Colorful silkworm cocoons

[Ranitomeya]

I've been keeping silkworms to feed some of my pets and left a bunch to pupate so I'd be culture them again. These spun a silk that's mostly yellow, but some have a peach or orange hue to them that doesn't photograph well with my iphone. The white cocoon is from another batch of silkworms.

The mantids will eat around the digestive system of the caterpillars and leave piles of semi-digested mulberry leaf mush at the bottoms of their containers. The pupae themselves make a good source of food as well.

 

[D_Hemptress]

why are some of them yellow, how does that happen?

 

[Ranitomeya]

Certain strains of silkworms are capable of spinning colored silk. Silkworms that produce white silk have been selectively bred to lack the genes responsible for silk color.

 

[agent A]

nice! if I had mulberry around i'd ask for eggs when the adults eclosed

 

[jrh3]

check this out http://www.ladysilkworm.com/

She sells silk worms over on the chameleon forum but have some awesome purple colors and stuff, I think its all in the food.

 

[agent A]

check this out http://www.ladysilkworm.com/

She sells silk worms over on the chameleon forum but have some awesome purple colors and stuff, I think its all in the food.

my toads would likely love silkworms

moaper goes crazy for maggers, so if I plop a silky in front of her she'd eat like the queen she is :tt1:

 

[Ranitomeya]

nice! if I had mulberry around i'd ask for eggs when the adults eclosed

The eggs need to be diapaused in the refrigerator for a high hatch rate, and they can be stored in the refrigerator for a good while before being taken out to be hatched. You can order silkworm food online. I'm fortunate to live in an area where I can find mulberry trees planted along the streets. Mulberry trees are also pretty popular trees to be planted around schools here as well.

check this out http://www.ladysilkworm.com/

She sells silk worms over on the chameleon forum but have some awesome purple colors and stuff, I think its all in the food.

You're able to dye a normal silkworm by feeding it artificially dyed food. There are actually even transgenic and genetically modified silkworms out there designed to absorb and use certain dyes in their food. The ones I raise are naturally colored and only use pigments found in mulberry leaves.

As far as I know, only the genetically modified and transgenic silkworms are capable of producing artificially dyed silk or silks of unnatural colors that do not lose color when processed.

 

[ScienceGirl]

They look like packing peanuts.

 

[Sticky]

The silk itself is white: its the gum that holds the cocoon together that has the color. Cook the cocoons in soapy water and you will see the silk turn white.

The only only family of silkworms with colored silk are the ones that make tussah, Antheraea and afew others. Some are native and others live in asia. Antheraea Yamamai make a natural tennis ball green. I would so love to get some to raise!