silkworms as feeders?q

[atavuss]

Hi all, anyone using silkworms as feeders? my son got around a hundred mature moths last fall from his teachers at school, I let the moths breed and lay eggs. I fed the moths out to my lizards after they had all finished breeding. I put the eggs in the garage over the winter and a week or two ago I noticed tiny black things in the cup........my first thought was that ants had gotten into the silkworm eggs as the hatchling worms are the same size as a small ant. I finally found a mulberry tree and threw a few leaves in with the tiny worms. there are probably two or three hundred baby worms in there! I am going to try and get a feeder colony going of these, anything so I won't have to buy so many nasty crickets!
Ed

 

[KelliH]

I think as long as you have a steady supply of mulberry leaves, silkworms are an easy to keep, easy to breed feeder bug. They are also very high in protein and the adult worms are quite large. I believe I got 3,000 eggs for $15.00, they are pretty easy to hatch also.

I ordered the eggs from http://www.mulberryfarms.com
and had success hatching the eggs and raising the worms up to an appropriate size to feed to my leopard gecko colonies (they gobbled them up, by the way). These would make a great food item for tarantulas, in fact this thread reminded me about the silkies and I am going to order some eggs tomorrow.

 

[Buspirone]

?

Ten advantages Silkworms have over crickets and mealworms:


1. More nutritious
2. More appetizing – they look and taste better to most animals.
3. Fewer hassles – cannot jump or escape.
4. Slow moving – easier for your animal to catch.
5. Soft bodied – easier to swallow and digest.
6. Cannot bite or harm your animals (no sharp jaws or legs).
7. Helps to stimulate feeding in fussy eaters.
8. No smell or annoying noises.
9. Requires no special containers.
10. Size – mature silkworms are up to 10 times the size of a cricket. Feed less insects - not less food!

Uh....how do they know that silkworms are more nutritious, more appetizing and taste better?

 

[dennis]

Originally posted by Buspirone
?

Uh....how do they know that silkworms are more nutritious, more appetizing and taste better?

Trough research? About the appetizing and taste ... I dunno, and I guess I don't even want to know.

Dennis

 

[Godzilla2000]

This thread has me thinking I should purchase some silkworms online too. Being that I'll be getting some immature Tarantula slings next week, silkies sound like an excellent thing to feed them. Plus I can give large ones to my adults without worrying about mass cannibalism as with crickets.

 

[Buspirone]

Let us know how your T's like them.

 

[Godzilla2000]

Originally posted by Buspirone
Let us know how your T's like them.

I can already tell you Fuzzy will like them. She eats anything I put in front of her, including dead crickets. Pandora on the other hand is picky. She likes only live prey. But I will kep you posted when I feed them.

 

[Tangled WWWeb]

I used silkworms last year with mixed results. Some of my more aggressive feeders took them readily. I have several specimens that never noticed the silkworms presence ( I think due to the silkworms low level of activity when not in contact with their "chow") . Finally, I had some that apparently did not agree with the "more appetizing" statement as they would release them shortly after pouncing on them.

John

 

[Godzilla2000]

Originally posted by JP version 1.0
I used silkworms last year with mixed results. Some of my more aggressive feeders took them readily. I have several specimens that never noticed the silkworms presence ( I think due to the silkworms low level of activity when not in contact with their "chow") . Finally, I had some that apparently did not agree with the "more appetizing" statement as they would release them shortly after pouncing on them.

John

Perhaps if you could tell me which breeds of Tarantula you had that rejected the silkworms. That can help me come to a determination whether I want to spend alot of money on these things.

 

[Tangled WWWeb]

Originally posted by Godzilla2000
Perhaps if you could tell me which breeds of Tarantula you had that rejected the silkworms. That can help me come to a determination whether I want to spend alot of money on these things.

I don't recall which ones didn't like them. I have well over 100 T's and although I take alot of notes, I'm not as thorough as I would like to be. I do recall that most of them ended up going to my wife's horned frogs. I would dare to say that I probably had individuals of the same species that responded differently to them. I have had similar experiences with other food items as well. I have several L. parahybanas that eat pinkies greedily, and one that avoids them like the plague. I have a very large T. blondi that will ignore every cricket placed with it, but will catch every larger prey item.

My advice would be to try a small quantity of silkworms and see if they will work for you.

John

 

[Buspirone]

Sorry to dredge up an old thread ........

I just got some silkworms at a show today. More of my Ts liked them than not. The slings were much less picky about munching down. My rosie is scared of them and my curly hair had to "feel" 'em out for about an hour before she decided they were food(this is a T who will snatch up food before it hits the ground). The big surprise is my Male avic who molted again after his ultimate molt and lost both palps and a couple legs. I've been unable to get him to eat....crickets and superworms are too fast/lively for him. He either won't or can't eat them when I kill them first. He was right on top of a large silkworm though. I guess they are soft bodied and slow enough for him to handle. Its the first meal he's had since he molted and lost the appendages about a month ago, I think.

 

[TheDon]

Silkworms are good feeders in my opinion too. They are just expensive here... $0.70 per silkworm and I dont think i can get eggs. And from what I know we dont have any mulberry bushes around here... could be wrong though. All of my T's that I offered them to took them, a couple had to feel them a bit before chowing down, but in the long run they ended up being food.

peace

TheDon

 

[Nixy]

Silk worms are great feeders. Easy to keep and with a little care easy to breed. IMHO.
As for picky eaters. I have found, IME, that persistance pays off. Some of ours found the transition from a diet of a majority to crickets to a diet of of mainly worms to be more difficult to accept.
But if you offer them consistantly, IMHO, they will eventualy take a worm and after getting a good taste will readly accept them at any time.
This has been our observation anyway.

At this point we have a thick heavy colony of superworms. A starting colony of wax worms. And are moving onto silks. I raised and bred silks for school projects years ago and they are,IMO, extremly easy as long as you can either buy food, or have alot of mullberry trees around to grab and wash leaves. Which we have a great many here.

 

[Walter]

Silkworms are REALLY GREAT !

Mealtime, guys!

N. carapoensis in action:

G.rosea also:

 

[heyjeyniceid]

Silkworms are good, at least in my experience. Theyre really dumb prey.