Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was just looking at how much silk worms are and it says that they are 5.99 for just 25 do beardies not eat very many of them?? cuz that i s awhole lot more that crickets....
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0.1.0 leopard gecko
0.0.1 schnieder's skink
0.0.1 white's dumpy treefrog
0.0.1 house gecko (currently missing)
1.0.0 rabbit
0.1.0 dogs
1.2.0 cats
2.0.0 goulian finchs

>>i was just looking at how much silk worms are and it says that they are 5.99 for just 25 do beardies not eat very many of them?? cuz that i s awhole lot more that crickets....
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>>0.1.0 leopard gecko
>>0.0.1 schnieder's skink
>>0.0.1 white's dumpy treefrog
>>0.0.1 house gecko (currently missing)
>>1.0.0 rabbit
>>0.1.0 dogs
>>1.2.0 cats
>>2.0.0 goulian finchs

big like 2-3" that might not be so unreasonable. A beardie won't eat many if they are that big.

Go to www.mulberryfarms.com for some small sizes and lower prices. Like 250 1" or smaller worms for $15.00. That may not be exact but it's pretty close.
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Rob

No, it's not pretty close. 250 one inch worms are $30. They are expensive. I just bought 500 small worms with 1/2# chow for $42.99 with shipping. For that I could have bought about 3000 crickets. But for the convience of these (well not the convience of silkworms, but the convienve of not having crickets) it's worth it to me. Besides they are healthier then crickets and grow pretty fast.

Go to www.mulberryfarms.com for some small sizes and lower prices. Like 250 1" or smaller worms for $15.00. That may not be exact but it's pretty close.

How long do silkworms stay as a worm? I would like to keep them, but only have one dragon so I'm worried they would all turn into moths before he can eat them all.

>>How long do silkworms stay as a worm? I would like to keep them, but only have one dragon so I'm worried they would all turn into moths before he can eat them all.

It depends on how much you feed them. How often you feed them. What the temperature you keep them at.

When I got my first batch I ended up having about 50 coccoons. It was kinda hectic but now I've got so many eggs I won't buy silkworms for a loooooonng time!!

The best advice I can give is to go small to begin with, don't keep them any higher than 70 degrees and only feed them once a day. You will eventually get an idea of how many you want to have.

Where I ordered them I indicated I wanted 1/2" or smaller and got tiny, tiny worms that couldn't be fed because I could hardly see them! I had to place an additional order for larger ones and then some were waaay too big. That's how I ran into a problem.

Depending on the size you indicate when you order remember to try and specify what you want in the comments section of your order, if you have one. I think it probably depends on what the supplier has on hand as to how close they come to what you want.

At first try not to be completely dependent on the silkies because it may take you awhile to get the rotation down.

Hope this helps!!
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Rob

So how many silkworms (lets say 1" silworms)will an adult bearded dragon eat a day? Im thinking about buying some (i hate crickets) but i want to know how many i need to order.

Is there a point where its to cold for them to live? I live in chicago and my roomie wont let me keep live things in the fridge. So if i toss them outside would they die?

They should be kept warm, between 75 and 85 degrees. I'd imagine a fridge would kill them. I found that mine retain almost perfect temp on top of my computer monitor. (Which, BTW if it makes a difference is on but in standby probably 18 hours out of the day, and acutally on the rest of the time).

O wow, thats great.

So they do not need to be refrigerated at all then? Like waxworms do?

How long does it take them to turn into whatever it is they turn into? And how many will an adult dragon eat?

Or if anyone has an actual website on these buggers that can shed some light on them please help me out.

***The caresheet will be done tonight***

I did have to spend some time getting things the way I wanted to breed them. Once that has been setup I think they are very easy to breed. I've probably got 2500 eggs in my fridge and I've had silkies for a little over a month and a half.

I don't have time right now to put together a care sheet for them but I will do that in the next couple of days and post it here. Here's the basics.

The worms & coccoons:

Temps anywhere from 67-88. I've had them at the low end but not the high end. Mine generally stay 67-75 and do fine.

