Starting hatching..

[sueb4653]

The silk worms have started to hatch

 

[stacy]

oo neato, i looked into them once, they seemed ready spendy, where did you get yours?

 

[sueb4653]

mulberry farms

 

[fleurdejoo]

Kewl!

 

[frogparty]

Mine too, fed a few out last night to the Hymenopus and Deroplatys

They like them! But I wish the adults were bigger. For the price, I might just order a bunch of sphinx pupae and hatch those out for feeders

 

[sueb4653]

how long do you let them mate? I have male and female that are already going at it

also anyone want the eggs you are welcome to them...just pay the shipping

 

[patrickfraser]

I'll take some eggs! I let them mate until the male "disengages" and then remove him to let her lay in peace. Otherwise the males bother the heck out of her trying to "get in" while all she's trying to do is lay her eggs.

 

[sueb4653]

ok I've seen him connect a few times so I should remove him

 

[patrickfraser]

Remove him if she is disinterested and avoiding connection. If she takes another mating it can only help to fertilize the eggs she has. They only have one load of eggs, so if she is mated and lays eggs she is "done" and you can feed her off to a mantis. I'd say give her a day or 2 to pass whatever eggs she has.

 

[sueb4653]

cool great information thanks

 

[hibiscusmile]

interesting, very!

 

[sueb4653]

awww look at the lovely couple

 

[Mime454]

Are you going to feed them to your mantises?

 

[sueb4653]

once the female lays her eggs she will be fed to the manits and the males also

 

[Mime454]

once the female lays her eggs she will be fed to the manits and the males also

Are you culturing these for mantids, or for entertainment? How long does it take to go from buying the catapilars tí having a moth ready to feed?

 

[sueb4653]

I did these for feeding the mantids fed some of the worms off and let some reach this stage

probably wont do again as they are expensive imo to feed

 

[Mime454]

I did these for feeding the mantids fed some of the worms off and let some reach this stage

probably wont do again as they are expensive imo to feed

Do they not just eat plants from the yard or something?

 

[sueb4653]

They eat mulberry which I do not have so have to buy the chop formula. Mulberry is all they eat

 

[patrickfraser]

I'm lucky and have access to lots of fresh mulberry, but only in the warmer months.