Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi lele...

My children and I were wondering a few things...and you being the resident insect expert...I told them I'd ask you to see if you could answer the questions for us!

This morning we were watching the remaining silkworms that I bought for Zoe (all 15 of the 20 I bought!)
One has already cocooned. Another one is in the process of building a cocoon...but we can't seem to tell which end the silk comes out of. Is it the mouth, or the bum?

I read somewhere that a good way to stimulate a cham to eat a silkie is to get a thread of silk on your finger, and dangle the silkie in front of the cham...but damned if we could figure out which end to get the silk from...or how to make the silkworm produce it! My daughter picked up the one that is currently building the cocoon...but it wouldn't do it for us.

The next question is: How long will it take before a moth is produced, and is there anything special we have to do to maintain proper conditions for them?

Also, once they turn into a moth, do we feed them mulberry too? Then, if they were to breed...do they lay eggs, or do they give birth to live itty bitty silkworms (ugh! like maggots?)

oh...and...what's the little spikey thing near the bum, but up on the back, for?

Thanks for the lesson lele!
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Kim

"The silk is actually hardened silkworm saliva. It comes out of the mouth, not out of the rear end like a spider. When the silkworm ate great quantities of mulberry leaves, they were digested and nutrients were sent into the bloodstream. The silk glands absorbed these nutrients. The larva has a small spinneret on its lip, through which the silk emerges. The single strand of silk that forms the cocoon is about one mile long! "

I posted a great website in your other thread. Unfortunately the moths have NO MOUTHS! Strange. But because the silkworm has been domesticated and conditioned by humans for thousands of years, they are COMPLETELY dependent on man. The moths die after a few days, after fufilling its usefulness. However I heard some chams LOVE the moths. so put one in with your lizzard (after it lays eggs of course!)

Forgot the second part of your question

Heres what I found: "Many types of caterpillars have sharp horns or prickly hairs.  This makes predators avoid trying to eat them.  Silkworms have a soft growth that looks like a sharp horn, but if a predator tried to eat it, the growth wouldn't bother them.  But the predators don't know that!  The wild ancestors of silkworms that had these growths got eaten less often than those without the growths, so they reproduced more.  That's why modern silkworms have "horns". "

As soon as we noticed one has emerged from the cacoon, we feed it to Roan. Jade ate one today as well. They are flightless so they flap their wings a whole bunch and that really attracts their attention.

1.1 veiled chameleons

Also, the moths don't eat, so you don't have to worry about feeding them.
I had some in a shoe box that pupated and they came out in about a month I think. they did their thing and laid eggs, but I threw them out b/c I had no food for them
Where did you get the mullberry leaves from?

I used to be able to identify mulberry trees when i was a kid and used to raise silkworms in 4-H but now 15 years later I have no clue. I plan on calling my city office and asking what kinds of trees they have planted in public parks around here. I wont be telling them why I need to know exactly, but it should be public information. I DID pay for the trees with my taxes

ALTERNATIVELY you can buy SILKWORM CHOW from www.mulberryfarms.com

microwave it up as you need it.

I was thinking about the chow. I live in Canada and there is a place about an hour from here that sells it and other insect goodies. I know that icequeen lives close to me though, so I wasn't sure where she had found the trees.
Silly me, I didn't even knwo there were mullberry trees around here. I don't even know that one looks like! lol

I'm supposed to be microwaving it before I feed it? I thought I was just supposed to cut it up into chunks or grate it for the smaller silkies. Either way, they're eating and growing like crazy!!! So fast that I don't know what to do! Order more I guess! LOL!

Kristen
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0.1 pygmy leaf
1.0 carpet
1.0 jackson

It depends on the kind you get. You can get "ready made" chow that is basically cubes (I think) and already moist. You can also get "make it yourself" chow that you add water and cook in the mic. This stuff makes 4x its dry weight in chow, and I think cost more but if you work it out x4 it costs less once it's made. You pay more for the other stuff for convenience.

Sorry, to turn the POWDERED CHOW into SOLID CHOW you need to mix it with water and microwave it, following the instructions.

they dont need to eat it hot. Sorry for the confusion!

Hi Kim,

Well, it looks like someone went to the site I always suggest SaveFerris is correct and I am glad he quoted the info. The site he posted in your earlier thread www.pclaunch.com/~kayton/silk.htm is the one I always recommend. It has great info because it is geared toward teachers and students. The other one is:
www.sericulum.com/planner.html. They have a "planner" that breaks down the life stages.

as for dangling it by a "thread"....not an easy feat. I would just put it in a cup. When it is spinning, it will stop when you (or another "predator" LOL!) bother it. As you know, I rear the Giant Silks and they are very cute. The will just tuck their head under for protection.

Feed the adults to Zoe. No sense in wasting a good meal. Keep a few if you want eggs. The easiest way to determine the gender is by the antennae (true with most moths). The males are MUCH larger than the female. The link below shows the slim female antennae. Now Kim, you know how I love to give my online science lessons the reason the males have larger antennae is b/c this is how they “smell” or sense the pheromones the female releases in order to attract a mate. Some species of moths can “scent” a female up to 4 miles away! Check out this link for a really neat pic!!! http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Animal Behavior/a_male_silkworm_moth.htm

A less predictable way to tell the sex is that females make bigger cocoons and are larger moths. This is b/c they already have hundreds of infertile eggs and have larger abdomens. May be a little hard to tell in this photo (Cc, my miracle Hyalophora cecropia but her belly was HUGE!!! you can see some eggs she had laid up near her legs. I collected about 70 and then released her to deposit the final 200 in the wild

btw, the BEST way to determine gender is when they mate! LOL!!!

Link