Silkworms as staple diet?

Silkworms as staple diet?

Postby HelloWorld » Wed Mar 04, 2009 1:58 pm

Hey guys

Can I feed my Leopard Gecko's silkworms as their staple diet? Or is it too fatty for them? I will feed them crickets as well, but I would like it to be mainly silkworms. Any advice would be great though

Thanks
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Re: Silkworms as staple diet?

Postby Michele » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:15 pm

Hi HelloWorld

Silkies have more calcium and more protein than crickets and also a lower fat content. I'm not sure about silkies being their staple diet though. See the link below.

http://www.silkwormshop.com/benefits.html
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Re: Silkworms as staple diet?

Postby HelloWorld » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:31 pm

Thanks for the reply Michele

Seems to make sense to make them the staple diet, everything is pluses. But would it affect their organs in a bad way? Like high in cholesterol or something? I've read on a couple forums that they can be used as treats, but surely if they so much better than mealworms and crickets why not make it the main food they eat everyday? :smt102

I wouldn't know either really, thanks for the info - was a good read :D
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Re: Silkworms as staple diet?

Postby Lachdanan » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:44 pm

Helloworld... where are you going to get them from? Are they CHEAP? :D
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Re: Silkworms as staple diet?

Postby HelloWorld » Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:15 pm

I doubt they cheap, think crickets are much cheaper...

I heard that SA Chameleon sells them, haven't priced them though. Was just asking for opinions before I delved deep into calling around for more info
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Re: Silkworms as staple diet?

Postby Michele » Wed Mar 04, 2009 4:14 pm

I bought 75 silkies for R100 last weekend from Reptilians in Bryanston. (R20 for a tub). They are completely out of their season now, not even sure where Reptilians gets them from. I'm not going to use these silkies as food now, I want the moths to lay eggs so that I can have my own supply for the coming spring.
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Re: Silkworms as staple diet?

Postby Chameleons » Wed Mar 04, 2009 4:45 pm

I can't comment on geckos but silkworms are a superb food supplement for chameleons. They can't be used as a staple, however, as they do not have enough chitin and the animal would develop gut issues if that was all they ate but the nutritional aspect is excellent.

We have silkworms available for sale now and can provide them year round if ordered. It is easy to get them to hatch all through the year rather than have to wait for spring and the instructions for doing so are on our web site.

BTW - the zebra silkworms are purely a colour form. They are not males; it is impossible to sex a caterpillar.

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Re: Silkworms as staple diet?

Postby HelloWorld » Wed Mar 04, 2009 7:06 pm

Thanks for such an informative reply David. It's exactly what I was looking for.
If I fed the Leopard Gecko's crickets twice a week and the rest of the week silk worms would that be ok? Concerning chitin. Let me rephrase, in your opinion - what do you believe is the most often I should feed the Gecko's silkworms (considering they would be fed once a day)?

Thank you everyone for the help. It's been a great experience being part of this forum
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Re: Silkworms as staple diet?

Postby Matt Robinson » Wed Mar 04, 2009 10:20 pm

I fed my leos on silkworms, crickets and mealworms. They grew very nicely and nice fat tails. I think variety is always best. I bred the mealworms(very easy) and got the silkworms from a nursery school in the spring. I gad many silkworms and fed them to the geckos for a couple of weeks straight to try get the numbers down before they turned into moths.
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Re: Silkworms as staple diet?

Postby Chameleons » Thu Mar 05, 2009 2:36 pm

Variety is the spice of life and so long as you apply it to your feeding I'm sure you won't go wrong. I feed silkworms every other day when my wife lets me have some - she's the one that breeds them so I get the spares! Because of the way that works the chameleons may go for a few weeks without silkworms and then get quite a few. It's not an exact science.

The chameleons also love the moths, I am not sure if they are too big for geckos.

Mealworms are avoided by us at all costs. I don't think they have enough nutritional value and have found that chameleons will get fixated on them, to the exclusion of 'real' food items. I guess they must be the chocolate of the bug world!
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Re: Silkworms as staple diet?

Postby HelloWorld » Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:53 pm

Chameleons wrote:I don't think they have enough nutritional value and have found that chameleons will get fixated on them, to the exclusion of 'real' food items. I guess they must be the chocolate of the bug world!

Hahahaha :lol: Thanks for the posts! I think I will be alternating between crickets and silkworms, expect to see me at SA Chameleon :-P
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Re: Silkworms as staple diet?

Postby Vinzy » Wed May 05, 2010 7:36 pm

Michele wrote:I bought 75 silkies for R100 last weekend from Reptilians in Bryanston. (R20 for a tub). They are completely out of their season now, not even sure where Reptilians gets them from. I'm not going to use these silkies as food now, I want the moths to lay eggs so that I can have my own supply for the coming spring.


Hi Michele.

Reptilains gets there silkworms from a special supplier but they only give reptilians the males!

So unfortunatly no moths will lay eggs because they are all males.
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Re: Silkworms as staple diet?

Postby Chameleons » Wed May 05, 2010 8:15 pm

Interesting idea but if you know the secret of sexing lepidoptera larave without dissecting them please tell! Regrettably, there is no possible way that anyone can only sell male silkworms. It simply cannot be done. Sexing the moths is easy, however.

I have often heard (and enjoyed) that the larvae with stripes are the males. Once again, this is not correct, just a different larval colour form.

If you have 75 silkworms you cannot fail to succeed in breeding them, so long as you follow basic hygeine rules. Don't overcrowd them or you will get disease problems.

There are instructions on our web site (www.sa-chameleons.com) on how to rear them. If you want to breed them year round remember to put the eggs in the fridge after about 2 weeks and then wait a minimum of 14 weeks. After that you can take out as many as you want and leave the rest in the fridge. After about 7 to 10 days the eggs will hatch.

A great food source, badly underestimated.
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Re: Silkworms as staple diet?

Postby Bushviper » Thu May 06, 2010 9:47 am

Vinzy wrote:Reptilains gets there silkworms from a special supplier but they only give reptilians the males!

So unfortunatly no moths will lay eggs because they are all males.


So this is how the rumours start. Now nobody will keep the silkworms to pupate because they are "all males"! Very sneaky.
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Re: Silkworms as staple diet?

Postby Chameleons » Thu May 06, 2010 11:35 am

Knowing the silkworm breeders involved ('special' and otherwise) and the guys at Reptilians, such rumours are not only untrue, they are very unkind. Of course, at one time I was a 'special' supplier.......

Question: who would even start such a rumour? Who comes up with this rubbish? is there an ulterior motive? Sneaky, indeed!

No-one is out to try to stop silkworm breeding - just try to stop them! They are normally mating before the female has dried her wings. The only thing preventing anybody and everybody having an inexhaustable supply is ..... the work involved.
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