A 5 day harvest of prepupal Black Soldier Fly larvae

http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/

This is a five day harvest of final stage larvae, or prepupae. This last larval stage is when they turn coffee brown in color. They also empty their gut, their mouth changes into a hook for crawling, and they excrete an antibiotic, all in preparation for pupation. They aren't eating or pooping at this stage, they're waiting for a good environment to pupate. And they tickle.

And yes I wash my hands after touching them, but really they're probably cleaner than you imagine. They excrete an antibiotic when they transform into this final larval stage, as part of the preparation to pupate.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• biopod
• biogrubs
• composting
• black
• soldier
• fly
• waste
• bait
• larvae
• maggot
• environmental
• garbage
• sustainable

[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.

[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.

[NAMkiller]

NEED MOAR OVERLORDS

[BlackSoldierFly]

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

[BlackSoldierFly]

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

[StoicObserverS]

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

[parakeetman22]

LAS PLAGAS

[minaLUV88]

@SuperYoshiBrosFan thats exactly what i was thinking.

[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

[cubaniton74]

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

[ashihtaka]

I just vomitted after seeing this.

[XxHienNguyenxX]

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