Accidentally cultured phoenix worms (black soldier flies)

[aNisip]

So my superworm and mealworm culture was infested with grain mites....so before I left for Europe I put it outside but under a table so they wouldn't fill with water and drown the worms...I come back from EU to half of the culture soaked but still have living worms...but I just planned on getting new worms and such so I left the soggy oatmeal and mites and worms to the elements...after some rain storms the oatmeal soaked completely ...as I looked closer... hundreds of medium to small phoenix worms wriggled in the soupy oatmeal...since the first half of soggy oatmeal the scent of fermenting oatmeal has gotten stronger....now all the worms habe died and bodies hollowed out by the phoenix worms...and you cant even tell its oatmeal...I smells pretty decent for fermenting oats and eaten worms.... since then I have added chopped liver dogfood to feed the now giant worms....so maybe some of you could try the fermenting oatmeal-super/meal worm mix to culture some black soldier flies...

All the best,

Andrew

 

[ScienceGirl]

Oh, that sounds... lovely.

So what are you going to use the soldier flies for?

 

[BugLover]

woah weird....

 

[aNisip]

Oh, that sounds... lovely.

So what are you going to use the soldier flies for?

Feeders of course! they are twice the size of BBs and will fill up my bottom-less pit orchids easily! ^-^

 

[Introvertebrate]

Save a few to make the next generation.

 

[Paradoxica]

I was wondering about trying to culture them from the compost at my work, but we only compost plant matter and I wasn't sure if that would work for them.

 

[aNisip]

Yup that plant matter will work for them....heck they'll eat decomposing lawn clippings...

 

[fleurdejoo]

Pictures?

 

[aNisip]

On my way to a concert right now, ill take them tomorrow and upload them tomorrow...

 

[aNisip]

Phoenix worms can climb up the wall like normal maggers, but its eaiser if a ramp is made for them to go up and leave the bucket through a hole to drop into cornmeal.

Corrugated cardboard is placed on the inside of the bucket above the food because females lay their eggs inside the cardboard to mimic ho they would lay it in the grooves in bark above the food source.

About 100 phoenix worms are harvested per day from the cornmeal...I release about 30 in the soil around the bucket to go in the wild and come back to mate and lay more eggs bc I dont have the net cage setup for them yet.

After harvesting I place them in a cup with dry peat moss and they burrow down, caster up and prepare to eclose in about a week.

Then mantis snack! :chef:

 

[patrickfraser]

Are you looking to sell any? I might want to try these out. I think they are really good for my chams, both as larva and fly.

 

[aNisip]

When I get back from being out of town ill be able to set up a real culture and not rely on the wild population of BSF to lay eggs...

Yeah I don't know why more pet stores sell them as rep food...the worms and flies make great meals!

 

[TheOtherSpecies]

They are very high in calcium too!

 

[aNisip]

They are very high in calcium too!

Yup! But mainly as worms...when they are flies not nearly as much Ca...so for reps, better as worms...

 

[kunturman]

I am using Andrew's harvest of BSF, and the adults are accepted by D lobatas, D desicata, H majuscula, S floridensis, H coronatus. P spurca, G grisea, P paradoxa, and Nephyla clavipes.

Andrew thanks for your great contribution, now I need to see what birds like them.

 

[patrickfraser]

I want some.

 

[aNisip]

I want some.

Ill get some ready to sell when I get back, dont worry