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Vermicomposting
tooges

A BSF Adventure

21 years ago

It's getting cold outside, and to keep my worms happy and working hard, I built a new worm box out of a rubbermaid tub, using Kelly's plans, moved about half of the material in my outside wooden bin into it, along with as many worms as I could find, and moved it into the garage. I covered a second rubbermaid tub with hardware cloth, suspended a 60W bulb in it, and placed the worm bin on top, to keep them warm and happy. I've had more BSF larvae than worms since I started this operation in June, so I wasn't surprised that many of them and many of their pupa cases made it into the new bin.

I made the move on Sunday. The heat from the lightbulb must have fooled the BSF pupae, because yesterday afternoon I went out to check the box in the garage, and there were about a dozen BSFs on top. When I took off the lid, there were about a dozen more crawling up the sides heading for the ventilation holes. Unfortunately, the heat had also caused quite a bit of condensation on the walls of the bin, and some of the flies had dragged their wings in the moisture and become waterlogged. I saved those that I could, looked around for more, and had the wonderful experience of watching a pupa case break open and a BSF emerge. Another possible Science Fair project for one of our younger vermiculture folks!

I'm going to gather up the BSFs (they are rather sluggish, once they get out of the box and realize that it isn't summer yet), place them in a well ventilated container with some decaying fruit, put it in the warmth of the house, and see if they'll be happy enough to mate and lay eggs. If they do, I'll transfer the larvae to the worm box. They've done such a good job of turning vegetable matter into worm food up to now, I hate to see the cold weather put an end to their work. If anyone is interested, I'll keep you posted!

Peter

Comments (4)

  • 21 years ago

    This is good stuff, Pete! I'd love to hear more as your project evolves!

    KellyS

  • 21 years ago

    I think it's cool!

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  • 20 years ago

    OK, for the thousands of you that are following this topic (haha!): I'm afraid my attempt to encourage BSFs to breed in captivity failed. (For some reason, my wife did not share my disappointment...)

    The details: I purchased a small animal cage at the local pet store to put the BSFs in; it was about 6" wide x 10" long x 8" high, with a plastic screen top that had a handy hatch in the middle. I put a couple of large chunks of moldy pumpkin and a couple of cups of mulch in the bottom. I then captured about a dozen BSFs, and placed them in the cage. They spent a lot of time crawling around and sitting on the pumpkin chunks, but one by one they keeled over without, apparently, having bothered to mate. No larvae appeared.

    I did more research on BSFs online, and came across one document that said that BSFs mate "on the wing." Since there wasn't much room in the cage to get airborne, much less stay there, perhaps that may have been why none of the adults were attracted to each other. Or maybe they don't like pumpkin. Or I suppose it's possible that I collected a dozen of the same sex.

    If it is true that BSFs mate on the wing, it probably isn't possible to get a big enough cage to mate them in. But since BSFs are also supposed to be notoriously poor fliers, I am suspicious of this factoid. If the opportunity presents itself, I'm going to try this experiment again, with different foodstuffs, and a bigger cage, if I can find one. (At that point, I may need to find a new wife as well, but sometimes one must make sacrifices in the interest of science!)

    Peter

  • 20 years ago

    Peter,

    I would guess a decaying pumpkin would look very attractive to an egg laying female.

    Have you thought about using a butterfly cage with a broken branch in it? You could get some netting and make one with a five gallon bucket or similar size container.

    Good luck. Keep us informed.

    Charles

    P.S.

    I accidentally drowned about a hundred who did manage to migrate out of the bin and into the moat I constructed :(
    I used to get one or two fly out when I opened the lid, but not anymore.

    The moat was a deterrent for fire ants (cayenne pepper didn't work at all).

    I pulled out as many as I could find, but they weren't wiggling. I found a few that were moving and put them
    in the woods.

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