9/24/10

All Done


Time to put the eggs in the fridge and wait for 3 months maybe have some hatch lings by Christmas




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9/12/10

Silkmoth Eggs ( Bombyx Mori )

Some of the eggs she laid yesterday still not sure if they are fertile or not yet . They feel like brail on the paper I wonder if they say anything :) She did make this nice little flower though good job Tinkerbell :)


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9/11/10

Well Hello Handsome :)





This male hatched last night 2 in the morning just as Tinkerbell had decided she wasn't going to wait anymore and started laying infertile eggs . I wanted to place them together to get the ball rolling but he didn't like that idea and had an "accident" as I tried to pick him up can't blame him for being nervous :) so I turned off the light and let nature do it's thing thinking his little antani would pick up her sent a mile away and frantically flutter over to her .
 This morning I looked he was still perched in his spot and she had been busy laying over 100 little golden infertile eggs . I picked her up and put her with him and immediately they finally found each other .
I never realized how over domesticated these critters are and how much intervention is needed to raise them .I am assuming this is part of the reason for the "virus" they have and why it has been so hard getting these guys to spin .
 Hopefully I will be able to diversify them and blend my eggs with eggs from another line . Tried to get some from the states but Canada has a new biological import law . Need a permit that takes over 4 years to get just for some silkworm eggs . Canada has also put the white mulberry tree on the invasive species list being that the Asian version of our red mulberry does genetic swapping and takes out our native tree . I've seen some mulberries that are a beautiful blend of both .
Come on it's nature to migrate survival of the fittest just because a human brought the tree here doesn't mean it's not still a way of nature .I myself wouldn't be here if it wasn't for migration . My great great grandmother was an Iroquois Indian who met up with a handsome French man yes I am a descendant of a Pocahontis in the flesh : ) Can you tell ?.I am a beautiful blend of many cultures as the years have gone by .I've ended up with Native French German British and my son now holds some Russian .
Not saying that there aren't issues with threats of Eco systems being totally destroyed due to invasive species like the African clawed dwarf frog with its other frog killing fungus but this is not the case in all situations fine picking discernment instead of blanket solutions is more work and time but worth the effort .



                                   

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9/10/10

It's a GIRL :)) Silkmoth

My first moth hatched this morning while I was asleep . I am ecstatic I wasn't sure if any of them would hatch since I had such a hard time raising these guys . Not an easy task breeding sick silkworms I started out with 80 and ended up with only 33 cocoons but hey I'm pleased as punch . Yesterday I found out I had the timing wrong its not 3 weeks after spinning that they emerge its only about two .I put her down back with the other cocoons . It was easy to tell which ones around her are male their cocoons were wobbling all over the place picking up on her pheromones .  Come on boys time to come out and join the party :)

















Hey Look ! I caught a fairy ! hee hee I'll have to call
her Tinker Bell now of course wow she is really reflective .








9/2/10

I Wonder ..... To Eat Or Not To Eat The Silkworm ?


I guess if I had to I could. Seems the crickets mealworms hornworms and superworms I'm working on breeding can also be eaten mmm...think I'll just wait a bit before I brave that one. Hard to find a good recipe except for that hornworm and tomato dish I keep coming across in my searches. I've heard from someone who ate a variety of raw bugs for a prank said that crickets and mealworms taste like whatever they are being fed. One day maybe but not the silkworms they are way too friendly I feel bad feeding them to my pets let alone eating them myself. It is nature though to consume ,everything eats everything else its a sacred foundation of all life.Shamans honor the animals and plants they take for food with that kind of respect and appreciation before and after ,nothing is wasted,  eating is guilt free. It's funny the saying "don't play with your food " hee hee ya I might become friends with it and not be able to eat it anymore. Wow, now I am totally confused about the idea of peace silk if the pupae is eaten after the silk is taken humanly done stifling maybe not such a bad thing and still peaceful .