Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Silkworms seem very fragile, & when they're small, subject to a big die off.
Originally written to a friend, but I hope this can generate discussion.

Silkworms seem fragile. Small ones die off rather easily, Large ones begin to fall apart, & I guess that's why none of my cocoons emerge.

Hornworms maybe are tougher, but can fly. I wonder if a screen reptile cage could work? The moths are monsterous, I think. They wouldn't escape notice if one got away.

I'm still afraid of cockroaches, even if they are slow. I'm afraid of 1,000,000 number breakoust.

I hate crickets which have caused prolapses for me, (fed too many?) & I hate trying to breed them. Messy, smelly, not as nice as worms.

I shall also write this to the cham. group. The male's rear healed. I put the female in with the new male yesterday, & they didn't fight, but she also broke out in clown colors. The female that mated was pretty green.
Link

Personal observations here:
Silkworms: The best prey item out there! I keep mine in the incubator from the time they are still eggs, up to about 2 weeks at 82. I've never experienced ANY sort of die-off that others talk about, but then again I never have worms that reach pupae stage (all fed off by then!).
Roaches: Interesting to keep in their own right. IMO, Hissers are worthy to keep as pets. The fact that you can feed off the young to your hungry chams is a bonus. Fat, juicy little guys, ease of raising similiar to crix, but without all the noise and smell.
Crix: A necessary evil. Haven't gotten my roaches/silkies up to the point where I'd eliminate the crix, don't think I would eliminate them as a food source anyways.
I haven't used hornworms, so no opinion there. I also use houseflies, superworms and wildcaught bugs. Variety is the spice of life!
http://gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/

Hi- silkworms are the best food you can feed your chameleon. You can buy them on the net @ www.mulberryfarms.com and www.ebay.com. I have had no problems yet with them, I use an incubator to hatch the eggs and leave them in there for about 3 weeks. The incubator is set @ 82F, I place the eggs in to the incubator in the Petri dish they are glued to. Once they start to hatch 12hrs after I put a little food around the outside of the dish with the lid on. Then 12 more hrs. I put food all over the top of them, and repeat this every day with the lid always on. Once there is so much feces in the dish where I cant close the lid, I place them into a plastic pie cover, which is about 1 week after they hatch, I place the lid on the pie cover, and repeat feeding every day for another week with the lid on. Then I take the lid off and feed every day for another week. By this time they are big enough and take up so much room I move them out of the incubator, in to 1-3 plastic shoe boxes (depends on how many eggs I hatch 3000-7000 ). (I live in California, so the worms do fine with no heat source all year round for me, if it is cold where you live you will need to provide heat) Then I continue to feed everyday, for about 1-2 weeks, then I clean out the tubs, by this time there is allot of feces, and the worms are about 1/2-3/4". I just repeat this process of feeding every day and cleaning the tubs out every 1-2 weeks. Once they are about 1-2" I start to feed them out, and cut back my feeding of food to the worms to slow growth down. I have just recently put some of the larger worms a side to let cocoon and breed and collect the eggs. Every thing has gone great so far, and the chameleons love the moths, I feed them the extra males if there is any! This is just my way of doing things, and others may have diffrent ways that work better for them, it seems that it depends on your location.

I have just now started looking in to the roaches, and plan on keeping a colony of them. The crickets I don't like they make to much noise, so when I get them I order 1000 3 week olds, at this age and by the time I feed them out not a sound comes out of them. I ordered the wrong size last time and got a music box of 1000 adults, they went in the garage for safe keeping as I fed them out, I cant take there noise at night when I am trying to sleep!

The horn worms are also a good food item for large chameleons, I have not yet bought any of them because the price is high, and you don't get very many and they grow VERY fast. I may try them after I get the roaches going!

So in all the best feeder I would have to say hands down is the silkworms, the only catch with them is they only eat mulberry leafs and mulberry chow. I have had no problems with die off, I lose less then 10 through the whole process with 3000-7000 eggs, there are some eggs that don't hatch, or some worms that are runts, but none of them fall apart! You may have some problems the fist time you keep them, but you will pick it up FAST, and learn what works and what dosent. Sorry for the long post! Hope this helps!

P.S.-

This is a good link foe info on silkworm keeping
www.geckolizards.com/photos/silkworms/

This is a good link for roaches
www.chameleonnews.com/year2003/may2003/roaches/roaches.html
and in the acricle there is more links to good info!
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John
1.1 Ambilobe Panthers
1.1 Nosy Be Panthers
1.1 Sambava Panthers

I have found that the worms will eat and eat as long as there is food in there tub. When they reach about 2 1/2"-3" that is full grown for them. If you continue to feed they continue to eat, and will not cocoon and die, so I stop feeding them when they reach this size, they don't have food to eat so they start to cocoon. So if you are having trouble with the cocoons not hatching, you may try this out, it works for me. I place the worms in a cardboard box, but you can use any container, with paper towel rolls standing up on the bottom of the box, the rolls are cut so they are only 3-4" high, most will cocoon inside the rolls, and some will cocoon in the corner of the box. Again this is how I keep mine and other may have different ways that work too. Hope this helps!
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John
1.1 Ambilobe Panthers
1.1 Nosy Be Panthers
1.1 Sambava Panthers

Just wondering if you are willing to sell some silkworms I also live in CA?