Holy Sh!t… these things are pigs! A couple days ago I fed them an entire canister of quick oats left over from my mealworm farm and some table scraps including a giant hunk of Liverwurst/Leberkase. Upon walking outside I nearly had a heart attack—the whole box was empty. I thought maybe some of the local deer flies which were swarming their box had gotten in and killed them and some animal had scavenged the food. NOPE these larvae ate EVRYTHING. They are now fat and slimy. I hope they’re ready to pupate soon.

Does anyone have a love cage set up I could see. I’m not familiar with any setups in the area, but as far as I know these flies are not extremely common in Pennsylvania. Thanks!

For my husband’s birthday we grilled some lobster tails. I added the left over shells to the tumbler and the bsfl are feasting!

What might be the causes of a mass evacuation of larva? I've had more in my catchment container than I've ever seen and they are of all stages of development.

Hi all! I love that this sub exists and for a smaller community there's a fair amount of activity!

However, in the interest of boosting engagement, I wonder if it would be fun to have some weekly thread traditions. Many of the other niche/hobbyist subs I'm in have the same.

So far I thought of a few possibilities:

• Show 'n' tell
• "Beginners" thread
• Troubleshooting thread

I also wondered about potentially adding some flair, which could be fun, but perhaps that's too much overhead?

Just curious what anyone else's thoughts might be!

Edit: Maybe a pinned "Is this a BSF?" thread for the more casual passersby would also be useful!

In rural areas people pay to disposed of deceased livestock. I am wondering about the feasibility of storing up bulk eggs. I found a patent by Prof Tomberlin 2019 which he called a black Soldier fly bullet. Not certain why he called it that but it's a method of storing bsf with a fermented substrate at room temperature for 6 months or more. His process involved a single layer, which works great for long-term storage but not for bulk accumulation. I'm envisioning something layered or rolled where I could store as much BSF egg and neonate as desired. Suppose I could store 5 to 10 kilos of eggs. Suppose then that a farmer paid me to dispose of a carcass. Once dissected and opened as much as possible, and a massive inoculation of BSF eggs are sprinkled into the mix, we can get vast quantities of marketable BSF larva and nothing but bones left of the carcass. The reason you can't use a whole carcass as BSF fodder tis because it will decompose and turn anaerobic and be unsuitable for BSF and be taken over by undesirable insects. If we can jump start the process by throwing kilos of BSF eggs into the mix I think we could solve two problems at once, one being animal disposal, the other being unlimited production of BSF

I'm a young high school student and I had an idea of collecting my school cafeteria's organic waste to feed my maggots. Since I'm still starting out, I have no idea how much eggs I'd need, how much space, etc. If my school cafeteria were to produce lets say around 2-3 kg of organic waste, how much BSF eggs would I need? And how much space I'd need so it won't overfill.

I know that breeding these creatures involves a lot of factors like temperature, humidity, etc as I've read. But I really just need an experienced individual to give a rough estimate, as I'm unsure of what the number is. I know they'd reach pupae phase after 14 ish days, but I don't know how much BSFL that would be and consequently how much space I'd need. Any help is appreciated

Is there any benefit to adding homemade lactobacillus serum in a bsfl bin?

I am looking to start breeding BSFs and I am wondering where I could purchase a proper farm designed for them like in this video: https://youtu.be/qc7xCVuJJCs?si=39IK7cVDNK3e_WF0

I was blessed last year for the first time with BSFL in my compost heap, almost entirely by accident. I had started collecting my scraps in brown paper lunch bags to take out to my bin daily. After a particularly heavy rain, I noticed that water was collecting in the top of my bin. I drilled a few holes in the lid so the water could drain into the bin and that was that.

A few weeks later however, I went to stir my compost and found all these little worms inside! I was horrified at first, I had never seen anything like this in my compost in 3 years. I started researching online and some lovely people at r/composting helped me identify them as BSFL! I was so excited around May of this year when I noticed I'd been chosen again. Now it seems like a lot more larvae are residing in my bin and I wonder if word is getting out that I have a thriving colony going?

