UVIVF of dehydrated silkworms (pet food)

[Fandyus]

So today we went to a huge asian run store which carries all sorts of exotic food. They had a whole isle dedicated to just different kinds of soy sauces, fish sauces, rice vinegar, rice wine and other. But that's besides the point. I got me some healthy sesame oil but I got something for my pet rats as well. One of those things was a bucket of dehydrated silkworms to give as treats. I decided to shine my UV flashlight on it (as I do with every new object in my room at this point) and it looked really interesting. Take a look yourself.

There ended up being quite a lot of variation between specimens, I just hand picked a few different ones. As you can see, some were entirely bright, some mostly dark, and some dark with spots. I broke one of the worms apart and it turns out that the matter inside fluoresces the same way as the bright spots. That makes me think that the bright spots are places where the worm was injured prior to being dried out, which is rather grim.

 

[colinbm]

Just when you thought you had seen it all....this comes along, great find.

[Fandyus]

3 minutes ago, colinbm said:

Just when you thought you had seen it all....this comes along, great find.

Thanks a lot!

[Doug A]

Very unexpected and neat. Big pay off for shining the light on everything.

Thanks for sharing,

Doug A

[Nate]

Cool find Fandyus

[dabateman]

Maybe you got some silk worms feed interesting stuff or genetically modified silk worms to include fluorescent proteins:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmats.2020.00050/full

 

[Fandyus]

11 hours ago, Doug A said:

Very unexpected and neat. Big pay off for shining the light on everything.

Thanks for sharing,

Doug A

Thanks! Yeah, I usually shine my UV on everything.. especially foods that I bring in. Sometimes they look really interesting.

10 hours ago, Nate said:

Cool find Fandyus

Thanks!

10 hours ago, dabateman said:

Maybe you got some silk worms feed interesting stuff or genetically modified silk worms to include fluorescent proteins:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmats.2020.00050/full

 

Interesting, thanks!

[Andrea B.]

The fluorescence could also be something like fungal growth due to incomplete dehydration?

Or chemical changes due to storage for too long a time?

 

I've never seen dehydrated silkworms! Hope the pets are enjoying them. 

[Fandyus]

16 hours ago, Andrea B. said:

The fluorescence could also be something like fungal growth due to incomplete dehydration?

Or chemical changes due to storage for too long a time?

 

I've never seen dehydrated silkworms! Hope the pets are enjoying them. 

First time I offered them they kinda put them in their mouth and dropped them after a few seconds while they gave me a "you want me to eat that?" look, but now they love them :)

That being said, I hope it isn't a fungal growth, that could be really bad for my rats. Rats are pretty intolerant of fungus, they can't even eat blue cheese or improperly dried corn. Rat keepers in some countries have to completely avoid it for that reason since in some countries, animal grade dried corn has a certain amount of fungus by default.

[Andrea B.]

It is difficult to discern what it is from a photo. Do you have a magnifying glass? Most fungus looks fungus-y under magnification. Like, it would have tendrils or little spores and so forth. If the stuff is just crumbly or waxy, then I wouldn't worry about it.

 

How many pet rats do you have? What kind are they?

[Fandyus]

17 hours ago, Andrea B. said:

It is difficult to discern what it is from a photo. Do you have a magnifying glass? Most fungus looks fungus-y under magnification. Like, it would have tendrils or little spores and so forth. If the stuff is just crumbly or waxy, then I wouldn't worry about it.

 

How many pet rats do you have? What kind are they?

Yeah, the worms are crumbly. I think it's fine. The image you're seeing is actually at 1:1 or so magnification with full frame. That's the size of the worms.

Thanks for asking! I currently have two pet rats, Cosmo and Ceres. They are your normal domestic rats - rattus norvegicus. Cosmo is russian blue berkshire and Ceres is black hooded, both also have the rex coat variety. They're a little aristocratic since they come from a certified breeder and I have a paper somewhere with their family history :). I might post some images tomorrow if you're interested :)

I'm not sure how much you know about rats but I'd be glad to explain any terms, just ask.

[Andrea B.]

I don't know much at all except that many people do enjoy them as pets. I also didn't realize that they are bred for color and coat variations. It would be cool to see a photo of Cosmo and Ceres when you have time. Thanks!

[Fandyus]

On 7/9/2022 at 1:13 AM, Andrea B. said:

I don't know much at all except that many people do enjoy them as pets. I also didn't realize that they are bred for color and coat variations. It would be cool to see a photo of Cosmo and Ceres when you have time. Thanks!

There very much are, many varieties exist :)

Here are Ceres and Cosmo peeking from under the blanket.

[Andy Perrin]

"A Bohemian Tale"

[Andrea B.]

They are so cute !!!! I love those pretty pink ears.

Thank you for this charming photo.

[Fandyus]

4 hours ago, Andrea B. said:

They are so cute !!!! I love those pretty pink ears.

Thank you for this charming photo.

And thank you for the compliment to my two little friends!

[microbat52]

Those are some very handsome friends! 

 

Im intrigued as to why some of the worms dont glow.

A lot of caterpillars ( alive ones at least) fluoresce. 

[Andy Perrin]

Maybe it depends on their vitamin content? Vitamins all seem to fluoresce very brightly. 

[Fandyus]

3 hours ago, microbat52 said:

Those are some very handsome friends! 

 

Im intrigued as to why some of the worms dont glow.

A lot of caterpillars ( alive ones at least) fluoresce. 

Thank you.

I'm not sure myself about the glow.