colored silkworms

Louise E. Rothstein

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
430
I remember having heard of certain dubious "promotors" who claimed that their "colored" silkworms would spin colored silk....although at least some of the silkworms that survived to spin did show SOME color in their silk this "dye job" seems not have produced usable quantities of clear,consistent colors.

I am pretty sure that there were other problems:
silkworms injected with dye might have been injured,infected,or both;
and silkworms fed food dye might have become poisoned over time...
BEES fed crushed candy permeated by food dyes died out over the course of a single summer...and beekeepers' "candy" tends to be undyed now.

Breeding silkmoths look quite white.
They look as undyed as the beekeepers' (supplemental) "candy."

And I think I know why:

People who want to breed either species cannot feed them dye.
 

Pssh

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
Messages
197
These are produced by feeding them a specially formulated diet. They are not injected with dye. The only seller in america of the food that I know of is ladysilkworm.com (i think it's .com anyways... Just google it.) I believe she imports it directly from China.
 

Pssh

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
Messages
197
I'm not sure they would give you the ingredients. Kind of like how mulberryfarms doesn't give you the ingredients on their food.

She said she had fed them to her fish and the fish is okay... I guess more testing is needed.
 

Louise E. Rothstein

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
430
So the Far East still leads Americans in silkworm culture...
they've achieved "color diets" that produce healthy silkworms,a veritable rainbow of reasonably consistent colors in the silk that they spin,and even a local executrix who promotes these developments in this country. whose

Quite a change from the "fly by night" fellows of yesteryear.

Quite an improvement...

-It's good she is here.
 

Pssh

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
Messages
197
Um, Asia (namely china) has always led other countries in sericulture (I think that's what it's called.) it was a Chinese secret for like ever! Then it finally got out and other countries started to produce them. Sericulture is very old.
 

bugmankeith

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 4, 2006
Messages
2,730
Is their diet that causes that, and yes do not use these as feeders! You can raise them for fun though.
 
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