***This thread/topic mostly applies to those who live in zones 7-10***
Adult Soldier fly
A look into one of my composters. Easily 15,000+ worms in this 5 gallon bucket
http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad257/Destroyer551/grubs009.jpg
I've seen a lot of people here relying on so called "Repti-worms", "calci-worms" or "phoenix worms". I've seen 500 of the large ones go for as much as 50$. That's just absurd in my opinion, and looking at how long they've been around, and how dead easy they are to culture, along with their nutrition, I've always wondered why so few people in the reptile industry have resorted to culturing them? I realize location is an issue, but most don't know they're easily culture. To me, these guys are more appropriately called black soldier flies or black soldier fly larvae. The internet is a wonderful place to learn about them. They're steadily gaining popularity in the world of hydroponics, composting, and lately, the reptile world! (and IMHO, they much better composters than worms!)
It would take too long to explain every single detail here, so I'll write an introduction for culturing soldier flies for most to get a general idea before you dive off the deep end. First things first, you need a container (Preferably called a composter in the world of BSF) to attract females, hold food/compost, and raise the larvae in. In short, this composter needs to be closed, but ventilated with holes large enough for female flies and excess humidity to pass though. It then needs to prevent the escape of grubs, has to provide egg laying sites in the form of corrugated cardboard, requires the addition of a drainage system to prevent build up of anaerobic bacteria and liquids, and ideally a self harvesting attatchment. (although it's optional) I constructed my composters using the guide for the BSF bucket composter v2, the link to this can be found at the end of this post. I have 3 of them setup, each costs roughly $50 or so to make, depending on what you already have on hand, and the design can easily be tweaked to suit your own needs or ideas. There are MANY different designs of composters/BSF culturing containers that are constantly being improved upon. If you want to start out frugal, use a 5 gallon bucket with many 1/8 inch holes drilled in the bottom for drainage.
OK, fast forward a little bit, and lets assume you have your composter setup, and you're ready to get started. Obviously to get grubs, you need eggs, and for eggs you need flies. You cannot order the flies themselves, and if somehow aquired you cannot breed them inside an enclosed area as it believed that they need natural sunlight to reproduce. With that said, ordering grubs and letting them hatch out into flies is obviously a waste of money. (Still, I've had several people insist on doing it this way) They have to live in your area if you want a constant supply. The adults are extremely elusive, so as long as you live in their range, with temperatures allowing, (70F+) chances are you have many adults just outside. Adult soldier flies, simliar to silkmoths, have no working mouth parts. Since they don't feed, they are much cleaner than typical flies. The males live to mate and die shortly thereafter. Shortly after copulation, the females have but a week to lay eggs before dying, at which point they then use their very keen sense of smell to search out a suitable food source for their ravenous maggots. In the wild, they can colonize virtually anything organic, from carcasses to animal waste, but they tend to prefer decaying vegetation/fruit that has begun to ferment. The best medium I've found for attracting egg-laying females is fermented chicken feed. (Unmedicated, use a vegetarian brand if you can find one!) It can easily be found at feed stores or bought online. To begin with chicken feed, mix it thoroughly with water until it can be packed into fist sized balls, and squeezed with no more than a couple drops of water resulting. The idea is that the feed acts as an attractant to BSF females while being less appealing to disease carrying house/bottle flies. The smell of it is strong enough to quickly attract BSFs, but never gets overly unbearable, and it usually keeps well until discovered by soldier flies. Other things can be used, such as dinner scraps, coffee grounds, wheat/grain based products, fruit peelings, and vegetable scraps. However, such items can take awhile to attract females. (at least they have in my case) Plain cracked corn, fermented with water, has also worked well in my experience. 2-3 inches of medium can then be applied to the bottom of your composter, keep it moist, but not wet, and then leave it to ferment. It might get smelly, and other pest species of flies WILL arrive, but before long you will get soldier flies as long as a healthy population is around. Females usually avoid laying their eggs directly onto the food source and therefore need an egg-laying site. This is typically provided with a 2-3 inch wide strip of corrugated cardboard attatched to the inside rim of the composter. A single female can lay 2,000-3,000 eggs in a single batch! Once you have grubs, they can be fed just about anything. You can continue to use chicken feed or grains as their main source of food, but if you want to be self sufficient, anything you can eat, they can eat. (It's reccomended you lay off on too much meat, especially if you plan to feed off smaller instar larvae, since you don't want their guts filled with unhealthy foods) After 1-2 weeks, depending on temperature, the grubs will reach their final instar. They will stop feeding, expel their guts, turn a dark black/brown color, and lose their mouthparts in exchange for climbing hooks. This is when they are most nutritious. This is when they become "self harvesting". They will circle the composter searching for a way out, and you can take advantage of this. Typically, a ramp at a 30 degree angle is used, leading up and out of the composter and into a clean container, where they can then be fed off.
(*Note* Temperatures will need to be consistantly 74F and above for prime production out of wild flies!)
*Worried about filth flies? What about the smell?*
The neat thing about soldier flies is that once they colonize a food source, the grubs drive off any other species of flies from laying their eggs by releasing pheremones. This same pheremone calls out to more adult flies, eventually providing you with an unlimited source of eggs as long as adults are out. A pheremone laced mixture of grubs and compost from a mature colony can then be used to seed other buckets/composters, immediately calling in fresh egg-laden females. Once a food source is colonized, there is virtually no smell unless you stick your nose directly into the composter. Even then, the smell isn't bad, it's merely quite earthy and strong.
*Liquid gold?!*
BSF grubs produce a lot of liquid as they feed, especially when fed water rich foods like fruit/veggies. While a drainage system is important for the survival of the grubs, you can get creative with such a system to collect the valuble liquids into containers. This dark, thick liquid has many uses. It is the purest form of attractant for BSF females. It is also a natural filth fly reppelent. It is also an amazing fertilizer! (Dilute 20:1)
You can branch off from this link here, it has all the information you need and more. With plenty of links to resources, other websites, and even a BSF forum.
http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/bsf-bucket-composter-version-2-1/ - DIY composter
Adult Soldier fly
A look into one of my composters. Easily 15,000+ worms in this 5 gallon bucket
http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad257/Destroyer551/grubs009.jpg
I've seen a lot of people here relying on so called "Repti-worms", "calci-worms" or "phoenix worms". I've seen 500 of the large ones go for as much as 50$. That's just absurd in my opinion, and looking at how long they've been around, and how dead easy they are to culture, along with their nutrition, I've always wondered why so few people in the reptile industry have resorted to culturing them? I realize location is an issue, but most don't know they're easily culture. To me, these guys are more appropriately called black soldier flies or black soldier fly larvae. The internet is a wonderful place to learn about them. They're steadily gaining popularity in the world of hydroponics, composting, and lately, the reptile world! (and IMHO, they much better composters than worms!)
It would take too long to explain every single detail here, so I'll write an introduction for culturing soldier flies for most to get a general idea before you dive off the deep end. First things first, you need a container (Preferably called a composter in the world of BSF) to attract females, hold food/compost, and raise the larvae in. In short, this composter needs to be closed, but ventilated with holes large enough for female flies and excess humidity to pass though. It then needs to prevent the escape of grubs, has to provide egg laying sites in the form of corrugated cardboard, requires the addition of a drainage system to prevent build up of anaerobic bacteria and liquids, and ideally a self harvesting attatchment. (although it's optional) I constructed my composters using the guide for the BSF bucket composter v2, the link to this can be found at the end of this post. I have 3 of them setup, each costs roughly $50 or so to make, depending on what you already have on hand, and the design can easily be tweaked to suit your own needs or ideas. There are MANY different designs of composters/BSF culturing containers that are constantly being improved upon. If you want to start out frugal, use a 5 gallon bucket with many 1/8 inch holes drilled in the bottom for drainage.
OK, fast forward a little bit, and lets assume you have your composter setup, and you're ready to get started. Obviously to get grubs, you need eggs, and for eggs you need flies. You cannot order the flies themselves, and if somehow aquired you cannot breed them inside an enclosed area as it believed that they need natural sunlight to reproduce. With that said, ordering grubs and letting them hatch out into flies is obviously a waste of money. (Still, I've had several people insist on doing it this way) They have to live in your area if you want a constant supply. The adults are extremely elusive, so as long as you live in their range, with temperatures allowing, (70F+) chances are you have many adults just outside. Adult soldier flies, simliar to silkmoths, have no working mouth parts. Since they don't feed, they are much cleaner than typical flies. The males live to mate and die shortly thereafter. Shortly after copulation, the females have but a week to lay eggs before dying, at which point they then use their very keen sense of smell to search out a suitable food source for their ravenous maggots. In the wild, they can colonize virtually anything organic, from carcasses to animal waste, but they tend to prefer decaying vegetation/fruit that has begun to ferment. The best medium I've found for attracting egg-laying females is fermented chicken feed. (Unmedicated, use a vegetarian brand if you can find one!) It can easily be found at feed stores or bought online. To begin with chicken feed, mix it thoroughly with water until it can be packed into fist sized balls, and squeezed with no more than a couple drops of water resulting. The idea is that the feed acts as an attractant to BSF females while being less appealing to disease carrying house/bottle flies. The smell of it is strong enough to quickly attract BSFs, but never gets overly unbearable, and it usually keeps well until discovered by soldier flies. Other things can be used, such as dinner scraps, coffee grounds, wheat/grain based products, fruit peelings, and vegetable scraps. However, such items can take awhile to attract females. (at least they have in my case) Plain cracked corn, fermented with water, has also worked well in my experience. 2-3 inches of medium can then be applied to the bottom of your composter, keep it moist, but not wet, and then leave it to ferment. It might get smelly, and other pest species of flies WILL arrive, but before long you will get soldier flies as long as a healthy population is around. Females usually avoid laying their eggs directly onto the food source and therefore need an egg-laying site. This is typically provided with a 2-3 inch wide strip of corrugated cardboard attatched to the inside rim of the composter. A single female can lay 2,000-3,000 eggs in a single batch! Once you have grubs, they can be fed just about anything. You can continue to use chicken feed or grains as their main source of food, but if you want to be self sufficient, anything you can eat, they can eat. (It's reccomended you lay off on too much meat, especially if you plan to feed off smaller instar larvae, since you don't want their guts filled with unhealthy foods) After 1-2 weeks, depending on temperature, the grubs will reach their final instar. They will stop feeding, expel their guts, turn a dark black/brown color, and lose their mouthparts in exchange for climbing hooks. This is when they are most nutritious. This is when they become "self harvesting". They will circle the composter searching for a way out, and you can take advantage of this. Typically, a ramp at a 30 degree angle is used, leading up and out of the composter and into a clean container, where they can then be fed off.
(*Note* Temperatures will need to be consistantly 74F and above for prime production out of wild flies!)
*Worried about filth flies? What about the smell?*
The neat thing about soldier flies is that once they colonize a food source, the grubs drive off any other species of flies from laying their eggs by releasing pheremones. This same pheremone calls out to more adult flies, eventually providing you with an unlimited source of eggs as long as adults are out. A pheremone laced mixture of grubs and compost from a mature colony can then be used to seed other buckets/composters, immediately calling in fresh egg-laden females. Once a food source is colonized, there is virtually no smell unless you stick your nose directly into the composter. Even then, the smell isn't bad, it's merely quite earthy and strong.
*Liquid gold?!*
BSF grubs produce a lot of liquid as they feed, especially when fed water rich foods like fruit/veggies. While a drainage system is important for the survival of the grubs, you can get creative with such a system to collect the valuble liquids into containers. This dark, thick liquid has many uses. It is the purest form of attractant for BSF females. It is also a natural filth fly reppelent. It is also an amazing fertilizer! (Dilute 20:1)
You can branch off from this link here, it has all the information you need and more. With plenty of links to resources, other websites, and even a BSF forum.
http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/bsf-bucket-composter-version-2-1/ - DIY composter
