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How to Rear Silkworms

Silkworm cultivation began in China more than 5,000 years ago. According to information published online by the University of Arizona's Center for Insect Science Education Outreach, sericulture, or the cultivation of raw silk from silkworm cocoons, spread to Korea, Japan and Thailand. The silkworms not harvested for silk mature into adult moths. The silk farmer always allows a percentage of cocoons to mature to provide the next generation of silkworms. Ironically, the silkworm moth may have paid a high price for human skill at silk farming. All silkworm moths today live only in captivity. Thousands of years of domestication have cost them their ability to fly and thus survive in the wild.

Things You'll Need

Live silkworm eggs
Clear acrylic cake cover with removable handle
Mulberry leaves

Instructions

- 1
  Order the silkworm eggs from an authorized dealer. Keep the eggs refrigerated until you are ready for them to hatch.
- 2
  Place the silkworm eggs in an appropriate container. Traditional silkworm factories use large woven baskets. For classroom use, Sue Kayton, a teacher whose Web site provides educators with elementary school curriculum hints, suggests using a clear acrylic cake cover with a removable handle. Remove the handle to give the hatched worms fresh oxygen. The cover prevents the mulberry leaves from drying out. The eggs take between six and 20 days to hatch.
- 3
  Feed the silkworms. Silkworms eat mulberry leaves. Provide the tiny worms with fresh leaves daily. If you do not have a mulberry tree available, purchase artificial food from your insect distributor. Artificial silkworm food is a powder that you mix with water, turning it into a jelly that you place in the worms' container.
- 4
  As the worms grow, send them home with a teacher or child. The worms require a constant supply of food. They will starve to death over a weekend. Observe the worms as they grow. Over the 25 to 30 days it takes a silkworm to mature, the worm will grow to 10,000 times its hatching weight.
- 5
  Provide additional leaves for the cocoon. The silkworm wraps a leaf around itself as it starts to spin its cocoon. Commercial silk producers use a special basket with narrow channels that force the worms to line up single file. When they line up this way, the worms tend not to use additional leaves to cover themselves. These channels make harvesting cocoons for silk easy.
- 6
  Keep the cocoons for the next generation safe while the worms inside pupate. The adult moth emerges after 21 days.

Insects & Science