CATDOLL : CATDOLL: The time and process of raising silkworms (what is the process of raising silkworms like)

1. What is the whole process of silkworm rearing?

There are five stages in silkworm rearing: silkworm eggs - larvae - mature silkworms - silk cocoons - silk moths, which takes a total of more than forty days.

Ant silkworm: When the silkworm hatches from the egg, its body is brown or reddish brown, very small, and has many fine hairs, which looks a bit like an ant, so it is called an ant silkworm. The ant silkworm is about 2 mm long and 0.5 mm wide. After it crawls out of the egg shell, it will eat mulberry leaves after 2 to 3 hours.

The sleeping nature of silkworms: Silkworms eat a lot of mulberry, so they grow very fast and their body color gradually fades. But their appetite gradually decreases or even completely stops eating. They spit out a small amount of silk, fix their abdomen and feet on the silkworm seat, raise their head and chest, and stop moving, as if they are asleep. This is called "sleeping". The sleeping silkworms may seem motionless on the outside, but they are preparing to shed their skin inside. After shedding the old skin, the silkworms enter a new age. From ant silkworms to spinning silk cocoons, they shed their skin four times in total. Having the sleep nature is one of the growth characteristics of silkworms. Sleep nature is a genetic trait of silkworms and is also affected by the environment. The silkworms currently raised in my country belong to the four-sleeping varieties.

Silkworm age: also known as age period, which indicates the development stage of the silkworm. From the ant silkworm to the first molt is the first age; after waking up from sleep, it enters the second age; after molting again, it enters the third age; after the third molt, it enters the fourth age, and the fourth molt is also called the long sleep. After the long sleep, it enters the fifth age. The fifth-age silkworm grows very fast, with a body length of 6 to 7 cm and a weight of about 10,000 times the weight of the ant silkworm.

Mature silkworms: When silkworms reach the end of the fifth instar, they gradually show the characteristics of maturity: first, the feces they excrete change from hard to soft, and from dark green to leaf green; their appetite decreases, and the amount of food they eat decreases; the front digestive tract is empty, and the chest becomes transparent; then they stop eating completely, their bodies shorten, and their abdomens tend to be transparent; their head and chest are raised, they spit out silk threads from their mouths, and they swing left and right and up and down to find a place to build their cocoons. Such silkworms are called mature silkworms.

Cocooning during the adult stage: People put mature silkworms in special containers or on cocoons, and the silkworms will spin silk and make cocoons.

2. How many steps are there in silkworm breeding?

There are five stages in silkworm rearing: silkworm eggs - larvae - mature silkworms - silk cocoons - silk moths, which takes a total of more than forty days.

Additional information

Sericulture is an important skill created by the working people in ancient China. It is said that the method of planting mulberry trees and raising silkworms originated from Leizu, the wife of Huangdi. The ancestor of the domestic silkworm is believed to be the wild silkworm (B. mandarina), which is almost the same as the domestic silkworm in appearance, and can naturally hybridize with the domestic silkworm to produce offspring after growing up.

Place the silkworms in a paper box or a small sieve for sifting rice. If using a sieve, place some paper at the bottom of the sieve.

When the silkworms have just hatched from the eggs, you need to be especially careful with them, feed them with relatively tender mulberry leaves, and use a very soft brush to move them when changing the mulberry leaves, and pay attention to the strength; sometimes the mulberry leaves are too dry, and if you are not careful, the silkworms will be left on the mulberry leaves that are about to be discarded. It is a little difficult to raise them when they are young, but it will be easier to handle when they grow up.

When it is about to make a cocoon, just take some wheat straw and tie it into the shape of branches.

After the moths break out of their cocoons, place them together in a box. They will mate together and lay eggs. Sometimes, because there are few silkworms, some moths will be left alone when they break out of their cocoons, but don't worry, as long as one pair of moths succeeds, I believe it will be enough for you to raise.

Mulberry leaves should be fresh. You can also collect them in a plastic bag each time, use a few leaves a day, and keep the rest in the refrigerator (4℃) to keep them fresh (do not water them, as the leaves will turn yellow quickly if you water them. It is recommended to seal them in a fresh-keeping bag). The collected leaves will have some dust, so you can wash them and dry them. You must dry them, otherwise the young or adult silkworms will have diarrhea after eating them, and they may even die.

