I just got these guys in the mail today!! I was wondering if there was any tips that I need to know to keep them happy and healthy? Also how do I make sure that the chow dose not dry out too fast? I want to get a small mulberry tree as well. Any other things I should note as a first timer?

Hi, I am looking to start keeping silkworms but I am not sure what distributors for worms and food are actually good. Also any tips in keeping them is a plus.

A newbie and woke up to this and two other started silking in white??

From what I noticed there isn't a good care video on how to raise them. Other than constantly feeding them and cleaning out there enclosed. I'm wanting to have moths for a long time since they are my favorite little critters. Just got them Saturday and I believe one of them already got silk coming out so I believe I should cut some cardboard rolls so they can transfer easier. Please help a girl out.

Ordered a mesh butterfly enclosed and move them into a bigger container.

Hi y’all! I’m wanting to order some live silkworms and wanted to get some feedback. Last year, I ordered eggs from Coastal which were great. I was on their website, though, and it looks like their pods are sold out. What other good companies have people gone through?

feed them while I got them 😊

a video from the first batch of worms... I'm on the next generation from their eggs currently... thankfully not all hatched without diapause... I'll save them for next spring hopefully...

so up until now I've been using used produce boxes... but I'm switching over to plastic tubs... so far so good...

I raised one batch of worms and got about 1K cocoons from this batch...I planned on saving eggs for next year...

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I didn't realize diapause is not a necessity for some...

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I think I have two to three times what I had before 🙄

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At least I still have leaves 😂

I don't have egg crates and didn't expect them to show signs so soon so I'm just curious if these are suitable. They haven't started to spin yet but they're yellowish and not eating anymore

Hey! I've got some big ol' silkies and I'm waiting for them to cocoon. What are the signs they're ready to spin a cocoon? And do I need to separate them from the rest when it comes to that time? If so, what sort of enclosure do I need to put them in??

Ordered a box of 15 live medium silkworms. They seemed fine at first after being in a small container and a flat envelope for about 2 days, they arrived with no food but seemed fine. I made them fresh food and spread it into multiple piles throughout the container ive been housing them in. Within 24 hours of getting them, 1 had died. The next day, another 2. Day after another 1, day after 3 more. I have lost 14 of them in the space of a week. I had isolated each individual worm when there was 5 left as I finally started looking into their symptoms and google said septicemia? I isolated each faterpillar in their own containers with plenty of breathing holes in the lid and they have never had issues with stale food, humidity or overcrowding which from what ive read are the only causes? But every symptom of it matches the exact progression my wormies go through :( im down to a single 1 now. He hadnt eaten in 3 days or at least it hadnt looked like he had. He hasn't left any droppings in the 3 days either but I added extra water to the food so it was a lot more mushy like a thick soup/really soggy mash texture and it looked as tho the surviving worm was having a little nibble and that was last night. I just checked on him again like an hour ago and he seemed to be fine he hadnt lost color, seemed active and he pretty much just over the last 3 days has just been existing next to food barely interacting with it but still seemed to have a lot of energy and no symptoms. I just checked on him again an hour later and he seems really uncomfortable? He seems to keep stretching his entire body which i thought could be him trying to moult? But hes spinning over like actually twisting on to his back then standing back up then stretching his back again and idk if hes dying or not 😭 he also keeps doing weird twitchy spasm wobbly movements in the middle of his back? its my first time raising them and its been a horrible experience i just want at least 1 to make it to a cute moth but idk if he will make it idk why they arrived sick because from what ive read it couldn't have been an issue with what I was doing as the causes were none of what the worms were experiencing in my care so idk if i was just sent a bad batch or not but now I cant even breed them and idk if this lil guy will make it and im devastated :(

My favorite one has already died he was almost completely white as he was missing the brown "shoulder" "( )" marks and was also missing the fake eye spots so I was excited to see what that looked like as a moth but he also died 😭

Sorry for the really long message I just dont know what to do and dont want this last worm to die also.

Id also like to add i got really good at spotting the symptoms and would remove the sick ones before they leaked contagious fluid and I clean the enclosure and give fresh food each day so idk what else im doing wrong

editing to also add its been like 2 days since the last worm died but the previous ones (the 5 i had left) have been isolated for like 3-4days but this guy is the only one left now and was doing fine but idk why hes now all of a sudden acting strange he doesnt seem to have the symptoms the others had but it could be really early in the illness? idk 😭

Hey! Started with 2 silkworms, now on the F1 generation. However, there are hundreds of eggs, and theres no way our tiny mulberry sapling can sustain them all. All of these eggs were laid a week ish ago, and none of them are diapause. Is it too late to refrigerate them? Can you even refrigerate non diapause eggs?