Anyway, I took this picture of their progress on a soft apple. The speed at which they break my scraps down into black gold is astounding. I added about a pound of produce to the bin 2 days ago, including 1 whole apple, and they've devoured almost everything. They're just working on this apple and the tough parts of a few banana peels now, everything else is g o n e. I don't have any more scraps for them so I took a couple of recently pulled brassica stalks from my larger yard waste pile for them to munch on. They already seem to be nibbling on the undersides a bit!

I am trying to attract black soldier flies, so I set up a failed bokashi bin (stinky, didn’t property ferment) under a shaded area and tonight it’s absolutely swarming with Short-tailed Netelia wasps. They’re harmless to me, and I’ve had them around my worm bins every summer (only appear at dusk) but I want to make sure they’re not going to cause issues with attracting black soldier flies.

I have these suckers in my RV how do I get them gone I know they are beneficial but they are numerous and persistent lol

So I have a large bsf bin with a huge amount of mites. What can I do to kill them off without harming my larva and flies? I'll try to reduce moisture but most of their food is stuff from our garden... so it's on the wetter side. I'm almost tempted to start this bin over... It's so bad. Please help me.

Hello, I wanted to start my own BSFL bin and I was wondering what is a good depth for the food waste? Like if you pile 500k larvae together in a bin would they still work or nah

Something is eating our indigo leaves. And this creature is on the indigo. Is it a BSF? Is it the likely culprit?

I’m late to getting my bin started this year. I want to order small live larvae instead of doing it naturally which takes too long. I’m in Alabama.

I did an experiment separated some black larvae and now I have bout 10 flies. What do I feed adults?

Hey all,

Any of you might know/ or have experience with free softwares or apllications which helps to build a diet based on specific food ingredients (3-4) and reaching specific nutritional values ​​in the general diet? The goal of the diet will ultimately be to increase the percentage of fat in the larvae so if you also have some recommendations on what waste helps to get the larvae rich in fat (fat percentage in larvae and not total mass kind of fat)

Thanks in advance,

Zach

Has anyone here collected the eggs? If so what’s the best way you’ve found to collect without squishing them

Hi,

I'm looking for recommended dried BSF larvae suppliers in Canada/ US.

Any recommendations?

I have a rotating barrel compost bin and BSF's have once again taken up residence there in force. The barrel is not water proof and it's gotten pretty wet in there and while it doesn't seem to be wet enough to hurt the BSF's, it is breeding mosquitoes. Does anyone know if the Mosquito Bits will hurt the BSF?

The active ingredient in Mosquito Bits is Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis which feed on the mosquito larvae. In truth, I would have thought the BSF would feed on the mosquito larvae but if they do it's not fast enough.

What would be the effect of high carb biomass like breadcrumbs, waste bread, and other misc bakery waste be on the larvae?

I'm considering feeding them solely on the mentioned materials as they're particularly abundant in my area, and it seems like the most efficient biomass to spend money transporting; energy per kg- wise.

How big of a difference would it create in the nutrient profile of the larvae, compared to larvae that's been fed a relatively more balanced input?

I am looking in trying to raise bsfl!

I need set up ideas! What they need as food wise!

They will be used in feeding a bearded dragon l, gecko, and hedgehog

Any help and advice will help greatly appreciated

Please don't judge, my compost has taken a turn.

I've got thousands of these. I really want them to be BSF, but am worried they're houseflies. My green cone composters are usually pretty low-maintenance, and filled with red wrigglers. Last week a bear knocked this one over, and it sat uncovered for a couple of days. When I cleaned it all up, there were flies buzzing around, and I didn't look to see what kind. Now the compost is very wet, and very infested with these larvae.

The thin end is the head. I've googled extensively, and can't find a side by side comparison of the two that leaves me confident but I'm leaning towards Housefly.

Has anyone had issues with compost mites ? I feel like they could be causing problems when it comes to bsf breeding and laying eggs

Hey guys, I am completely new to raising black soldier fly larvae. I have managed to raise them up to their adult fly stage, but nothing beyond that. The flies have not been visibly mating, and I have not been able to find any eggs/larvae.

How can I get them to breed?

The ambient temperature in their enclosure is roughly 20-28°C. For an attractant I mixes up some old crested gecko diet I had laying around. For the laying idea I put wood pieces stacked on each other separated by cardboard.