Do Silkworms Need Water?

Do Silkworms Need Water?

No. Silkworms do not drink, and they must not be misted. Every bit of moisture they need comes from fresh mulberry leaves or properly hydrated chow. Adding water is not helpful and is actively dangerous.

Why Misting Kills Them

Newborn silkworms drown in a film of water thin enough that you would not think of it as a puddle. A misted leaf, condensation on the side of the cup, a wet patch on the chow — any of these will kill first-instar worms, which are only two or three millimetres long.

This is the opposite of the instinct most keepers bring from other feeders. Hornworms, crickets and roaches all want moisture offered somewhere. Silkworms want the food damp and everything else dry.

Where Their Moisture Actually Comes From

Fresh mulberry leaves are mostly water, and mulberry chow is dry powder rehydrated before it is offered. Both deliver moisture inside the food. That is the entire system — there is no second source and no need for one.

The practical consequence: stale food is a hydration problem, not just a nutrition one. Leaves that have dried out, or chow that has gone hard at the edges, leave the worms short of water even though you have technically fed them.

What To Do Instead

• Keep the food fresh. Replace dried-out leaves or hardened chow rather than adding water to them.
• Shake surface water off leaves before offering, especially to young worms.
• Wipe condensation out of the container. A wet cup is a drowning hazard and a mould risk at once.
• Never mist, and never put a water dish or gel in with them.

The Other Way People Lose a Cup

Never refrigerate silkworms. Cold is the single most common cause of a whole batch dying at once. Between misting and refrigerating, those two habits — both imported from how you would treat other feeders — account for most silkworm losses.

More in the complete silkworm raising and care guide.