I brought the soldier flies into the house a couple of weeks ago. These were the zombies, the pupae. I added some hoops to the net, to hold it open, and a zipper. The net is sewed into a cone, and the cone sets in a half of a carbouy. The pipe is to let the zombies crawl out, if they want.
This is November, but it is sunny outside. The sun is very direct in winter, because it comes in under the eaves. I have a space blanket slung up to keep the sun out, because it fades out the computer screen.
Anyway, the flies have hatched and they are quite active. I expect babies any time! I have some bags hung on the sides, with coffee grounds. My idea is to take the bags, once they hatch, and grow them somewhere else, not in my office. It's a good setup though. No outside flies can get in, and the BSF's can't get out. And it's nice entertainment. My husband says "It's like a fish tank: without the fish".
BTW I figured out, I think, why they didn't breed last year when they were outside. The greenhouse is made of polycarbonate. On the label it says that it screens out ultraviolet. Ha. Not only that, but the screen I was using for the new Honeymoon Hotel was made of window screen mesh ... which also screens ultraviolet. Using the white screen, like the one above, worked ok in the greenhouse during direct sun this summer; I got babies, but they never seemed very active. The grey screen though, didn't work at all. Back inside, with an old glass window and white net, they are far more active even in winter.
I put them outside because the grubs were crawling all over my house. They are escape artists, for sure. But the flies are fine indoors; even if they escape they are easy to catch. I think if I can just sequester the babies (in plastic bags) and grow them outdoors as they get bigger, we will all be happy. One thing though, when the grubs were growing in the cloth cones, they never did escape from the cones. They seemed quite happy to be in there, but also, oddly, they could not climb the walls. The landscape fabric appears to be too slippery for them, esp. since it is not wet (the cones are far more breathable than a plastic box).
Heather good post and photo. I think you're right about the importance of UV light. A reptile owner in Europe has reported success in breeding BSF in a terrarium which uses a special lamp to provide extra UVB light and heat.
ReplyDeleteI get very little winter sun (all my windows face north and east) so may try one of these lights for reptiles. They're a bit pricey ($50 link) so I may try an old suntanning lamp that I have.
That would be a good experiment: what is the least amount of UV they need to breed?
ReplyDeleteI think you might be able to pick up an Aerogarden or some such on Craig's list though.
Here is one thing though: if they will breed at lower and lower levels of UV, we could create a "domestic" version of the BSFs, that is easier to raise in households. I think this could be a really nice solution to many of the garbage problems.
It's hard to know what the minimum level of UV they need to breed is. The reptile owner used this light (link). From that link:
ReplyDelete"While the Bright Sun UV Desert 70W still cannot match the power of the sun with 60,000 lux at 30 cm, it is far ahead of mercury vapour UV lamps (approx. 10,000 lux), fluorescent lamps and incandescent lamps."
70 watts isn't a huge power drain either.
ReplyDeleteFound another small system from Europe using a clear plastic tote 50cm x 35cm x 40cm high and a 35Watt CDM-T light for 3 hours a day. There's a photo here.
ReplyDeleteA more detailed description of the system using the 35Watt light (link)
ReplyDeleteI guess I'll have to find one of those lights if this doesn't work.
ReplyDeleteThese lights appear to be European models only sold over there. If you find a supplier here let me know.
ReplyDeleteIn reading the German forum linked to in that post (link - Google does a passable job of translating) it looks like there are a few folks having success with just a transparent storage tote without a net inclosure.
I think the flies would do fine in a plastic tote. The reason I stopped using plastic was that the babies crawled out ... if you are really careful about condensation, they are fine, but if there is ANY water, they crawl out.
ReplyDeleteNow, if you could make sure that no eggs were laid outside the "egg laying" container that could work. Mine seem to lay just about anywhere though, so I figure I'll get babies in the bottom area too, and I'll feel bad about starving them. So I made the bottom part a cone, where they can live and grow up (even though most of them will be moved somewhere else).
I do like the idea of moving one batch of babies, letting them grow up and pupate where they are, and started the next batch somewhere else.
Heather having them inside an envelope of screen is a good method. Here are a few other methods to prevent escapees from bins that I've seen around the web.
ReplyDeleteThe BlackSoldierFlyBlog recommends a Velcro strip near the top of the bin. Apparently it breaks the surface tension of the moisture on the walls of the bin and the larvae can't climb over it.
