How to Raise Silk Moths

There are many reasons to raise silkworms. Some people raise them for DIY silk. Other people raise them as a sort of pet. Still others raise them as a learning aid for classes or science fairs. Whatever your reason, silkworms (Bombyx mori) are fascinating and easily raised organisms. They are fully domesticated and the moths cannot fly. Their life cycles are predictable and their eggs can be stored in refrigeration to make hatching convenient for you.

Things You'll Need

  • Pill bottle
  • Clean plastic salad container
  • Mulberry leaves
  • Large-cell netting
  • Plastic animal container ("Kritter Keeper" is a common brand that works well)
  • Toilet paper rolls or similar cardboard tubes.
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Remove the eggs from refrigeration. Place them in a clean, dry, plastic salad container. Keep the temperature above 72 degrees Fahrenheit. The eggs will usually hatch in 10 to14 days. However, they can sometime hatch as early as 7 days.

    • 2

      Feed the larva fresh mulberry leaves as soon as they hatch. The hatchlings are called "kego" in Japanese, meaning "hairy baby."

    • 3

      Transfer the worms to the plastic container at the end of the first week. The best way to do this is to place large-cell netting over the food and worms, with fresh mulberry leaves on top. Give the worms about an hour to crawl through the mesh, then scoop it up and move the worms and fresh leaves to their new home.

    • 4

      Split the worms into several containers as they grow. Depending on how many eggs you started with, this may or may not be necessary. Each worm should have four times its size in floorspace.

    • 5

      Provide a place for the silkworms to spin their cocoons. It takes the silkworms 2 to 3 months to reach the stage where they are ready to spin. They will signal readiness by refusing to eat, dumping their undigested gut contents and beginning to release silk at random. It is best to add toilet paper tubes for them to nest in. The worms can make cocoons in wrapped-up leaves or the corners of their enclosure, but these will be irregular shapes.

    • 6

      Store the cocoons in a cold, dry place. They will hatch in 2 to 3 weeks. The moths will mate and die within a week of hatching.

    • 7

      Collect the eggs once they have turned to a gray color. They can be store in the crisper section of a refrigerator in a pill bottle until you are ready to hatch them.