The first molt

It turns out that the first batch of silkworms (Brood A) hatched out on August 7th. They began their first molt on August 12th. I took some pictures but they are hard to see because my camera isn't good at taking pictures of such small objects.

The first picture shows a good shot of a green molted worm next to a black unmolted one.



The second shot shows a newly molted worm and the black skin that it wiggled out of.



The last shot is just a bunch of worms.



Broods B and C hatched on August 9th and molted today. A few days ago they slowed down their eating and many of them had adopted the "prayer" stance where they rise up the front half of their bodies. This is typical when they are about to molt. However this species tends to be a bit shy and will sit in prayer stance when I open the lid of the rearing container. Hopefully I can get a decent shot of that when the worms get a bit bigger.