3. The process of raising silkworms?

step

(1) Place the silkworm eggs in a clean and odor-free silkworm rearing box. From the time the silkworm eggs leave the warehouse, they will naturally hatch into larvae in about 11 days (including the shipping time) at room temperature of 21-29°C.

(2) The larvae begin to have an appetite about 40 minutes after hatching, and can be fed. You can cut the mulberry leaves into small pieces with a knife and put them in the silkworm box. The silkworms will actively climb onto the mulberry leaves to eat. For 1-3 day old silkworms, you can choose tender mulberry leaves, and for 4-5 year old silkworms, you can use ordinary mulberry leaves.

(3) Silkworms grow well in an environment of 22-29°C, with the optimum temperature being around 27°C. Feeding can be done in the morning or at noon.

4. How to raise silkworms?

1. Place the silkworm eggs in a box and wait for them to hatch. The most suitable temperature is 25℃-28℃. If the temperature is lower, you can cover the box with a lid.

2. Newly hatched silkworms must be cared for with special care and fed with relatively tender leaves.

3. When the silkworm is dormant, it does not eat or move. On the surface, it is sleeping, but in fact it is shedding its old skin and replacing it with a new one to continue growing. The silkworm will shed its skin 4 times during the whole breeding process. Each time it sheds its skin, it will not eat or move. At this time, try not to disturb it, and do not throw it away thinking it is sick. Each dormant period of the silkworm lasts about one day.

4. Generally, the silkworms start to spin cocoons around 25 days old. When the silkworms' backs are shiny, yellow and transparent, it means that they are about to spin silk and spin cocoons. At this time, a cross space should be provided for the silkworms to spin cocoons. It takes two days to spin a complete cocoon, and the silkworms complete the last molting in the cocoon and become pupae.

5. Male and female silkworm moths mate shortly after emerging from their cocoons. After mating, the female moth takes 4-5 hours to lay 400 eggs and then slowly dies.

5. How to raise silkworms?

1. Steps of silkworm rearing

(1) From silkworm ants to silkworm babies

Suitable temperature: 20-25℃.

Time: 2-3 days to hatch.

Collecting ants: The young silkworms will crawl out of the egg shell like ants. Use very light gestures to collect them and lead them to the tender leaves. Note: The silkworm eggs need to be kept in a ventilated and dark place during the incubation period.

(2) Feeding silkworms

The living habits of silkworms are: sleep when full, eat when awake;

Living environment: Plastic or wooden flat box,

Note: The mulberry leaves should be fresh. You can also collect them in a plastic bag each time, use a few leaves every day, and sprinkle some water on the rest and put them in the refrigerator to keep them fresh. The collected leaves will have some dust, so you can wash them and dry them. You must dry them, otherwise the young or adult silkworms will have diarrhea if they eat them.

(3) Silkworms spin silk and make cocoons

Molting: After molting once, the larvae become the second-instar larvae. Each time the larvae molts, they become one year older. They molt a total of four times.

Cocooning: 7-8 days after molting four times, the owl stops eating mulberry leaves, its body starts to shine, and it begins to look for a suitable place to start cocooning.

Note: Put some supporting objects in the silkworm box to help the silkworms make cocoons.

(4) About silkworm droppings

Silkworm feces, also known as silkworm sand, has the effects of curing dampness, itching, removing internal heat, removing rheumatism, and improving hearing and eyesight. Many elderly people dry it and make it into pillows for their newborn babies to sleep on. Silkworm feces, black particles, can be used as medicine in traditional Chinese medicine and are also good nutrients for plants.

(5) Silkworms break out of their cocoons

The silkworm sheds its skin for the final time (fifth time) in the cocoon and becomes a pupa. After about 7-10 days, the pupa turns into a silkworm moth and emerges from the cocoon.

Note: The fat one is the mother of the silkworm, and the thin one is the father of the silkworm. Let the father and mother of the silkworm live together, and you can see a lot of silkworm eggs the next day. If you protect them well, these silkworm eggs can hatch again in the spring of the next year.

