silkworms

[boutiquegecko]

Looking for some info on silkworms. I was reading that some of you feed them with great success. Are they easy to keep and how to set them up? Do you have to keep ordering eggs or can you somehow breed them? Thanks.

 

[Welsh]

Try reptilerooms.com. There is a very informative care sheet from that site right here.

Hope it helps,
Welsh

 

[leopardgecko95]

my leos much them down just started using silk worms and they love them but they are a lil to big so I gotta cut them in half but the silks are dead.I buy them in exo-terra cans.

 

[SirKevin]

I just keep mine in a lidless Rubbermaid, every day or so I try to get whatever poop I can to fall out, every three or four days I take all the worms out and give it a good cleaning. You can just keep ordering small silkies; most places sell them fairly cheap. Breeding hem would entail raising them to be moths, which doesn't sound fun.

 

[brandy101010]

I have tried breeding them before and everytime I would open the container, moths would fly out. I would imagine if you had some type of screen/mesh enclosure with a small door it might work out. I have thought about constructing one and giving it a try.

 

[gothra]

Silkmoths doesn't fly, but they do flap their wings when trying to move around. I breed my own silkworms, not too difficult, but the dust from their wings is giving me a blocked nose most of the time.

 

[SirKevin]

What do they lay on? (and how do you keep the moths?)

 

[brandy101010]

LoL! I was Thinking waxworms. I have never keept silk worms. Are the alot like wax worms?

 

[gothra]

What do they lay on? (and how do you keep the moths?)

I keep all the cocoons in a lidded container (with small openings for air exchange); when they emerge, a male and female will join together, at this stage I'll take out the pair and put them in a paper bag. When they're done (will take approx. a day), they'll separate and the female will lay the eggs inside the paper bag. You can feed off the moths when they finished their duty. :wings:

Or you can put the male back in for a second pair up.