An escape proof home!

 So, this is my new escape-proof BSF home. It needs a bigger "spacer" at the top, but you get the idea. The top part is netting, which has a zipper for access. It is sewed onto a cone at the bottom. The cone is made from slippery landscape cloth, and sits in a carbouy. A collar around the top secures it to the carbouy.

I have a couple of these cones already, but without the net. They drain really nicely. What is odd though, is that the babies don't escape. They tried climbing the sides a couple of times, but could only get an inch or two up the side before sliding down.

The zombies didn't try to escape at all. They burrowed down. I'm thinking if this is  always true, the way to harvest the zombies will be at the BOTTOM of the cone. The thing is, if the "garbage" isn't smelly or wet, they seem content enough to stay put.

Here is what it looks like on the carbouy. My old Honeymoon Hotel is on the left, and I'll probably use some mesh like that for the new one too (to make it wider).

The interesting thing about the cones is that even though the BSFs could easily burrow through the cloth, they don't. I suspect it is similar to what happens with plants in cloth bags. The roots of plants sense the air, and stop growing that way. They don't circle, they just stop. I'm thinking that for a BSF, the "container" would normally be a carcass, and they don't want to escape from the safety of being inside. That seems to be the behavior of flies on carcasses according to YouTube anyway.

Also, the BSFs absolutely seem to need the netting where I live. Otherwise other kinds of flies and insects (like those Sexton beetles!) move on in.

Last year in this season, I made a new set of netting, and had zero babies. I'm thinking now that the problem was the kind of netting. It was screening for an old tent. It seems that these new screens are made to screen out ultraviolet light, and quite possibly this was that kind of screen. Anyway, this was the most transparent screen I could find.

I also got some mylar bubble-wrap used to ship frozen foods, so I can wrap the carbouy during the winter.