Anyway thanks to my habit of voraciously consuming every scrap of info I can find on a new thing, I’ve been going down a rabbit hole of silkworm breeding and genetics recently.
Did ya know that there are lines of silkworm that aren’t just white? That will throw up the darker ‘tiger’ and ‘zebra’ silkworms that are thought to be closer to the ancient wild silkworms? They arose when people began raising silkworms in South Africa, a harsher climate than they are native to, and crossed with a couple of strains from places like India and other southeast asian countries.
They apparently exhibit much more defensive behavior (AKA ‘rearing’ and even trying to nip if startled) and some, apparently, can even still fly short distances. They are also apparently much hardier. BUT they produce rather less silk per cocoon, so they’re not as desirable for silk, but favored by some who raise them as feeders for reptiles. What silk they DO produce, however, can range in shade from ivory to white to pale golds and green-golds, and sometimes even pinkish.
This is a long way around to say that I tracked down someone who got her hands on south african silkworms in the USA (they’re not common here) and ordered 100 South African silkworm eggs.
You use all these words pretending like you thought it over for longer than .02 seconds like I knew where this post was going by the second sentence. 😉 it took me longer to read and reblog this post than it took you to start looking for those eggs, lol.
I MEAN, TRUE
What colour are their wings? Would you ever consider making jewelry from them, once they die? I bought a butterfly wing pendant a few months ago and I love it.
These aren’t mine they’re just off google to show what an adult silk moth looks like.
I’m not really a jewelry crafter, tbh. But if anyone wanted a moth wing I could probably oblige.
