# silk worms?



## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

Has anyone ever tried silkworms with their frogs? if so can you elaborate on you experience?


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

For most of the frogs, you'd need to get eggs and hatch them to get anywhere near the size you want for most of the frogs. I never tried with thumbnails, my experience with the tinc group was hit and miss (but probably would have been better if I was bowl feeding at the time - they are much better about trying new things if they are in the bowl!) but I found that the frogs that typically liked larger food items loved them.

Biggest downfall - unless you have a large collection that can eat them quickly, having a few hundred hatchlings is a pain... they die quickly if you don't give them food, and if you do give them food they grow like crazy! Except for larger phyllobates, they can outgrow most PDFs in a few days.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

i used them in the past for chameleons and on some terriblis, the terriblis loved them, but they like just about anything.


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## dom (Sep 23, 2007)

any suggestions on how to raise silkworms.. i have a beared dragon that loves them so if they out grow my PDFs then i can just feed them to the dragon. I have not ventured yet to start raising silkworm but seems like it should be that hard to do!


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Pick up a copy of Captive Invertebrates: A Guide to thier Biology and Husbandry. (see http://www.amazon.com/Captive-Invertebr ... 604&sr=8-1 ) you can get used copies for about $10.00
Not only does it discuss how to rear silkworms in detail, but it gives some options on gut loading them. 
Just keep in mind that you may not want to use them as a staple of the diet as they are really high in fat. If you do rear them you can also feed out the adult moths to the bearded dragon. 

Ed


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## dom (Sep 23, 2007)

they wouldnt be the staple i raise crickets for that!

thanx for the book idea, i just got done with FINDING DARWINS GOD i do believe it was you that suggested that book in the evolution thread.. 

i really enjoined it, and it taught me alot on the subject.


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

Ed said:


> Pick up a copy of Captive Invertebrates: A Guide to thier Biology and Husbandry. (see http://www.amazon.com/Captive-Invertebr ... 604&sr=8-1 ) you can get used copies for about $10.00
> Not only does it discuss how to rear silkworms in detail, but it gives some options on gut loading them.
> Just keep in mind that you may not want to use them as a staple of the diet as they are really high in fat. If you do rear them you can also feed out the adult moths to the bearded dragon.
> 
> Ed


Does the gutloading require access to a mulberry tree?

I know you can buy the chow, but that's a bit expensive, and they grow super fast on it. Not sure how nutritious they'd be right out of the egg either.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

When dealing with caterpillars you have to have acess to the food, as there are chemicals in the foods that trigger the caterpillar to feed on it (often things like quinalones or alkaloids). Artificial foods typically have either a specific percentage of the plant material in the food or have the chemical trigger (if known) in the food to get the caterpillar to accept the food (and often grow). 

If I remember correctly (don't want to hunt the book down at the moment), it did require mulberry leaves but there were also descriptions on how to freeze mulberry leaves so you could have a longer supply. 

Back to the original question, it did discuss modifying the leaves to increase calcium to phosphorus ratio in the caterpillars. If you want to slow down the growth of the caterpillar keep them cooler as this will slow down thier growth. 

Ed


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