I keep them in a plastic rubbermaid tub with fairly low sides under a clamp lamp that is on during the day.

I feed them silkworm chow once a day (no water is necessary). Tiny worms get it grated right on top while bigger worms get chunks placed here and there.

You will be able to tell when they are ready to spin coccoons. I use toilet paper rolls cut into thirds dipped in parafin wax.

Takes about 3 days to spin then about a week and a half to hatch. Before hatching I get a hint of a strong odor every once in a while but only right next to my coccoons. I think it's either the liquid they use to dissolve the coccoons or a few that are decaying and have failed to hatch. Haven't narrowed it down yet.

Keep hatched moths at same temp and I separate males and females and place them in small, wax paper lined, rubermaid containers with lids and holes. When I have one of each they both go into a container, do their thing, and lay eggs (200-500) in about a day. Then they get fed to the dragons. I only feed the moths to the big dragon because I haven't found any info on the level of undigestible material in the moths yet.

The eggs:

Once eggs are layed I wait for them to turn from yellow to black and do one of two things. I either place them in the fridge for up to 5 years or put them in the incubator at 88 degress and about 75-80% humidity. When incubating eggs you don't have to have an incubator but it's a good idea. Details later.

The eggs will incubate for about 3 weeks and then hatch. Now I haven't hatched any eggs as of yet but everything seems to be exactly as it should and I should have some newborns in about a week.

If you want to get a head start on the care here's some websites to check out. As always there's a lot of conflicting info and I have found one or two indicate there's a lot more you need to do than is really necessary.

http://www.chateau-michel.org/silkworm_class.htm
http://www.pclaunch.com/~kayton/Silkworms/raising.htm
http://www.sericulum.com/index.html

These are what I have bookmarked but there's a couple more I have found I can't remember. Do a net search on silkworms and you'll find them. I think the best is the first listed.

***I accidentally dropped a big one next to my small dragon and she ate it without any problems. I was surprised and don't normally feed them that big to her. It took her some time to get it down but everything was fine. I think it's easier on the small BD's to feed the smaller worms but that shows me there's not much chance of impaction. Again, I don't suggest big worms for little dragons. Kinda like eating a whole cheeseburger in one bite. It won't hurt you but it will be a pain in the #@$ to eat!

OK, I've typed too much now. Like I said I'll put something together this weekend but check out the sites I listed.
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Rob
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Rob

>>So how many silkworms (lets say 1" silworms)will an adult bearded dragon eat a day? Im thinking about buying some (i hate crickets) but i want to know how many i need to order.

Well I think an adult dragon should be eating mostly salad and only worms a few times a week. I don't have an adult yet mines just a juvie but Buster will eat about 10-15 1" worms at a time.

I'd go with small worms if you have an adult and don't keep them too warm or they will grow too fast and you'll have a mess of huge worms to either throw away or let coccoon. If they're small you can just feed more of them.

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>>Is there a point where its to cold for them to live? I live in chicago and my roomie wont let me keep live things in the fridge. So if i toss them outside would they die?

Yes I think they'd die if you tossed them either outside or in the fridge. I wouldn't go any lower than 67-68 degrees.
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Rob

wow that was a lot of info! Thanks alot man!

I was up with on the breeding thing utnil you mentioned you needed an icubator. Dont own one of those and dont have the cash for it right now.

Right now im at a crossroad and i just dont know which way to go. I can either keep buying crickets by the 1000 and just live with them. Or i can try the silkworms.

Crickets are nice and cheap, my beardie (sub adult we think) seems to eat a gazillion of them still. 2-3 dozen easy every other day or 3 days.

Since silkworms are so expensive i dont want to get them if he is going to eat the same ammount. Id be spending way way to much money. So thats what im trying to figure out right now. Which would be more cost effective. If the silkworms are *slightly* more expensive i dont mind just cause they seem to be so much easier and NO CHIRPING.

So thats what im debating now..... suggestions?