Caring and Breeding Silkworms

How to Grow Your Worms to the Ideal Size
The beauty of silkworms is that they only grow as much as you feed them, and they can go for a week or without food. Say you have a couple hundred small silkworms, but you have a sizable bull frog or iguana. All you require to do is feed the worms as much as they'll eat, keep them warm and dry, and in a few days, you'll have some nice sized worms. Have lots of silkworms? Not an issue, feed them one time or two times a week and they'll stay alive until you require them without growing much larger.

Wash hands thoroughly before handling the worms or the food or they may create bacterial issues. Using a cheese grater, grate a small amount of food onto the worms and repeat until the worms reach the desired size. For best results, maintain temperatures between 78° and 88° F.

Excessive condensation forming in the container after feeding is the leading cause of failure. If this condensation does form, take the lid off your container and permit the container and elderly food to dry out. In the future, make sure the earlier food is dry before feeding again. Elderly damp food is a breeding ground for mold and other issues, dry food is not.

As the silkworms grow, you may require to transfer your worms to a bigger plastic container. The lid needs to have ventilation holes. If not, you require to vent the lid so the silkworms won't suffocate and to permit condensation to dissipate. You can also use a shoebox. The elderly food and waste matter can be removed, but does not must be if it remains thoroughly dry.
Under ideal conditions (78° to 88° F and allowed to feed  continuously) silkworms can go from egg to one inch in length in about 12 days, and three inches in under 30 days. The worms will start to spin cocoons at about 28 - 30 days elderly or when they are between two 1/2 and three inches long.

From Cocoon to Moth
Silkworm moths emerge from their cocoons after spending about to weeks metamorphosing. As moths, they do not eat or fly. They will usually mate, lay eggs and die within a week. Fertile eggs turn from yellow to grey or purple in a week or so. If the eggs don't hatch within three weeks, they usually won't hatch until the following year (see above--from egg to larva).

Proper Handling Procedures
Again, in order for your worms to stay healthy for lots of weeks, you'll require to keep the silkworms as dry as feasible. If condensation builds up in the coursework of feeding, vent the container lid to prevent excess humidity.

Be sure to wash your hands thoroughly before handling the worms or their food. Silkworms can be susceptible to bacteria in the event you don't properly handle them. As long as the container surroundings remains dry, your worms will be fine.

Mold develops from high temperatures and high humidity. If the worms are covered with droppings, silk and elderly food for long, mold may create and kill the worms. If mold does create, grate about 1/4 inch of food (sold separately) all over the worms with a cheese grater. As the worms crawl to the top of the new food pile you can transfer them off the moldy food and place them in to a brand spanking new container.
Silkworms are susceptible to bruising and dying if not handled with care, as they grow larger. When handling and transferring the worms, be gentle.