Here are my store-bought eggs. I put a piece of damp paper towel in to keep the humidity up a bit.
I put some of them into a smaller container with a tighter lid the food is drying out so fast I have to keep replacing it to fast so with the babies needing food so quickly after hatching thought this would be a better place till they get bigger.
Keeping a hawk-eye on Billy. Lately, he's been trying to push my containers off the edge wouldn't that just be the end of these tiny delicate worms hitting the floor. Don't want to add this to Billy's long list of broken glasses and dishes from the counter top and cupboards :)
Day 4
Yesterday the first hatchers started going into molt position and a few have completed and are now 2nd instar worms. The larger gray coloured ones with the bigger faces are done the tan coloured ones sitting up are still in the process and are not moving or eating. I'm leaving them completely undisturbed leaving the food they're on and just putting fresh pieces around. If they get knocked off their perch they may not be able to molt and die as they are stuck down with silk which helps them hold the skin down so they can pull out of it. The little black spots down their sides are where they breathe from if the skin gets stuck over those while trying to slip out or getting budged too much they may suffocate. Temperature is between 80-82 day and night. I've got their heat lamp on day and night now (night time was getting to close to minimal temp levels) above them 2 feet and off to the side covering any direct light and at night I put a cover over them to get a balance light and dark cycle . I've taken out the damp paper towel the moisture from the food seems to be enough now for humidity but I'm cutting down on the size of chow chunks so it doesn't fill up to fast . It's really hard to pull out the dry chow without disturbing them . Their silky threads attach everything to everything and everyone gets jigged just from moving one little piece so I'll let the chow dry out real good by taking the lid off for a few hours before feeding them again with fresh stuff on top while trying to avoid plopping any on the ones who are molting. If the chow is still moist when new chow is added on top it can mold up but putting it in the empty spaces seems to be ok as long as there is no wet on top of wet.
Click the pic for a bigger view.
This guy is just completing his first molt. His little old face is still hanging off. His new bigger face is white now but will eventually turn darker.
Most have molted now and are growing fast. The gray colour they had is slowly turning back to tan now as the skin stretches as they grow.
Day 8
I'm now using a cheese grater to top them up with fresh food all over them. They're big enough to not get crushed by it and not molting again yet. The first pic is of the ones I kept in the original container using cellophane wrap for a lid. There is no difference in health between the two as far as I can see so either way is working. I'm keeping the lid on now instead of taking it off to dry the food because the smaller pieces of grated chow are drying out fast enough by themselves. Temps still between 80 - 82. They eat fairly quickly after putting in the food than stretch out and just lay there. Not to much action going on between feedings. Out of 200 eggs only half of them hatched not sure what happened there maybe didn't keep up with the moist paper towel enough at first.
The first hatchers have molted again already 3rd instar now.
Day 10
Getting too big for the grater now so back to chunks twice a day. Still keeping the lid on but I've got it lifted up a bit on one side for airflow.
The first hatchers have molted again and are now 4th instar worms. I moved them to a larger plastic container sanitized with bleach beforehand and using a cellophane wrap lid with 4 finger-sized holes poked in the top of each corner. I slid them out in one big lump carefully pulling the bottom of the paper underneath everything. Temps are about 79-80 now. The big guy here is about an inch and a half and was one of the first to molt again. His face is larger again and the markings above his head are black compared to the ones still in the molting process. The other 4th instar ones around him are a lot smaller in about a day they will be as large as him doesn't take long for them to jump in size after a molt. Right in the center is a scrunched up skin that someone left behind still stuck to the old dried out chow. Still, haven't touched any of the worms or picked them up individually the less the handled the better. No one has climbed up the wall yet or tried to escape not since they were first hatched when a couple did but ever since staying right with the food at all times.
Day 16
They are now about to finish their last molt into 5th instar worms and about to start eating like crazy before they begin spinning their cocoons. I moved some to a separate container they were getting way to squishy. In this pic, the 3 at the front the first and second are still sitting upright molting in a curled pudgy looking position at times slowly pendulating their upper bodies back and forth. The third one with the bigger face has just molted and is sitting for a while till he begins his eating binge and is just slightly over 2 inches now. Temps are still 79- 80. Feeding them about 3 times a day or when the food dries or is finished whichever comes first. I keep food available for them at all times except for overnight. So far none have gotten sick or died though sometimes right before they shed they look terrible brownish and laying flat heaving a bit while they knead their little suction cup feet up down for awhile loosening the old skin. Don't want to mistake them for sick and pull them out just as they are about to flourish again.
This one is just about to molt soon.
The fifth instar worms are putting on weight still and are very close to 3 inches they could be spinning in about 5 or 6 days, once they get really plump and waxy looking.
I've been trying to see if it is possible to sex the worms by their markings. So far the only difference they seem to have is the second set of tan dots the first being the orangy black hook shapes near the top. The bottom worm has a tan set of two small dots the top one has a bigger set of dots but hooked shaped on him. Not sure which is which though won't know till they hatch into moths.
click pic for a closer view
Day 19
Not sure what I'm going to do with this guy. He is a behemoth! That's a penny beside him there.
I don't think he's going to fit in the paper rolls I've got set up for them. I hope they don't all get this large I'll have to rethink my spinning setup plan :) I've been putting the close to 3-inch ones in a much larger container with a sturdy lid to keep them secure at night time case they decide to venture off should be spinning any time now. Temps are about 77-78 now.
Day 20
Still eating a lot ! and still growing.
Still waiting, no spinners yet. The little red marks on their headdress don't seem to appear until they are 5th instar.
I woke this morning to find a bunch of little wet spatter trails everywhere on the paper towel. Some of them their frass has changed from little grenade shapes to bigger irregular shaped wet blops . Some of them have started silking on things again so I've placed some of them on paper rolls but I made it so they could get themselves off again if they were still feeding which they were. Their threads are hard to see they are so fine that when I pick one up and let go of it floats straight up. They should be spinning about 5 or 6 days after their fourth molt which is right about now. Temps are about 74 - 75 now. So far for 100 worms, I've gone through almost 4 pounds of chow! They ate a whole pound in just the last 3 days.
Usual normal frass is on the left .
Buddha has finally decided to start a cocoon after having 3 big greenish wet plops of frass just after his last bite of food and almost immediately started to spin. They are supposed to get a yellowy tinge and stop eating before they spin but with Buddha, I saw none of these signs. He was still eating right up until the last minute. The only way I could tell was by his frass a big greenish wet egg shape different than the last change in frass which is still black and smaller but wet. I cleaned out their habitat again.
First day of spinning
Second day
Third day
Some of the other worms are starting to spin now finally after having to order more food. This one had quite the messy release before spinning. They went for almost 24 hours without getting fed but have survived it :) They were really hungry walking around constantly waving their heads up in the air back and forth, eating poo. They lost some weight but a day later have gained it all back again. The ones who are ready to spin totally stop eating and start to get shorter and almost transparent looking on the areas between their segments looks kind of like grease on paper. They start making infinity shapes of silk all over and then begin the floss, the part that will hammock and supports the cocoon inside.
This guy just oozed a bucket of clear liquid out his behind. When it dries it will leave no sign behind except for this pure white frass the last turd he'll ever have. He's smaller now and spinning like there's no tomorrow.
This one would be nice, looks like a mandala :)
I got all the cocoons set up and ready to emerge not that they probably all survived Billy. The other day he knocked the whole bin off the kitchen table onto the floor! Oh, Billy, you're lucky you're so cute! :)