6. How long does the entire growth process of silkworms take?

The growth of silkworms generally consists of an incubation period of 8-9 days, a larval period of about 25 days, a pupal period of 14 to 18 days, and a moth period of 3 to 5 days.

The growth process of silkworms:

1. Hatching of silkworm eggs: After an 8-9 day accelerator period, the silkworms hatch from the eggs. They are small and black when they first come out, and are commonly known as ant silkworms.

2. First instar: The color of first instar silkworms changes from black to dark brown. They feed on mulberry leaves for 3 to 4 days and do not eat much. They will shed their skin for the first time after entering the dormant period, which lasts for 8 to 12 hours.

3. Second instar: The silkworm grows noticeably bigger and becomes lighter in color. It feeds on mulberry leaves for about 3 days and sleeps for 8 to 12 hours.

4. Third instar: The color of the silkworm body changes to light brown, the appetite begins to increase, and it enters the dormant stage after about 4 days. Silkworms from 1 to 3 instars are generally called young silkworms, and enter the adult stage after 10 to 14 hours.

5. Fourth instar: The silkworms entering the adult silkworm stage develop very quickly and their food intake increases significantly. The fourth instar usually lasts for 5 days, with a long dormancy period, generally called the long dormancy period, which can last up to 30 to 40 hours.

6. Fifth instar: The silkworms eat the most leaves during the first 7 days, accounting for more than 75% of the total leaf intake. After the 7th day, the silkworms begin to shorten and become brighter, and are called mature silkworms. They stop eating and begin to spin silk and make cocoons.

7. What is the whole process of spring silkworm breeding?

The eggs laid by silkworm moths → hatching → pupae → moths, will complete the cycle of a new generation and enter the growth process of the next generation. First, put the floating silkworms into a clean dustpan, wipe off the moisture on the mulberry leaves and put them in the silkworms. There are five stages in silkworm rearing: silkworm eggs - larvae - mature silkworms - cocoons - silkworm moths, a total of more than 40 days.

The characteristics of spring silkworm breeding are mild weather, good leaf quality, and some pathogens killed by the cold weather in winter. The environment is clean, making it easy to obtain high-quality and high-yield silkworms. However, the temperature is often low during the young silkworm period, which does not meet the requirements for young silkworm breeding and requires heating.

8. What is the order of changes during a silkworm’s life?

The life of a silkworm: eggs laid by silkworm moths → hatching → cocoons and pupae → moths, completing the cycle of a new generation. This is the life history of a silkworm.

Silkworm eggs: Silkworm eggs look smaller than sesame seeds, and are round and flat. A female moth can lay 400 to 500 eggs. Silkworm eggs are light yellow when they are first laid, and turn into light red bean or red bean color after 1 to 2 days, and then turn into gray-green or purple after 3 to 4 days, and then they will not change again. Hatching silkworms is a bit like hatching chicks. When we were young, we usually put silkworm eggs in the pockets of our clothes and use our body temperature to accelerate the hatching. We would take them out and have a look when we had nothing to do. Silkworm eggs are like chicken eggs, with a hard shell on the outside, and yolk and serosal membrane inside. The embryo in the fertilized egg continuously absorbs nutrients during the development process, and gradually develops into an ant silkworm, which breaks out of the egg shell.

Ant silkworm: When the silkworm emerges from the eggshell, it is very thin and looks a bit like an ant, so it is called an ant silkworm. The ant silkworm is about 2 mm long and 0.5 mm thick. It will eat mulberry leaves 2 to 3 hours after crawling out of the eggshell.

Silkworm sleep: Silkworms eat a lot of mulberry, and the faster they eat, the faster they grow. When their body color gradually fades and their appetite gradually decreases until they completely fast, they will spit out a small amount of silk, fix their abdominal feet on the silkworm seat, raise their head and chest, and stop moving, as if they are asleep. This is silkworm sleep. The sleeping silkworm may seem motionless on the outside, but it is preparing to shed its skin inside. After shedding the old skin, the silkworm's growth enters a new stage, and it sheds four times from ant silkworm to spinning silk cocoon. Having a dormant nature is one of the growth characteristics of silkworms.

