WTB: Silkworms
 

On Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:12:00 +1000, "bleanne" wrote:

My daughter is doing a project on silkworms and we would like to build a
silkworm farm to form a part of her project. Does anyone know where I might
be able to purhcase some silkworms?

Some pet shops keep silkworms.

bleanne wrote:

My daughter is doing a project on silkworms and we would like to build a
silkworm farm to form a part of her project. Does anyone know where I
might be able to purhcase some silkworms?

Thanks

You need a mulberry leaves (or rhubarb leaves) for feed. Can be more
difficult to find than silkworms!

gtoomey

Gregory Toomey writes:
You need a mulberry leaves (or rhubarb leaves) for feed. Can be more
difficult to find than silkworms!

Rhubarb? Well, who'd have thought it? But I think the silkworms will dine
out on lettuce, too. It gives a white silk, whereas it's the mulberry
that produces the beautiful golden strands of silk, IIRC. We had some
silkworms when I was a kid. I didn't like boiling them alive, though,
after all the hard work they'd done.
--
John Savage (news address invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)

This is long after the orriginal enquiry but I am interested in silkworms and have been researching them for over two years. I rear some each year and take them to craft fairs, giving talks about their life cycle rearing and how silk is produced, as I am a silkweaver.
They are/can be difficult to obtain, but two or three companies do supply. the most reliable being 'Oxford silkworms' a company which is part of 'The Jungle' in Abbingdon, Oxon. www.junglereptiles.co.uk. At time of posting they are having trouble with customs and Exise, but intend to keep supplying when 'things' are sorted. They also supply artificial food in powder form which is a good substitute for mulberry leaves, which are indeed difficult to find in the UK. Worldwide butterlies - on the internet - WWB.co.uk will supply mulberry plants to grow.
Hope this is of use to someone.
Regards Maggie