Moving Day
Added 2023-09-26 13:50:24 +0000 UTCToday we have a little video that's just me moving the worms from one container to the next -hopefully a little more interesting than it sounds. In this little film, several of the worms are still and not moving and foolishly- I questioned their wellness.
They're totally fine, and since I took this video almost all of them have entered the moult phase, those were just early adopters. I'm still waiting for some of them to finish now, and when they do I'll try and get a good picture of the shed skins, they're weird but cool.
I'm unsure how many moults this is - silkworms can move through the phases of their life at different speeds, depending on the conditions. The first instar can happen when the tiny baby is three days old, or maybe four. The second can be two days later or three... you see what I mean? When they are bigger- like now, you can see the skins they've slipped off attached to their container, and there's no missing the moulting. When they're tiny though, it's really hard to see what's happening, and if they've moved through all the phases quickly, it can really throw off counting.
Either this is the third moult, and are in their fourth instar and will moult again in 3-4 days, or (and I think this is what is happening) they are in their fifth instar and they're going to eat like crazy for six to eight days and then spin their cocoons. We'll know in a few days.
I can't wait to find out.
Stephanie
