Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, here is my problem....

I have raised silk worms from egg to cocoon stage many times now, but.... 95% of the moths always fail to emerge. I will wait about a week after the few that did emerge and then cut open the cocoons that didn't. I ALWAYS find dead female moths which have laid hundreds of infertile eggs inside the cocoon. It seems the only moths that are making it out are the male ones and this does no good at all. I always end up ordering more eggs from mulberryfarms and starting all over again.

Anybody know why the females are failing to emerge and what I could possible do to fix this problem? Maybe manually remove all of them from the cocoon once I see one or two have emerged?

Any advice would be appreciated,
Thanks in advance,
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Lisa
Cricket free babies!
www.beginnersbasics.com

First, try contacting him at Silkworms1@aol.com

Second, I raise them all the time, and I always cut the cocoons open. I have experienced the same problem, but nothing near 100% failing to emerge. I mainly do this to prevent them from laying eggs all over their cocoons, where they can be difficult to remove. I shine a light into the cocoon. (Basically candling, like you would do with bird or reptile eggs to see if they are fertile). You are looking for two things. 1) A mahogany colored pupa, and 2) a small dark shed AND a pupa within the same cocoon. When you see either of these, you can cut open the cocoon. I have found it is easiest to use a very sharp exacto knife, and roll the cocoon in one hand while applying the knife with the other. Also, cut the top of the cocoon, so the pupa has fallen to the bottom, to prevent from cutting into the pupa.

Once moths emerge, I remove the pupa "shells" as soon as possible to prevent eggs from being deposited on them also.

Hope that helps,
Rodney

>>First, try contacting him at Silkworms1@aol.com
>>
>>
>>Rodney

Thanks for the quick reply Rodney,
I did try contacting him at the AOL address and it bounced back there also. I thought that was kind of weird.
Thanks for the tip on cutting open the cocoons. I guess I will try that next time around. I figured it was "looked down upon" and not a safe habit to be doing.
I usually order 5000 eggs at a time and was really hoping I could get "into" breeding them myself to save on ordering them over and over again.

Thanks again
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Lisa
Cricket free babies!
www.beginnersbasics.com

I've had a few get stuck in their cocoon too. That happens when the cats don't eat enough before they spin, as to have enough energy stored to produce enough cocoonase. (That was redundant with the word "enough" but I couldn't think of another way to word it. Sorry.)

Like Rodney said, you can cut open the cocoons. I've had some pupate without ever spinning and as long as they don't dry out, they're fine. There's no real risk to them drying out inside the house anyway.

I think do things a little different than Rodney does, but I totally agree with not letting them lay on the cocoons! It's a mess! I put the moth pairs, while they're mating, inside a paper lunch bag. I let them do their thing and once all is done, the eggs are nicely stuck to a piece of paper, where I can cut around them to refrigerate or incubate however many eggs I want.

>> I put the moth pairs, while they're mating, inside a paper lunch bag. I let them do their thing and once all is done, the eggs are nicely stuck to a piece of paper, where I can cut around them to refrigerate or incubate however many eggs I want.

I am currently using both the chow and leaves with this batch and my previous batch. Living in Florida has it's benefits and my small mulberry tree had leaves in late January

I will try again and use both of your advice. I kinda like the lunch bag idea you have. Usually how long after mating does the female lay? As you can tell from my first post..... never actually gotten that far yet!

Any other ideas, advice, etc are more than welcome. I would like to make a success of breeding these guys and I feel I need all the help I can get.

Thanks again
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Lisa
Cricket free babies!
www.beginnersbasics.com

The moths only live a few days to a week so if they haven't mated on their first day out, they'll be too weak to lay all their fertilized eggs before they die. Whether they've been mated or not, the female will start laying within about 12 hours of coming out of the cocoon.

I put my cocoons on a tray, on some paper towels. As the moths come out, if there are mixed sexes, they will automatically mate. I gently pick up the pair, by their wings, and place them in the paper bag together, being careful not to dislodge them from eachother. Then, I fold the top of the bag and leave them alone. I do check periodically and pull the male out if they are finished. Then, I leave the female to lay the rest of her eggs and live out her days.

The paper bag method is nice because you can just fold it up and put it away in a small container in the refrigerator. You can also write the date on the bag and other information (like the color of the cocoon that parent moths came from, if you have mixed colors). The eggs are good for up to a year, if stored properly, so if the date comes around, you know you've had them too long. LOL! You also know that the eggs in one bag came from one moth and if there are only a few in the bag, you'll know to try to breed out the low producers. There are a lot of pluses to this method.

Yes, that's what I would try--carefully cut the coccoon from around the crysalis. Silkworms are domesticated animals, and even rely on humans to put the males by the females so they can mate, now. They're pretty helpless.