Day Seven

The eldest of the silkworms are now seven days old.

By now some of these older brothers and sisters will have become too big for their skins; literally.

To cope with this situation the little critters moult, that is, they leave their old skin behind.

The time between each moult is called an instar.

Some of the silkworms have moulted twice since hatching last Thursday.

You can see some old skins above, they look like shrivelled up silkworms.

The first time you see this you might think that the silkworms are dead and take you by surprise, which is what happened to me.

Then I remembered that they shed their skins, just like a snake.

Silkworms moult four times, there are five instars during this stage.

The first stage is the wait for the eggs to hatch (incubation).  The egg stage is called Ova.

The second stage is the silkworm stage and is called Larva.

During the Larva stage, the silkworms eat and eat and eat.

Silkworms eat mulberry leaves so if you want to keep silkworms as a pet, then you need a mulberry tree.

The second thing you will need is a tank or box with good airflow to keep them in.

The third thing you will need is some time each day to feed them and to clean up their house.