Today, the 13th of November, 2008, I took a photo of the silkworms in their different stages.
I will describe the silkworm cycle.
First the silkworm comes out of its egg (this happened in September). It comes out as a tiny caterpillar or larva, which is really, really tiny, and it eats lots and lots of mulberry leaves. At first they don't eat heaps because they are so small, but as they grow, they eat a lot and I needed to change the leaves each day.
In their brain, messages are sent to tell the larva to make a new skin (cuticle) and not to become an adult. The new cuticle develops and the old cuticle comes off. The larva moults a number of times which might take from 1-3 months. Some of our silkworms took a long time before they began making their cocoon.
Then the juvenile hormone which stopped it becoming an adult, is reduced so that it doesn't send anymore messages to the brain about not becoming an adult. It then spins its cocoon and the pupa inside starts changing.
This only happens when the juvenile hormone stops altogether. Then the pupa changes and develops wings, antennas, eyes, legs and new organs.
Then after all the changes the adult breaks through the cocoon. Then the silk moth comes out, finds its mate (they can't fly), mates with their abdomens together and then they lay heaps of eggs and the cycle begins again in the next spring.
Hi Wahida,
No, moths come from silkworm larvae and they cannot fly.
Butterflies come from caterpillars. See my page on the Monarch Butterfly and the video there shows the monarch caterpillar hanging upside down and becoming a chrysalis.
do butterflies come from silkworms by: wahida begum
send me the answer
Aug 18, 2010 Rating
it was okay by: Anonymous
It was not very good but it was also not bad. Yes,it was OK ! OK !
Aug 16, 2010 Rating
please by: Anonymous
i think there should be a little intro but thanks for all the info
Aug 08, 2010 Rating
awesome by: raj
it helped me alot thanks
Jul 26, 2010 Rating
AWESOME by: rutman
It helped in my chemistry project.
Jul 08, 2010 Rating
thanks by: Anonymous
Thanks. I was not able to understand but this made me understand .
Jul 01, 2010 Rating
thankx by: Anonymous
i science xam help was almost dead for not bein attentive at d lectures thanks that u kept this info it helped me a lot 2 appear me xams
Jun 29, 2010 Rating
gud by: mb
thanks it helped in bio project.!
Jun 28, 2010 Rating
excellent! by: amritha
it helped in the last minute for my assignment.
Jun 21, 2010 Rating
good by: Anonymous
IT WAS HELPUL FOR THE PROJECT IT HELPED ME UNDERSTANDING WHOLE PROCESS THANX
Jun 21, 2010 Rating
okay by: Divya
This is a simple discription . I dont liked it much as this does not tell full life cycle .
Jun 01, 2010 Rating
very nice description by: shelly narula
This is a very nice,simple and sufficient description of the life cycle of silk worm.
May 01, 2010 Rating
1 comment by: Ashley
Thanks very much for that descriptive little story about your silkworms.I am going to try and enter it into the fair at my school.It is for my open house project.
Apr 22, 2010 Rating
Marvellous by: Vibhas
It helped me a lot as i had to the life cycle of
silk worms
Apr 20, 2010 Rating
Amazing by: Manisha
Thank you so much. I really needed It for my Science Project.
Apr 15, 2010 Rating
thanks?> by: Anonymous
*THANKS*!!!!!!!!!!
Apr 14, 2010 Rating
This was my project and it helped me a lot thank you by: Naved Ahmed
This was my project and it helped me a lot thank you
Feb 05, 2010 Rating
its great by: mansa
This helped me a lot thanks thank u
Jan 25, 2010 Rating
wow!! by: Anonymous
great work!!!!
nice pics!!!
Jan 25, 2010 Rating
thanks by: Rosie
The information you gave was very helpful. the photograph is great........thanks joel.
Jan 19, 2010 Rating
sikworm by: ronaldo
today i got some eggs of silworm it is very strange
Dec 25, 2009 Rating
thx joel by: jas
its helped me in my project
Dec 01, 2009 Rating
cheers by: steve
Itiwas great. Just what I was looking for. Thanks for the infomation.
cheers steve
Oct 17, 2009 Rating
Tiny silkworms and cocoons by: Joel
Hi, When the silk moths come out of their cocoons, they mate and lay 50-100 eggs (perhaps more) and then they die. They do not live long at all - perhaps 2-3 weeks.
It does not matter to have the cocoons in the same box as the other silkworms.
All silkworms are only interested in eating, so as long as they have fresh leaves, they are happy.
When our silk moths were tiny, we just put the new leaves on top of the old ones and the silkworms just crawl on to the fresh leaves. When they get older and we can handle them, we clean out the box and just make sure all of them are on the new leaves.
Then we also put in some old egg cartons and the silkworms often make their cocoons in them across the corners. It doesn't really matter where they decide to place their cocoons.
Oct 16, 2009 Rating
pets by: mulberry
Hi,
i bought 15 silkworms about two weeks ago. They were all at different stages, some were huge and other were tiny. Just recently, two cocoons appeared on the top corners of the caardboard shoe box i was keeping them in.
How do i clean out the droppings? i am afraid that i will empty some dropping onto the cocoon and silk.
Also when the moths emege should i keep them in the same box as the others or should i separate them?
Anyway, your info was very helpful!!
Oct 12, 2009 Rating
eggs by: merlin
BUT HOW MANY EGGS DOES THE SILKWORM LAY?
Oct 11, 2009 Rating
Thanks by: Robert
Thanks for the info. It has helped. I would like a bit more like when do they have eggs and how long. But anyway u have helped.
Oct 08, 2009 Rating
Thankyou by: Angela
Thanks for the info. It helped alot because I have 3 silkworms at home and they were taking a while to cocoon. Now I know that it can take a while.
Oct 03, 2009 Rating
very good by: pedro
Thanks a lot for the information. When I was in school rearing silk worm was one thing that I used to love but I failed to make it into a pupa or butterfly that will lay eggs so that I can have more silk worms.
How long does it take after becoming a pupa to lay eggs and how many pupa or butterflies do I need so that they can mate an reproduce?...your reply will be very helpful..my email add is virusoflife13@yahoo.com
Oct 02, 2009 Rating
good by: Anonymous
I think the info is too good and I hope it will help me in my project
Sep 06, 2009 Rating
great information by: Anonymous
thanks for the information. I'm doing an assignment on silkworms and this helped a lot!
Sep 04, 2009 Rating
Silkworm eggs site by: Anonymous
I found a site for silkworms and eggs, bought eggs from them last year. They were great
www.aussiesilkworms.com
Aug 24, 2009 Rating
That was great! by: Anonymous
Great Silkworm Life Cycle you have made.
Aug 22, 2009 Rating
nice dude by: ashlee
dude that was great info.i am doing a report on it . thanx dude
Jul 21, 2009 Rating
hi guys by: sam
That's so useful
Jul 17, 2009 Rating
hi students by: sudeep
hi..
i cultivate mulberry trees and also silkworms here in my lab..
its amazing to have them....
Jul 10, 2009 Rating
its awesome by: prial
Its gr8... the information given is very easy to understand and remember. the picts r really gr8
Jul 09, 2009 Rating
that's cool by: alice
that's very cool having silkworms. Do you know another name of pupa? Do you have hundreds of silkmoths?
Jun 03, 2009 Rating
That is very nice. by: Bob
That is pretty cool how you could watch the eggs and then the worms and then the cocoons and see them silk months come out and mate and lay eggs.
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