Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok I decided to try silkies again and I've not lost a one yippie! I want to try and breed them, how many should I keep to breed? and hints?
-----
From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Veileds
1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

Jovana,

How many large worms do you have?
If you have thousands... then keep like 50 and let them "do their thing"

Each female can lay from 200-300 eggs but you don't know which worms are male vs female before they spin their cocoons. Once they hatch - it is easy to sex - and you need mostly females to get a good harvest. Out of 50 worms... you should be able to get a good amount of eggs.

Joe (jdany) has become a great source of silk worm info... see if he can give you some pointers.
-----

Right now I have 30 large silkies left. That should be enough to get some eggs right?
Thanks for the help.
-----
From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Veileds
1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

If you can spare them, leave the 30 you have left for egg production. Keep feeding them until they stop eating on their own and start to cocoon up. I left 50 of my last batch to cocoon but ran out of food before they cocooned and lost all but 2 of them. I ended up with 2 cocoons that I doubt will give me a male and female moth but we'll see when they come out.

Be sure you have food available for the silkies as you never can tell when theyre ready to eat or cocoon.
-----
Raf

1.2 Jacksons Adults (Frank, Patty, Lucille)
0.0.1 Jackson's baby (George, R.I.P. 11/17/2003)
1.1 Nosy Be's (Mars and Roja)
1.1 Veiled - No Names Yet
0.1 Adult Sulcatta (POOPIE,I bought it from Victor at Kobey's in SD)
0.0.2 Baby Sulcattas (frick and frack)
1.0 Home's Hingeback Tortoise (SPEEDY, From Victor as well)
1.2 Red ear slider babies (Hingis, Dingis and Dorkus)
0.0.1 3 toed box turtle - No Name Yet
0.0.1 Gulf Coast Box Turtle - No Name Yet
1.0 Red Siberian Husky (Harley)
0.1 Black Lab (Krissy)
0.1 English Bulldog (Alice)
0.1 Blue Merle Great Dane (Wednesday)
Saltwater Fish and Inverts too

I have a whole bag of food left for them so I think I'm good to go. what type of housing should I use for them? they are in a large tuperware right now. Will the moths need or want to eat the chow too? I'm extreemly new to breeding feeders...
-----
From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Veileds
1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

Like some get huge compared to others.
The really big ones are usually females.

Size in worms or moths? I only have like 7-8 smaller worms, the rest are huge compaired to those.

I tried doing a search on silkie breeding, but came up with nothing.. soo this is what I'm planning on doing, tell me if I'm wrong.

Large tuperware, keep feeding till they stop eating.
Keep lid on when they stop feeding to let cacoon and do their thing.

Now should I put some ventalation holes in the lid? I've herd wax paper or the cardbard TP rolls should be placed in the container when they stop eating. so I was going to use 3-4 TP rolls... any advice or sugestions?
-----
From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Veileds
1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

According to John (ChamParadise), the container should be kept dark or in the dark. I stored mine in a cardboard box and cut up a bunch of TP and Paper Towel rolls and put them in the bottom of the box (the box was dark). Funny thing is, the 2 worms that made it into moths didnt even use the rolls. The cocooned on the corners of the box.

I suggest you do put a couple of holes on the lids for ventilation. Not too many because it dries out the food too quickly. Put the box in a dark closet and you should be set. Feed them in there and they will cocoon in a few weeks. They say that the 3inch worms are the ones that are almost ready to cocoon.
-----
Raf

1.2 Jacksons Adults (Frank, Patty, Lucille)
0.0.1 Jackson's baby (George, R.I.P. 11/17/2003)
1.1 Nosy Be's (Mars and Roja)
1.1 Veiled - No Names Yet
0.1 Adult Sulcatta (POOPIE,I bought it from Victor at Kobey's in SD)
0.0.2 Baby Sulcattas (frick and frack)
1.0 Home's Hingeback Tortoise (SPEEDY, From Victor as well)
1.2 Red ear slider babies (Hingis, Dingis and Dorkus)
0.0.1 3 toed box turtle - No Name Yet
0.0.1 Gulf Coast Box Turtle - No Name Yet
1.0 Red Siberian Husky (Harley)
0.1 Black Lab (Krissy)
0.1 English Bulldog (Alice)
0.1 Blue Merle Great Dane (Wednesday)
Saltwater Fish and Inverts too

np
-----
From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Veileds
1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther