Any budding entomologists willing to ID larve?

[MSMorgan]

All,

Opened my compost bin this am to find these little guys wiggling about. At fist glance, I though I had BSF larva, but I don't think so. I believe it is some type of moth larva. The BIG question is..........can I feed them to Lucky once I gut load them, or not? They very in size from 1/4"-1/2".

 

[bobcochran]

Looks like Black Soldier Fly larvae commonly sold as Phoenix worms or Calciworms.
Very high in calcium and a good prey item for your cham!
They get dark or black before they pupate into a fly, which are also fun cham food.
BSF occur naturally in most states of the US.

 

[MSMorgan]

Bob,

Thank you for your quick reply. Weather moth or BSF, I assume they should be safe to feed off once I gut load and dust them? I will hold one or two back to see what pupates.

 

[Blink]

Definitely BSF or some other similar kind of fly larvae. I assume it would probably be ok to feed off, unless you had something toxic in your compost bin. . I don't like to give my cham anything hat I'm not 100% sure of, so much safer route IMO would be to just buy some Phoenixworms... But I tend to be paranoid about this kind of thing...

 

[MSMorgan]

Blink,

"I here ya." Don't believe there's anything "toxic" in the bin. All natural veggie and fruit scraps, plus grass clippings, Guinea pig cage waste, moldy oranges and lemons from the trees on the side yard go in there. Only question is the Guinea waste.

 

[bobcochran]

To gut load: Put them in a large deli cup with a lid with screen or small holes. Feed vegetables and fruit-they're great composters. The adult flies have no mouth parts so you don't have to worry about them consuming fecal matter or any thing else to harm your cham. After a few days gut loading you can put the larger larvae in a cup with bran in it and they will dry up a bit and not be able to climb up the sides of the cup and they're ready to feed off.

 

[MSMorgan]

Very cool. I hope Lucky will give them a shot.