A 5 day harvest of prepupal Black Soldier Fly larvae

[StoicObserverS]

You have sufficiently creeped me out for the day. [shudder], writing maggots in my hands, I do NOT. LOL!

[parakeetman22]

LAS PLAGAS

[Teddybearcop48]

Will they grow in the winter time also. How warm does it need to be for him to grow ? Thank you !!

[BlackSoldierFly]

@Teddybearcop48 They become dormant in cool temperatures. It's possible to raise them in a controlled environment like a greenhouse, but it's very complicated. You should learn to keep them in warm weather first.

[pigeonracerx]

I had literally THOUSANDS of these things in my compost heap and thought that my compost had been invaded by some type of grub and was going to be useless. I'm really glad to find out that these guys will actually be beneficial to my spring garden next year.

[bnixisbest]

OOOOOHHHTHAATSNAASSTTAY

[ashihtaka]

I just vomitted after seeing this.

[cubaniton74]

@ashihtaka Why did you vomited ?... did some get into your mouth by chance ?.....

[SuperYoshiBrosFan]

Why was this in my recommended videos?

[minaLUV88]

@SuperYoshiBrosFan thats exactly what i was thinking.

[thisiswarson]

.....absolutely disguisting. I dont even know why Im looking for this lol

[xpsyclonex2002]

once something like this is up and fully operational, what volume of pupas could someone expect per day? 10? 50? 100?

[ShenziSixaxis]

Holy shit that's a lot of lizard food.

[capnichols]

That is an impressive amount of protein for any system to generate. How much space, and food scraps did yo use?

[TheDukeOfBoots]

Shame we dont have any of these in the UK, looks like a good bait

[Jaxamundo]

Love these grubs! Do you have any advice on how to keep them around after summer? I live in Southern California (maybe 3-4 nights of frost the whole year) and yet I STILL lose them consistently in winter. I'm actually just getting them back in noticable numbers just now in the end of June. My chickens really love them, and I'd like to make them a large portion of feed.

[BlackSoldierFly]

@Jaxamundo I suggest that you join our new BSF forum. We can go into detail there and others with experience can contribute. The link to the forum is at the top of the right hand column at my blog.

[TheFatWhiteGirl]

THEY'RE ALL DANCING :D

[cxfndfn]

THE HIVE CLUSTER IS UNDER ATTACK by a giant hand!

[NAMkiller]

NEED MOAR OVERLORDS

[BlackSoldierFly]

@NAMkiller Yes Namkiller, we would most certainly benefit from moar overlords. Thank you. :P

[NAMkiller]

@BlackSoldierFly lol couldnt help it ^^ is pretty cool what youre doing anyway, I had no idea people even did that! opened my eyes.......

[XxHienNguyenxX]

@NAMkiller LOL I see we have a StarCraft Player >_>

[cooljoeh13]

uhhh what is the point of this... im just wondering

[BlackSoldierFly]

@cooljoeh13 1.Super fast way to compost household food waste instead of sending it to a landfill to rot. 2. The byproduct (larvae) are a super nutritious feed for chickens, fish, wild birds and exotic pets. 3. Super cool to observe like an ant farm only better. For details see my blog.

[cooljoeh13]

@BlackSoldierFly cool thanks

[MrMtnbuilder]

can I have some please?

[utkua]

you seem to be supply blocked there

[JouninAkisa]

There's just something about worms and pupae-like creatures that just freak me out. I love it. :D

[STROKINmyWOOKIE]

YooooOU CRANK DAT SOLJA FLY

[iloveCodandGod]

your dirty man

[BlackSoldierFly]

@iloveCodandGod I do not own a dirty man. :P

[SYLARELASESINO3]

I feel cañangas ñangas with this video =S

[barkulator]

Power to the pupas!

[ETCetera226]

get in there nice and deep like!

[impalapez]

subscribed!! I'm looking into aquaponics and raising tilapia/herbs and lettuces for local restaraunts as well as relieving them of their organic waste...this looks like the most awesome solution!!

[MultiBob34]

COOL I want to play with them.

[threat42]

If one were to get himself a Biopod, will the BSF just show up or do you need a starter set of larvae to inoculate the bin?

[BlackSoldierFly]

@threat42 If BSF are native to where you live you don't need a starter kit but it can help speed up the process of establishing a colony. Some northern states may not have BSF and that would make raising them much harder. Check out the page at my blog called "the biopod-a disclaimer.

[Juanelo4u]

PROTEIN! seriously if you want to get muscle try to eat these!

[BlackSoldierFly]

@Juanelo4u They're also pretty high in fat, about 9%, and the protein is about 17%. There are places where people do eat these larvae. I think someone could get rich by raising these on stuff like pineapple and then drying them and dipping them in chocolate. I'm going to do that someday...

[userxo1]

what stage is best for chickenz? and any chance they can be frozen for winter chow?

[BlackSoldierFly]

@userxo1 Chickens eagerly eat both the juvenile and mature (dark) larvae. I don't know if there is a difference in nutritional terms. Controlled studies usually feed the mature larvae to livestock because this is the stage that self-harvests consistently. The larvae purge their guts and stop eating when they change to the mature stage and I've read that they also secrete an antibiotic at that time. This could have benefits for the animals that eat them, but I can't verify this.

[cooltubez]

EWWWW YOU SICK MAN

[athleticchik]

what is the purpose of this?

[BlackSoldierFly]

@athleticchik The larvae quickly break down household food waste as they grow and they are a very nutritious feed for exotic pets, chickens, fish and many other animals. See my blog for more.

[KatieJean1985]

Are those healthy to feed to various toads? Are they hard to raise and maintain?