Another approach is a right angle overhang around the top of the bin. The grubs have problems with the sharp 180 degree turn required to get past this lip.
Lastly I have a YouTube video (link) about an experimental 'electric fence' type of barrier. These have been used to keep worms in vermicomposting bins.
Cute tricks! In the cones the larvae don't seem to be able to climb the landscape cloth: possibly for the same reason as the velcro? I did sew on a "lip" as you mention, but they never did climb that high. I like the cones because they don't get "goopy" and also I can produce them in a few minutes at almost zero cost.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of an "electric fence". Good idea for slugs too (possibly for slugs you only need a strip of copper ... I wonder how the larvae react to copper strips? If one strip is copper and one is zinc, will the BSF become a battery if they span the gap?
I am using a small version of your cone consisting of a pocket of landscape fabric suspended in a yogurt container. It really drains well.
ReplyDeleteI had another BSF show up on a sunny window yesterday. I thought I had done a good job of containing the larvae but I guess not.
LOL! Did it get out from the landscape fabric? Mine seem to be able to climb a couple of inches and then fall back, but I also have a net over the top now. I think the "growing" container will eventually not have the big net on top, but a smaller one that is easy to open to dump garbage in (and that one will be outside). My "growing container" last year didn't have a net, and the outside flies got in and I got a lot of common flies in it too, plus some determined carrion beetles.
ReplyDeleteI think they're from larva escapees from my original purchase. I also cleaned out my pupation pail a couple of weeks ago. Some of the pupa appeared to be intact but dried out. I assumed these were dead and disposed of them in one of my worm bins so the flies might be from those those.
ReplyDeleteThe 2nd generation hasn't begun to pupate yet.
Yet another person who's had success in getting BSF to mate under artificial light (link)
ReplyDeleteThat is good to know, for sure. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI've been experimenting with Compact Fluorescent Lights rated at a total of 4100 lumens (two 23 watt 1600 lumen and one 14 watt 900 lumen) in reflectors immediately above the curtain sheers covering the top of my bin.
ReplyDeleteI observed the first coupled mating pair today and hope to find some egg clusters over the next few days.
Heather how is your cone holding up? The larvae in my rearing tub managed to shred the landscape fabric to the point where the contents were falling through. This was cheap quality fabric purchased from a big box store and I
ReplyDeletebelieve that a better quality product might survive longer.
I didn't have the issue of the contents falling through, but recently I have bought several different types of landscape cloth and am beginning to appreciate how DIFFERENT the brands are. Mine was rather tough, comparatively.
ReplyDeleteAlso I've had issues with thread. Last year I lost a lot of plants, because I used the cloth for Subirrigation Bags (SIBs, my term, I think). I used a poly/cotton thread, which disappeared at some point, and the bags failed.
The bags that were made with nylon or all poly thread, held up nicely.
In terms of the grubs though: they never did "drill out" of any of the cloth. I think they sensed oxygen, and stayed in. Like roots do. If the cloth was near something else, so it stayed wet, they may have drilled out (as roots do also).
Once again though, the flies didn't get enough UV. I'm thinking of getting a setup for lizards, which has heat and light.
Finally an egg cluster and some babies! A relief after seeing mating (coupling end to end) on an almost daily basis for weeks but no eggs. Like with your system the fly didn't fancy the cardboard strips but laid the eggs in a container of used coffee grounds.
ReplyDeleteI'm beginning to think that the females find the animal bedding on the bin bottom an attractive place to lay their eggs. It would have been nicer if the eggs had been laid in the flutes of the cardboard provided but the BSF are not following the plan and no eggs have been laid in the cardboard to date. I think you mentioned the same behavior with your system.
ReplyDeleteI check daily and have only observed egg clusters in one container of used coffee grounds but there are now BSFL in all of them. I haven't seen any females ovipositing or any egg clusters in the bedding but I'm assuming that the larvae are migrating across the bin bottom.
The population of BSF peaked between 25 and 30 but has declined to about 15. There are still a few large white larvae in the rearing bin 45 days after the first flies emerged. All of this generation are from eggs laid around the end of September 2011.
Mine don't appear to have laid any eggs, this last batch. Well, the weather is warming up again so I'll start again! I have seen them laying eggs in the past, both in the bedding and on the net. They seem to have their own ideas of where to lay eggs, for sure.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of buying a reptile cage, to keep some indoors with an integrated light, which looks nice.