to clean them is place a screen of some sort with holes large enough from them to crawl through over the top of them. Then place some food on top of the screen. They will crawl up through the screen to get to the new food and you can lift the screen and remove the frass. Watch closely for any mold anywhere, because that will kill them off quickly. Avoid handling them, I always use large bug tweezers so I don't touch them. I keep mine in a still air incubator at 80F until they are about that big. Then I move them out and keep them on a shelf in my house. My ambient temp is 70F. They grow quicker at 80F, but they will survive at room temperature and even cocoon up and turn into moths at 70F. They just do it quicker at 80F. I am still pretty new at the silkworm thing too as I started raising them at the beginning of last winter, but I do have the whole life cycle down at this point and have produced my own eggs. I am sure there are still some tweaks I could make as well too though. I haven't found it too difficult to be honest. I have found cleanliness to be key with those guys. Don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions. More than happy to assist in any way I can.

Kyle
 

kmwilson042182

Hatchling Member
Also, if you do successfully get them to breed and get eggs, you can take them full cycle at a temperature in the low to mid 70's. It just takes longer. The eggs hatch faster at 80F and they grow quicker. They will still hatch at 70F and grow full cycle. Just didn't want you to think you ever "need" the still air incubator. It is totally manageable without one.

Kyle
 

DorgEndo

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Devlyn
What you are saying makes sense, thank you. I didn't measure the temperature, but the place I have them is probably 76 degrees F. It is also a cat safe place. My cat doesn't bother my roaches or crickets or other bugs that I can tell, but silkies are so much more delicate I don't want to risk it.

So far the silkies seem okay in their closet. During the day I have the light on, they definitely eat and move about. I've checked after lights out and they seem to stop in place. Doing a 12/12 day/night cycle.

How many should I let go to moth? I know that some probably won't make it out of cocoon...that's natural. Would 12 be enough to get eggs? I have 1 bearded dragon and 1 north american grey tree frog. I do not need a huge moth colony, lol
 

kmwilson042182

Hatchling Member
12 would probably be plenty if all goes perfect. The first few times I tried I was not very successful and I had an emergence rate of about 50% and that has slowly increased as I deal with that part of the cycle more. If they all cocoon at nearly the same time and hatch within a few day span that is plenty. If there is several days in between the emergence of the moths, you may start to loose moths before others hatch. They don't eat or drink so they only live for about a week. Their sole purpose is breeding and laying eggs. I will say that my adult beardy loves to eat the moths. My understanding is they don't have nearly the nutrition as the worms, but they make him very happy nonetheless. So you could always go for more moths, and if you get a bunch then use some as treats. Once they come out of the cocoon, the males release a pheromone. I move the cocoons into a new container and place on paper towels. You can see this pheromone release on the paper towel. I do think this is where I am hurting my emergence rate some as I believe I am likely damaging some of the cocoons in the move. The female attaches with the male and then eventually lays eggs. If you place a toilet paper roll over the moths once they mate then the female will lay the eggs in a perfect little circle that you can cut out. They lay about 400 eggs I believe. Once they lay you can cut out that piece of paper towel and have to put in a container and refrigerate for several weeks. You can refrigerate them for quite some time, but you have to at least refrigerate for several weeks to mimic the winter diapause. Then you can take out and they will hatch in about 1-3 weeks.

Kyle
 
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