Silkworm age: from the first molt to the first molt is the first age; after waking up from sleep, it enters the second age; after molting again, it enters the third age; after the third molt, it enters the fourth age, and the fourth molt is the long sleep. After the long sleep, it enters the fifth age. The fifth-age silkworms grow very fast. The longest silkworm we raised this time reached 8 cm.

Mature silkworms: When silkworms reach the end of the fifth instar, they gradually show the characteristics of maturity: first, the feces they excrete clearly change from dark green to leaf green; their appetite decreases, and the amount of mulberry food they eat drops significantly; their chest becomes transparent; their bodies turn a little yellow, and then they stop eating completely. Their bodies shorten, and their abdomens tend to be transparent. Their head and chest are raised, they spit out silk threads from their mouths, and they swing left and right and up and down to find a place to build their cocoons. These silkworms are called mature silkworms.

Cocooning: After the silkworms are mature, they are placed in a special container or on a cocooning device, and the silkworms will spin silk and spin cocoons. (The cocooning device is the place for making cocoons. Some branches or chopsticks can be used to make a #-shaped or trident frame.) The process of silkworm cocooning is roughly as follows: the mature silkworms find a good place to make cocoons, first spin out silk, and stick it on the cocooning device to form a cocooning frame, that is, a cocooning net. Continue to spin out messy silk circles to thicken the inner layer of the cocoon net, and then spin silk in an 8-shaped manner, and the outline of the cocoon begins to appear, forming a cocoon coat. After the cocoon coat is formed, the cocoon cavity gradually becomes smaller, and the silk continues to be spun to thicken, which begins the process of forming a cocoon layer. When the silkworm's body is greatly reduced due to spinning a large amount of silk, a loose and soft cocoon silk layer is finally formed, which is called the pupa lining.

Silkworm pupa: About 4 days after the silkworm makes a cocoon, it will turn into a pupa. After about 12 to 15 days, when the pupa body begins to soften again and the pupa skin is a little wrinkled and earthy brown, it will turn into a moth.

Silkworm moth: The silkworm moth that emerges from the cocoon loses its ability to fly because of its two pairs of small wings. The female moth is large and crawls slowly. The male moth is small and crawls faster, with its wings vibrating rapidly, looking for a mate. Generally, after mating for half a day, the female moth can lay fertilized eggs. After mating, the male dies, and the female moth can lay about 500 eggs in one night, and then slowly dies.

9. How long does it take for a silkworm to grow?

The growth cycle of silkworms is generally about 40 days, which is related to humidity, temperature and food. The incubation period of silkworm eggs is about 8-9 days (if accelerated, it is about 2-9 days), the larval stage is about 25 days, the pupa stage is about 14-18 days, and the moth stage is about 3-5 days.

How many days is the growth cycle of a silkworm?

1. Hatching of silkworm eggs: After an 8-9 day accelerator period, the silkworms hatch from the eggs. They are small and black when they first come out, and are commonly known as ant silkworms.

2. First instar: The color of first instar silkworms changes from black to dark brown. They feed on mulberry leaves for 3 to 4 days and do not eat much. They will shed their skin for the first time after entering the dormant period, which lasts for 8 to 12 hours.

3. Second instar: The silkworm grows noticeably bigger and becomes lighter in color. It feeds on mulberry leaves for about 3 days and sleeps for 8 to 12 hours.

4. Third instar: The color of the silkworm body changes to light brown, the appetite begins to increase, and it enters the dormant stage after about 4 days. Silkworms from 1 to 3 instars are generally called young silkworms, and enter the adult stage after 10 to 14 hours.

5. Fourth instar: The silkworms entering the adult silkworm stage develop very quickly and their food intake increases significantly. The fourth instar usually lasts for 5 days, with a long dormancy period, generally called the long dormancy period, which can last up to 30 to 40 hours.

6. Fifth instar: The silkworms eat the most leaves during the first 7 days, accounting for more than 75% of the total leaf intake. After the 7th day, the silkworms begin to shorten and become brighter, and are called mature silkworms. They stop eating and begin to spin silk and make cocoons.