Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone know of anywhere else to purchase besides Mulberry Farm. Thanks in advance.

I get mine from www.herpfood.com the minimum is only $10.00 and shipping is included in the pricing. The only thing is, is that they don't sell mulberry chow. And with mulberry farms minimum being $30, I got the chow from www.insectlore.com about the same pricing for the chow but no minimum and shipping is only $4.95 up to $19.99. So between the 2, I still got everything cheaper. Now don't get me wrong...I'm not 'bashing' mulberry farms......the $30 minimum just really 'threw' me.
Hope this helps!!

Christina

I went to that insectlore website and their site says that a 1/2 lb. of chow is enough to only feed like 15 or so silkworms to adulthood. If it's the same type of chow I got from mulberryfarms...that can't be right. Is it a different type or the same stuff?

>>I went to that insectlore website and their site says that a 1/2 lb. of chow is enough to only feed like 15 or so silkworms to adulthood. If it's the same type of chow I got from mulberryfarms...that can't be right. Is it a different type or the same stuff?

Don't forget when you mix a half pound of powdered chow from MF you end up with 2 lbs of ready to eat chow. Cut that into quarters and I think it's probably pretty close.
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Rob

Ooooh, didn't think about the premade chow. Man, I'd have to order 10 pounds of that stuff.

>>Ooooh, didn't think about the premade chow. Man, I'd have to order 10 pounds of that stuff.

and get a good amount? I'm just curious because I noticed there were preparation instructions indicated on the ordering page.
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Rob

The 1/2# is in powder form. Mixed up, it makes enough to fill a regular size cool whip container. I put 2-3 gumball size balls in for 100 1/2" to 1" silkworms. That feeds them for 25-28 days....which is about when they turn to catapillars. Feeding them too much can stress them but this is plenty for them. As far as I know, it's the same stuff as MF sells.

Hope this helps

Christina

>>The 1/2# is in powder form. Mixed up, it makes enough to fill a regular size cool whip container. I put 2-3 gumball size balls in for 100 1/2" to 1" silkworms. That feeds them for 25-28 days....which is about when they turn to catapillars. Feeding them too much can stress them but this is plenty for them. As far as I know, it's the same stuff as MF sells.
>>
>>Hope this helps
>>
>>Christina
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Rob

The 2 or 3 gumball sized is per day?

What are people's experiences with using a cheese grater? I find it almost impossible and I tend to overfeed them when they are young. I am concerned that when I use the strip method (per Mulberry) that I might be harming younger worms.

Has anyone here had success with Catapillers and new eggs?

>>The 2 or 3 gumball sized is per day?
>>
>>What are people's experiences with using a cheese grater? I find it almost impossible and I tend to overfeed them when they are young. I am concerned that when I use the strip method (per Mulberry) that I might be harming younger worms.
>>
>>Has anyone here had success with Catapillers and new eggs?

are about 1/4" long. I find if you put the cheese grater in the fridge the grating doesn't come off in big lumps. You won't harm them by using the cheese grater, just don't pile it on too thick. I haven't used the strip method, per say. If I'm past the cheese grater method I just use small chunks. By that time the worms have the ability to move to the food.

I've had some success with eggs. Going by the average of 200-500 eggs per moth I've currently got 3000-7500 eggs in the fridge and 600-1500 silkworms that have hatched.

I ran into two problems so far and haven't been able to explain them yet. One is that I had a lot of cocoons that the moths weren't able to break out of. I examined them and the worms did turn into moths but for some reason they never got out.

To explain the second problem I had let me explain how the eggs are supposed to mature. After the moth lays the eggs they are supposed to turn a dark color within about 3 days. You can either put them in the fridge and store them or let them incubate. When they are getting to the point of hatching they will turn to gray then eventually become somewhat clear in the center. Well, I had the eggs sitting in containers in a 10 gal. aquarium (70-73 degrees) for at least a week and they didn't get dark. I had a pretty good idea they were fertile because all the moths mated successfully. I decided to put the eggs in the incubator (84 degrees) and see what happened. They skipped they completely skipped dark phase and went straight to gray then began to hatch! Now I'm up to my ears in freakin' silkworms!

Like I said I'm not sure what happened but will have plenty of breeders to test a few things out. Regardless, I've still got a nice stockpile in the fridge but don't know yet if they will even hatch. Eventually I'll see how well I did with these but it will probably be a couple of months.

