Silkworm questions

[rachel.s]

Hi, I’ve been ordering silkworm cups to feed my beardie and I just read something alarming and wanted to see if I could get some more follow up.
Silkworms certainly take work to keep alive - I clean out their cup every day. I do lose some of seemingly every cup, but my supplier will always send extra so I was okay with it.
I was doing more research on silkworm keeping today and I discovered that their bodies turning into goo when they die is actually a virus.
I haven’t fed Ernie any dead worms (duh!!!!) but I’ve been feeding him worms from the same batches. I read somewhere this can make reptiles sick, then saw someone refute it.

Any input? Ernie is acting moody and hiding a lot lately so I’m also paranoid something is wrong. But he is eating and pooping and getting his bask on and such.

Please help, any advice - Ernie is our second beardie, our first passed away from mysterious issues before the age of two so we are always worried and would love some community input.

 

[Hazelthebeardeddragon]

Hi, I’ve been ordering silkworm cups to feed my beardie and I just read something alarming and wanted to see if I could get some more follow up.
Silkworms certainly take work to keep alive - I clean out their cup every day. I do lose some of seemingly every cup, but my supplier will always send extra so I was okay with it.
I was doing more research on silkworm keeping today and I discovered that their bodies turning into goo when they die is actually a virus.
I haven’t fed Ernie any dead worms (duh!!!!) but I’ve been feeding him worms from the same batches. I read somewhere this can make reptiles sick, then saw someone refute it.

Any input? Ernie is acting moody and hiding a lot lately so I’m also paranoid something is wrong. But he is eating and pooping and getting his bask on and such.

Please help, any advice - Ernie is our second beardie, our first passed away from mysterious issues before the age of two so we are always worried and would love some community input.

I haven’t heard of this and I did use to feed BSFL, however I stopped. I stopped mainly because my bearded dragon didn’t want any anymore but also bc they do die quickly. I’m sure that if your cleaning the box there are in daily that they don’t have time to rlly turn into that goo as they’d be freshly dead however if your still worried you may want to change your feeder bug. Can you go over your tank setup? There could be many reasons as to why he’s moody however I understand your concern. When ur cleaning out are you getting a lot of dead mushy BSFL or just black ones?

 

[xp29]

I think as long as you remove them when they die you'll be fine. Hornworms tend to get yucky if not removed quickly also. Personally I think it's just part of the decaying process. (But I'm no expert)

 

[rachel.s]

I haven’t heard of this and I did use to feed BSFL, however I stopped. I stopped mainly because my bearded dragon didn’t want any anymore but also bc they do die quickly. I’m sure that if your cleaning the box there are in daily that they don’t have time to rlly turn into that goo as they’d be freshly dead however if your still worried you may want to change your feeder bug. Can you go over your tank setup? There could be many reasons as to why he’s moody however I understand your concern. When ur cleaning out are you getting a lot of dead mushy BSFL or just black ones?

Thanks for replying! I am feeding him silkworms, not BSFL (we haven’t tried them yet, because the only way to get them is to order and when we have done that in the past with our previous dragon (RIP Hannibal the best boy) we got so many dead ones.
So I’m cleaning the silkworm cups daily to remove the dead ones, but I read on another forum that it’s a virus that causes them to turn into goo, I realize I’ve probably been spreading that virus from cup to cup (I’ve been getting two cups per week, cleaning them daily but have consolidated cups, etc) and I’m worried they could be making Ernie sick.
He has a 120 gallon tank with a UVB strip inside to make sure he’s got the right light, and his temps are 90-100 on the hot side. We initially had it a little warmer but he seems to be hiding when it’s super hot.
He’s just been hanging out in his hide more! We’re going to try moving his tank into our living room - right now he lives in my home office and when I was in there all day, he was always out staring at me and grinning. It seems like if he thinks he’s alone in the room, he just goes to bed…

 

[Hazelthebeardeddragon]

Thanks for replying! I am feeding him silkworms, not BSFL (we haven’t tried them yet, because the only way to get them is to order and when we have done that in the past with our previous dragon (RIP Hannibal the best boy) we got so many dead ones.
So I’m cleaning the silkworm cups daily to remove the dead ones, but I read on another forum that it’s a virus that causes them to turn into goo, I realize I’ve probably been spreading that virus from cup to cup (I’ve been getting two cups per week, cleaning them daily but have consolidated cups, etc) and I’m worried they could be making Ernie sick.
He has a 120 gallon tank with a UVB strip inside to make sure he’s got the right light, and his temps are 90-100 on the hot side. We initially had it a little warmer but he seems to be hiding when it’s super hot.
He’s just been hanging out in his hide more! We’re going to try moving his tank into our living room - right now he lives in my home office and when I was in there all day, he was always out staring at me and grinning. It seems like if he thinks he’s alone in the room, he just goes to bed…

I’m so sorry I was zoned out reading that and didn’t realize you said silkworms! He is most likely inactive and moody due to you not being in there all day as you said. I’d say changing the bugs isn’t the worst idea. Dubiaroaches.com sells all kinds. In the cups, if you’re cleaning the dead ones I’d say just throw them away and clean off whatever ur picking them up with before you move to the next cup and clean it again after removing the dead bugs from the second. He could just be depressed and missing you as you’re not in the room as often, if I read that right. I’m not an expert but I’m sure it’ll be fine as long as you’re cleaning ur utensils and hands.

 

[rachel.s]

I’m so sorry I was zoned out reading that and didn’t realize you said silkworms! He is most likely inactive and moody due to you not being in there all day as you said. I’d say changing the bugs isn’t the worst idea. Dubiaroaches.com sells all kinds. In the cups, if you’re cleaning the dead ones I’d say just throw them away and clean off whatever ur picking them up with before you move to the next cup and clean it again after removing the dead bugs from the second. He could just be depressed and missing you as you’re not in the room as often, if I read that right. I’m not an expert but I’m sure it’ll be fine as long as you’re cleaning ur utensils and hands.

Thank you! He spent most of the day out of his tank with us the last two days and seems to be perking up. We’re going to move him into the living room today so he always feels part of everything. Hopefully that will help. We’re going to get him somewhere to dig too - a little more action for him.

 

[Hazelthebeardeddragon]

Thank you! He spent most of the day out of his tank with us the last two days and seems to be perking up. We’re going to move him into the living room today so he always feels part of everything. Hopefully that will help. We’re going to get him somewhere to dig too - a little more action for him.

That sounds great I’m glad he’s perking up.