Bombyx mori

I have recently gotten some nice pets to keep in the house. They go by the name of Bombyx mori, or more commonly as the silkworm. I got about eight silkworms from a good colleague.And now i have been feeding the larva with leaves from mulberry trees (in this case Morus nigra). Fortunately for me there is a lot of these trees at the university of Palma. It is a bit weird to start picking from the trees in the parking lot, but I have been assured that that a lot of people do it here. I find safety in numbers on this one I guess. They are quite greedy and have been steadily growing and preparing. Some have already started their metamorphosis. These are holotmetabole insect so they will go from a larva stage to a pupae and finally to a adult stage or imago stage. So for now and until about three weeks they will be cocoons. When they hatch I will of course make an update. Bombyx mori is the domestic silkworm used in silk production today. Also a lot of research has been done using this species.   

The setup is really easy. A suitable size box and leaves are all you need. Keep in mind that they only eat mulberry leaves. The box is situated at my terrace. And they eat constantly with a passion. They are nice and white and very soft to the touch.

Here you can se the development. After some weeks consuming they begin climbing and producing a silk tread to suspend and make the cocoon. In the last photo you see the finished cocoon where it will spend the next three weeks or so. So untill i will leave them to mature as it were hehe.