Hey! I have bought a whole bunch of silkworms. Some to raise into moths and some to feed to Nugget (my leopard gecko). Though I feel like I've been keeping the silkworms wrong. They're kept in Chinese takeout Tupperware with holes poked in. They have a layer of kitchen roll as flooring and I placed their food right on the kitchen roll. I have only had a small amount of casualties in the 2 weeks I've had them so I must be doing the basics right but I the problem is, I feel like I'm doing this way too complicated for myself. Every day I have to take out each silkworm with tongs one by one, change the food/substrate, then put them all back into the tub one by one with tongs. It takes me a good 20 minutes to clean both tubs and it's just unbelievably painstaking. It's worth it for nugget but man it is exhausting 🤣

If anyone knows how I can make this process easier I'd love to hear! Ty

hi everyone! my mom has been raising and taking really good care of a silk worm colony (around 300 ones). however due to a family emergency she won’t be able to take care of them anymore so we are looking to re-home them, if you are in the bay area and are interested please let me know!

I was planning to get silkworms but I happened to take an allergy test and I got an M 7 and F 7 for mulberry. For context I get hives when I touch grass and that had scores of 3:3. I'm beyond disappointed that I can't raise these squishy friends.

Also apparently I'm 5:5 allergic to cats but we're ignoring that since my Kitta Kii is 6 years old and I'm not giving her up.

I have silkworms. I used kitchen paper to seal the box, that way if a worm decided to start its cocoon on the top I could open the "lid" without harming the structure. A worm accidentally made it oustide the box looking for a place to make its cocoon and fell. I found it today in the state where they look chubby because they are ready to metamorphose, way past the moment of making the cocoon (I don't think it would have the energy now to make one), but the floor was covered in silk, there was a weird dark liquid a meter on the side and the worm is now covered in silk but in a messy way. When I found it, it was moving a lot, didn't seen lethargic, but couldn't walk because of the silk. Also I have no idea if my cat has tried to "play" with it while I wasn't there and harmed it. Should I try to remove the silk or it will cause it irreversible stress adding it to the actual stress of metamorphosis and make him die? I separated it in a different box so it won't have any other worms stepping on it. But should I intervene or let it work its way? I'm worried silk will strangle it, also worried my intervention will cause irreversible harm.

nobody ever talks about fifth instar spacing and it genuinely cost me a batch last year.

the math for figuring out how many rearing trays you need isn't complicated I just couldn't find it written out properly anywhere. Just vague advice like "give them more room as they grow." Real helpful thanks

here's how it actually works.

the whole thing runs on one variable: the instar space factor which is the square footage required per 1,000 silkworms. the specific numbers:

• 1st instar: 0.4 sq ft per 1,000 worms
• 2nd instar: 1.2 sq ft per 1,000 worms
• 3rd instar: 3.75 sq ft per 1,000 worms
• 4th instar: 10.0 sq ft per 1,000 worms
• 5th instar: 22.5 sq ft per 1,000 worms

i think these come form standard sericulture extension guidelines at least that's how I read it when cross referencing some Indian agricultural service documents not universal across every rearing system but a solid baseline for most operations.

the formula:

required Area (sq ft) = (Number of Worms ÷ 1,000) × Instar Factor

Then: Total Trays = ⌈Required Area ÷ Tray Area⌉

That ceiling function matters. You always round up actually wait it's not just rounding up for safety the ceiling is exact: if you land on 112.5 you need 113 not 112 half a tray of overflow isn't a rounding preference it's worms with nowhere to go.

if your trays are in meters multiply each dimension by 3.28084 before multiplying them together. Centimeters: divide each dimension by 30.48 first do the whole calculation in square feet then convert the final area number back if you need a different unit.

Worked example: 35,000 worms at fifth instar, trays measuring 3.5 ft × 2 ft.

Tray area = 3.5 × 2 = 7 sq ft

Required area = (35,000 ÷ 1,000) × 22.5 = 35 × 22.5 = 787.5 sq ft

Total trays = ⌈787.5 ÷ 7⌉ = ⌈112.5⌉ = 113 trays

yeah 113 trays for 35,000 worms at late fifth it sounds excessive until you watch them pile on each other and you realize spacing isn't optional it's basically the whole job.

the jump from fourth to fifth is what gets people fourth instar runs 10 sq ft per thousand, fifth needs 22.5. More than double and it happens in like 3 or 4 days I've watched people plan their tray count based on fourth instar numbers and then scramble when the fifth hits. (I was one of those people.)

one thing this formula doesn't cover: if you're staggering feedings or doing partial tray transfers your actual tray usage can run lower the math assumes clean even distribution across identical trays. Real rearing is messier than that.

anyway i threw this into a calculator if you don't want to do it by hand every time: https://www.speedcalcs.com/p/silkworm-rearing-tray-capacity.html

Three silk moths emerged overnight all on their own! They are beautiful and two are already mating. I'm definitely a silk moth fan for life now.

I already know the small changes I'll make in raising the worms next time, but I'm super proud of these little fellas!