I can't remember who it was but someone on here said they have had success for awhile now with raising them. Maybe they'll have some more info.
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Rob

Maybe someone on this can help - I read the info that posted about raising to catipillers but I am still not sure of the set-up. How do you use the toilet paper rolls? Do you place the worms in the cut up tubes or do they crawl in there themselves? Also, do you keep feeding the worms - when do you stop. I've got some very big worms here and I am not sure what to do next.

thanks

>>Maybe someone on this can help - I read the info that posted about raising to catipillers but I am still not sure of the set-up. How do you use the toilet paper rolls? Do you place the worms in the cut up tubes or do they crawl in there themselves? Also, do you keep feeding the worms - when do you stop. I've got some very big worms here and I am not sure what to do next.
>>
>>thanks

supply of food. I'm not 100% sure because I haven't seen results yet but when I didn't give them a continuous supply of food near the time they spun I had problems with the moths not being able to break out of the coccoons. They use a spit to disolve the silk when they are ready to come out and I think they need to build that up before they begin to spin. Plus, I think it's important for them to fatten up before changing into a moth.

I use a rubbermaid container and a fishing tackle container to put the rolls into. I think I got lucky, though, because the tackle containers were on clearance and it's more of a convenience than a necessity. The tackle containers are about 1" tall and have 1" square deviders.

The first time my worms spun I paperclipped the rolls together and made sure there were enough together that they weren't just sitting in the container. I did this because if you need to move the container or accidentally bump the rolls and disturb the coccoons that have begun to be formed the worm must start all over from the beginning to spin another coccoon. Now that kind of depends on how much progress they've made and how much the coccoon is disturbed. But early on it doesn't take much to mess them up. If it happens to be too late the worm will never finish spinning and just die inside the half spun coccoon.

If you place the worms into a container with the rolls they will find spost to spin their coccoons. I've tried to "guide" them into the spot where I wanted them to coccoon and it really doesn't matter. For some reason they may climb all the way to the other side of the container and spin. Who knows what drives them to spin where they do.

It's kind of tricky to know for sure when they are about to spin. I've found lately it's not as clear as I first thought and you are bound to find a few too late and place a few too early into the spinning area. Once you see it a bunch of times you will start to begin to have a better idea of what they look like when they are ready to spin. Then, for some reason, just when you think you've got it down the worm fools you and either looks for more food and if it's not there it just starves or spins a weak cocoon or it's too late and the worm doesn't have enough reserve moisture to produce the silk so again there's a half spun coccoon.

The best indicators I've seen for spinning time are as follows.

They will begin to move their head in a figure eight shape.

They will stop eating.

Turn the worm over and look between it's two back legs. If it's milky white they've gotten rid of the last of their waste and are ready to spin. If it's dark they have yet to do that.

The worm has climbed up the side of the container and stays there.

The worm has taken on a yellow hue with somewhat of a SLIGHT transparent look.

The worm has gotten noticibly smaller and slightly changed shape (difficult to recognize w/out experience).

Just last night I had a worm that met all the criteria above and I placed it into the spinning container. I always place a tiny amount of chow in there near the worm as well to see if it begins to eat again and sure enough the little bugger started eating again so I put it back in the feeding container.

Another thing that I have found helpful is to take the big worms and seperate them into their own container so it's easier to notice if they've changed in appearance.

Ever since I've started feeding them continuously after 3" they have gotten a lot bigger than any of the previous batch I had feeding only once a day. They will eat a TON of chow at this time. It's unreal how much they go through. You will have so many little black corn cob turds it's ridiculous! I have a lot of worms (not on purpose - different story all together) and the last few days I have had to make a new 1/2# batch of chow every day! Ughh!

If you need any help let me know and I'll help where I can.

Good luck!!
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Rob

I was putting the rolls right into the feeding bin - it sounds like I need to move the worms to a seperate container. It sounds like the rolls should be vertical? What about the parifin wax - what is that for? Can you send a picture of your spinning set-up?

Thank you so much for the help!!!!

>>I was putting the rolls right into the feeding bin - it sounds like I need to move the worms to a seperate container. It sounds like the rolls should be vertical? What about the parifin wax - what is that for? Can you send a picture of your spinning set-up?
>>
>>Thank you so much for the help!!!!

I don't think it matters much if the rolls are vertical or horizontal. Whatever works for your setup. I've go both vert. and horizontal in my setup.

You can put the rolls in the same container as what you currently use for regular keeping but I've found it makes things difficult. You'll have worms spinning coccoons in the corners, on the walls, coccoons on top of coccoons. Plus the other worms tend to cause havoc with the ones that are spinning. Also, the worms will secrete a very wet, sloppy crap right before they spin to rid their body of excess fluid. That, along with the food and all of the droppings.....it just becomes a mess!

The parafin wax is used to make it easier to remove the coccoons from the rolls if you want to consolidate them into a smaller container. After three days from when the coccoon started you can move it to a smaller container if you want. If you aren't planning on doing that then I wouldn't worry about the wax unless you are going to reuse the rolls. The wax makes it a ton easier to get all the silk out.
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Rob