Question about Silkworms

[Cap10Squirty]

Ok I am going to try my hand at rearing silkworms and hopefully getting them to breed. I have come across a few articles and blogs about silkworms (which were dated back to 2004 and 2008) and I noticed comments about eggs only hatching at certain times of the year.

If given the right incubation temperatures, wouldn't the eggs hatch within a 1-2 week time frame regardless of the time of the year?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I was concerned after reading about them that I would have to wait months for the eggs that I purchased to hatch.

[Silkmoth]

Have you visited the website Wormspit.com? It can certainly help with some of your questions. Michael the owner is always helpful with questions. Its a great site to look at.

[Cap10Squirty]

Have you visited the website Wormspit.com? It can certainly help with some of your questions. Michael the owner is always helpful with questions. Its a great site to look at.

Yes and actually this is one website where I am reading some information that is a little confusing.

"It starts all over in the spring" is he talking about in nature or literally having to wait that long for eggs to hatch in a controlled environment? Also, he mentions a low hatch rate if eggs are NOT refrigerated...

[Silkmoth]

The eggs must go through a winter or they will not hatch properly I believe. I would rather buy baby caterpillars instead of dealing with eggs.
I bought them to make silk "paper". Its not hard to do but you need mature caterpillars and alot of patience!

[Cap10Squirty]

The eggs must go through a winter or they will not hatch properly I believe. I would rather buy baby caterpillars instead of dealing with eggs.
I bought them to make silk "paper". Its not hard to do but you need mature caterpillars and alot of patience!

Well I would rather raise them to adults in order to have a continual supply of eggs, unless what you are saying is true. Can anyone else chime in about the "wintering" period, if it is indeed necessary

[JeffreH]

You might find this useful, Garrett:
http://www.frogforum.net/food-feeder...eparation.html

The eggs will turn either a pale blue/gray color or else a brownish color... If my memory serves me correctly, the color that the egg changes determines whether or not it will need an overwintering period or whether they hatch quickly without one. I'm honestly not sure if there are certain environmental conditions required to stimulate one color form over the other... its been many years since I've bred silkworms.

You can place the eggs that require an overwintering period in the butter drawer of a refrigerator for a few weeks (roughly 4-6) then bring them to room temperature/silkworm ideal temperature and that will stimulate them to begin hatching shortly thereafter.

Eggs are a great way to go - much cheaper than live larvae in bulk and less fragile during shipment. You can also consider shooting your questions off to a wholesaler or breeder who regularly works with the eggs. I exchanged some emails with a lady from China when I was ordering bulk quantities of silkworms many years ago, but the company's online page no longer exists (and the name eludes me). Either way, she was happy to help with my questions, being a customer ; )

[Cap10Squirty]

You might find this useful, Garrett:
http://www.frogforum.net/food-feeder...eparation.html

The eggs will turn either a pale blue/gray color or else a brownish color... If my memory serves me correctly, the color that the egg changes determines whether or not it will need an overwintering period or whether they hatch quickly without one. I'm honestly not sure if there are certain environmental conditions required to stimulate one color form over the other... its been many years since I've bred silkworms.

You can place the eggs that require an overwintering period in the butter drawer of a refrigerator for a few weeks (roughly 4-6) then bring them to room temperature/silkworm ideal temperature and that will stimulate them to begin hatching shortly thereafter.

Eggs are a great way to go - much cheaper than live larvae in bulk and less fragile during shipment. You can also consider shooting your questions off to a wholesaler or breeder who regularly works with the eggs. I exchanged some emails with a lady from China when I was ordering bulk quantities of silkworms many years ago, but the company's online page no longer exists (and the name eludes me). Either way, she was happy to help with my questions, being a customer ; )

Thanks for the input. From what I've gathered, what you described is exactly what you want to do. Once the eggs start changing you know they are fertile and unless they hatch within 48 hours of the initial color change they need a "winter" period...some have claimed 2-3 weeks so I will definitely be experimenting.

I have 500 "zebra" silkworm eggs coming in Thursday and another 500 coming in later this week sometime. I've got a lot of food on hand and plan on planting several dwarf mulberry bushes this spring to help out on costs of food.

I'll post an update on how the hatching process goes once that happens and I think I'll post an update on my snail breeding/rearing project. I have 36 young snails that hatched about two weeks ago and are all growing quite fast (which isn't a word you hear often about snails :P). I dug up an old post that I think you contributed to JeffreH...could be wrong....about wax worms. My wax worm moths have just recently died and I imagine soon my three cultures will explode with wax worms considering the heat is turned up and there is double the food this time. The previous generation bugged me in that they made such a mess spinning their webs...so I will be experimenting with the freezing time to render their spinnerets useless.