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Monday 9 April 2012

Yippppeeeeee!!! They're Hatching!

Welcome to my silkworm project 2012 - yes, that's right, silkworm (singular).

This morning I put the box of eggs in the greenhouse as that was the warmest place.  I checked them a few times during the morning, especially as the eggs had lightened in colour by today.  Apparently this indicates that they're ready to hatch because they've separated from the egg shell.  Checked again after lunch, and here was this little fellow, rushing around looking for food :-


I gave it a leaf, and once it had climbed onboard I transferred it to it's own plastic box to wait for it's siblings to hatch.  Quite often, only a few will hatch the first day, with the majority arriving on the second, and stragglers on the third.


Here it is enjoying it's first meal!

I'm sooo excited, because this is the first hatching from eggs laid by one of my silk moths last year.

Anyway, must go and check to see if any more have hatched.  I'll try and restrain myself from posting photos of each one as it hatches!

Just thought I'd take a photo with a ruler alongside to show you just how small these are, and voila, there was another one!


 OK, no more photos today.  Promise!

2 comments:

  1. I LOVE your excitement over the new cats! My oldest are 2 weeks old and all white. My neighbors are donating mulberry leaves to help me feed them, but agree that until cocoon time I'll be the only caretaker these little guys will see.

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  2. Mine are black and white stripes (or will be), as you probably saw last year. I bought those because I wasn't sure, never having kept anything like this before, if I could cope with the white ones looking too "grub-like". I now know they don't look a bit like grubs so would have been OK with those. It's amazing to think that these tiny little specks will soon be as thick as my little finger.

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