[BlackSoldierFly]

They're an excellent source of calcium. Search "Phoenix worms". BSF are easy to raise if they are present where you live. It can be a challenge to determine if you have them in your area because as adults they rarely contact humans. The larvae are often discovered in compost piles and worm bins.

I have videos on this channel of me feeding BSF to my local wild toads. I also gave a bunch to a person with an 8 year old fire bellied toad and she says it starting swimming again which surprised her.

[lorryt0]

Oh well thanks for the speedy reply

Cheers

[lorryt0]

can anyone tell me if these things are any use in the Uk like do we have BSF or equivalent fly producing larvae in the contraptions for feeding my pond fish?

Cheers

[BlackSoldierFly]

I'm not aware of any wild populations or commercially raised BSF in the UK. They are easiest to raise in hot climates and that is probably the biggest limiting factor in the UK. Even in warm areas BSF culturing is typically seasonal as mating stops at approximately 24 C (75.2 F).

The maggots commonly sold as fish bait in the UK would be a great food for your fish but I think raising them would be difficult and much less pleasant than culturing BSF which don't carry human diseases.

[alghoraba]

where can you buy biopod from, please let me know,ta

[BlackSoldierFly]

I'm a BioPod dealer, but they aren't available at this time. They might be back in stock any day. There is also a new model in development. If you contact me through my blog I'll let you know when they're back in stock. I match anyone's price I give personalized support for my customers.

If you want to see a much larger harvest than the one in this video check out me newest upload.

[Aimrehtopyh]

I bought my biopod on friday, it shipped tuesday. Can't wait to have a stink-free garbage can, awesome compost and feed for my friends chickens.

Will my goldfish be able to eat the smaller larvae? I'll use the perforated-cup-with-bait technique to harvest little ones.

[BlackSoldierFly]

Your goldfish will be very happy to get BSF grubs.

[size00asian]

wait so you got that whole bucket of fly larvae in just 5 days? with the little biodome thingy? dang.

[BlackSoldierFly]

Yes, I produced those with a BioPod in 5 days, but the output isn't always consistent. How much you feed them, what you feed them, temperature, humidity, are all factors in the harvest of grubs.

You can store the mature grubs (the dark ones) for a few weeks easily without feeding or refrigeration.

[watertanks123]

Just bought a Bio Pod so i can breed the black soldier fly cant wait to feed my trout and chooks

[watermelonorange]

that must feel funny.

[BlackSoldierFly]

It was weird at first but now it just tickles. I've handled worms all of my life and touching the BSF larvae is actually less messy because they aren't slimy. Once you get used to the BSF it's like letting a ladybug or a caterpillar crawl on you.

[toyhauleratlivedotco]

Do you find the BSF larvae or did you buy them and start with that? How would someone get started?

[BlackSoldierFly]

In many areas you can put out food scraps and attract the adult BSF which is how I got started. The adults only live a few days to mate and lay eggs. BSF don't eat as adults and they're attracted to the scraps because they need to lay their eggs near a food source. In the US it's fairly easy to attract BSF in most southern and west coast states, especially where the humidity is high. In drier areas or in the north you may need to buy larvae to get started. I go into more detail at my blog.

[HandsAreForRipping]

Wow, what are they for?

[BlackSoldierFly]

Like I said above they are often fed to lizards, amphibians, chickens and wild birds. However, the most important use to many people is for composting. Black soldier fly larvae can consume huge amounts of table scraps every day and the resulting compost is great for gardening or as a medium for raising worms. When you culture BSF you never need to send food waste to the landfill or down the garbage disposal. Unlike with traditional composting you can process meats, dairy, citrus, etc.

[nocturnlbyn8chr]

my lizards would go f ing nuts if i sat that bowl in front of them.

[BlackSoldierFly]

Black soldier fly larvae are sold as "Phoenix worms", mainly to people with pet lizards and amphibians. Selling them as Phoenix worms is just a marketing strategy because "black soldier fly larva" wouldn't sell as well.

I think the best price for Phoenix worms now is $5 for 100 larvae. I currently have approximately 100,000 of them that I raised in my BioPod.

[LittleFaker]

I just found about this many of these guys in my compost. Totally freaked me out.....until I realized they're on my side. Yeah piles of writhing black soldier fly larvae! Bring your friends and family over for the feast in my compost pile!

[BaconBeast11]

Now I'll have dreams of larvae crawling in my ear while im sleeping.

[BlackSoldierFly]

They won't do that BB, unless you have food waste in your ears. Come to think of you may want to avoid these larvae. :P

[flicksterB]

I think I prefer the photo woodlice version to the video :p Felt a bit squeamish when you scooped up the handful of larvae.

[BlackSoldierFly]

I can understand that flicksterB because before I started raising black soldier fly larvae I felt the same way. On the day I shot this video my girlfriend surprised me by also scooping up a handful of larvae. The best way I can describe it that handling these larvae is like handling tiny snakes without mouths. They're smooth and dry and they crawl. They can't hurt you and at this stage are probably just as clean as an average snake.

[edga749]

how the fuuck do you do that. i meen have s=them so that they are atracted to the tub and so that they are all maggots and not flies in there ..

[BlackSoldierFly]

The larvae were raised in a device that keeps houseflies away and collects the larvae automatically. The larvae (maggots) in this video were raised in a homemade unit but there is also one you can buy which works better. Check my blog if you want more details-see vid description.

[Tkarelinii]

Awesome! For some reason, looking at cultures like this gives me the same sense of satisfaction I get from a handful of fresh picked blackberries.

[gth392]

ew dude

[BlackSoldierFly]

Those larvae are cleaner than most shopping cart handles. And they tickle.

[ihatepanda]

o mg

[BlackSoldierFly]

Yeah, but you hate pandas...