Day Forty Four

Panic stations late yesterday when I discovered that ants have been gathering in one of the tanks.
No, no, no!
It seems that one of the silkworms had escaped and cocooned beneath a tank sitting  directly on the floor and when I moved the tank it sort of squashed the caterpillar.
Death equals ANTS!
So what to do? What to do?
Cleaned up as best I could, mopped the floor around the general area and I think we're now back to safe stations again.
What also attracts the ants is the messy fluid that is excreted just before the silkworms begin to spin their cocoons.
It can dampen cardboard if that's what the silkworms are on. Some of mine are now in shoe boxes and I have been leaving them directly on the floor...a big no- no!  No longer!

Yesterday afternoon I also received a telephone call from a panic stricken grand mother who wanted to purchase silkworms for her two year old grand daughter.
The child's mother's been reading her the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and the two year old has asked Santa for a caterpillar for Christmas.
I have been advertising the silkworms for sale on Gumtree and although I've had about eighty hits, this was my first call.  The serendipity is that the family lives only a few kilometres away and this afternoon Grandma Nanette  went home with ten of my smallest caterpillars to give to her grand daughter for Christmas.  How sweet!

Day Thirty Five

Today's post is brought to you by the letter S and the number 6.5!

I'm still feeling a bit under the weather today.
My tummy is still sensitive and I'm only eating lightly.

On the other hand, the silkies are spurring on.

The fellows below are measuring in at approximately 6.5cm in length and 1cm in thickness.  Others are are measuring in at almost 8cm.

onthesilkwormroad.blogspot.com

 

Isn't the creamy wonderful?

The cream silkworms are definitely a minority.  Perhaps this is what makes them seem more attractive to me.

I found an interesting article about changing the colour of silkworms which in turn changes the colour of the silk:

Australian Geographic.

Oh the possibilities.

I've listed the silkworms for sale on Gumtree.  The ad will be visible tomorrow.

Unless I take up sericulture  as a full time activity I panic to think what I'm going to do with around six hundred cocoons and the resulting moths and eggs! 

Feel free to contact me through this blog if you would like to purchase some.

The going rate is $5.00 for 15 silkworms.  Pick up only and I'm in the Blue Mountains.

Thanks for visiting!