@ Inyanga

My replay was more for general info and my personal experience/ opinion. And I never disagreed about the feeder value of silkworms. And I'm sure that the alternative food for the silkworms may not be 100% ideal for them, I am not a institutionalist. I just mentioned this forgeneral interest sake. And in the end if silkworms are as great feeder as you claim and an alternative food source allow you to use them as feeders all year round then it might be worth looking into.

If you have access to a lab to do research on nutrition, you are more than welcome to do the tests about all the different food sources available for silkworms and the effect they have on the silkworms and their feeder value in the end... But if you did take the trouble to do all the research I had done, just for interest sake and see what other food sources other than Beetroot or Lettuce are available to silkworms... even pet shop bought food... you wouldn't not just reply to a thread before checking out the info properly.

And I based my reply on your original start to the thread and not as an attack on it. Do the research and check the info before blatantly disagreeing with some one and if you do, supply a better response than beetroot and lettuce as the only supplement food source that might not be a great supplement.

And I am sure that there will be a next reply to disagree to the method and humanity of this. My aunt keep them only in season (in Bulk) and before they could start with the final cycle of their life she freeze a lot of them and use them as feeders during the of season.

I would like to mention that she does not use live any live feeders for any of her reptiles

I currently have about 3000 worms in grower boxes. they are in the region of about 1cm currently. I will be selling them once they get to size. my guess is 85c per worm

@ Garfield

Forgive me if I inadvertently gave offence. I was replying to and elaborating on your posting rather than disagreeing with you. :blink:

One of the things a scientist is trained to do is a didactic style best described as "expand and discuss", it is not meant to be confrontational nor insulting, it is only a communication method designed to reach clarity on a particular point. I guess it’s also why scientists are not popular at cocktail parties.
:laugh:

I have been keeping and selectively breeding silkworms since high-school and was merely trying to share what knowledge I have gained through both experience and research.

I would never, ever wish to cast negative aspersions on someone else for doing research and wishing to share it with others, we are all on this forum because we have a passion for our hobby and want to associate with likeminded people.

I would also, in a non-confrontational manner, like to point out that I mentioned beetroot and lettuce as the most common "substitute" foods mentioned on the internet, there are other foods that people have tried, particularly other members of the mulberry and fig family (Moraceae) such as Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera), I have tried many of them and have not met with success, I would love to be proved wrong on this but no-one I know has trialled them extensively in South Africa.

I hope this clears up any misunderstandings between us and hope you have a great day.

J

Misunderstanding cleared up!

I did not take offence in any way. I like the "expand and discuss" policy! It leaves room for disagreements and misunderstandings... and in the end... apologies and agreements.

I agree that lettuce and beetroot are not a suitable food supplement. So after the apologies, lets try the "expand and discuss" policy with a HUGE white flag in the background.

Some of the alternative food available that I researched, but if it was unclear before, never used myself was this: Artificial Silkworm Food (Chow) 50g [ASF50]

Have you tried it before as part of your research? It would also be interesting to know what alternative food members have tried for silkworms and how it compared to the preferred White mulberry . What would also be interesting to know is if the above mentioned food is a successful alternative, and whether you can swap between the alternative and the preferred food sources without it being detrimental to the silkworms.

I wish I had a "source" in primary school that could get me a bunch of silkworms to do some experimentation myself.

Hey Garfield

No worries man, these things happen and, if you're not used to it, "expand and discuss" can come across as a bit much! :blink:

I have tried "silkworm chow", its an interesting alternative to fresh leaves and gives reasonable results, the fun chow is the coloured stuff ( www.ecouterre.com/new-silkworm-diet-natu...s-water-consumption/ ), although I wouldnt use this last for feeder worms! :P What I find with any substitute food is that the worms will happily munch it if thats what they are fed from the egg, the second they taste fresh mulberry leaves its all over, and they will rather starve than eat anything else!

Thank you Inyanga for some of you little black beauties!