# Black Soldier Flies as food



## cris (Sep 24, 2009)

Does anyone here use BSF's(aka pheonix worms) to feed their animals? They apear to be excelent food for various reptiles, birds and fish, but you dont hear much about them.

Im having trouble finding info on the nutrional value of the adult flies, does anyone know how they compare to the larvae? particularly the Ca: P ratio.

If anyone has a good setup it would be great to see some pics.


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## cris (Sep 28, 2009)

bump


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## cris (Nov 4, 2009)

bump... surely someone must use these critters. Does anyone have any harvester designs?


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## thegatti (Mar 28, 2010)

I have been interested in this too. I've been googling until my eyes hurt!lol
What I have found is this: People feed the larvae to fish and chooks mostly, but we know herps love em
They use a setup called a Biopod that has a special ramp that the larvae climb up and fall into a bucket underneath. It's kind of like a high teck compost bin.

the bsf larvae can also be found in normal compost heaps but I think you need to know what ur looking for and u may have to pick em out by hand. If u find anything else to add, please let me know  It would save HEAPS of money buying crickets for my beardie.


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## Pythonking (Mar 28, 2010)

hey cris here is a link for ya

ProtaCulture Product Line: BioPod & ProtaPod



http://www.thebiopod.com/pages/pages/articles.html


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## morrie (Aug 30, 2010)

*BSF larvae*






*Circle3 - BioPod Australia*

*Black Solider Fly (BSF) Links*

*Curious to me that if you have a back yard and a kitchen - getting these grubs to excess should be simplicity itself!*

*Everything i read says they are extraordinary!!! -what i don't understand is why everybody doesn't use them*

*yuk factor perhaps? *
*any way i'm about to find out myself*


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## Snakeluvver2 (Aug 30, 2010)

Does anyone just use those average old fly's???
I'm thinking about just catching them in a simple bottle fly trap and using for flys.


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## cris (Aug 30, 2010)

Morrie, i think the yuk factor would be a part of it although if you harvest the adults like the biopod does they shed their skin and are quite clean. Another problem is they arnt very active in colder times so are more a seasonal food. The biopod is a good design just a bit expensive for me.

Jannico normal flies are fine, just smaller. I use them to feed little frogs and lizards.


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## Kitmin (Aug 30, 2010)

Hi cris
I just googled them and they are the exact same bugs that I get in my worm farm every summer. I was trying to explain them to the lady we brought our beardie off to see if I could feed some to him . But didnt know what they were. 

So to let you know I am in Brisbane as well and they quite happily breed away in the top layer of the worm farm for the summer months but I havent seen any for around 4 months now. Hopefully when it warms up again I will be able to harvest a few out of it. I will start a post when they do so you can grab some off me.
Regards
kitmin


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## cris (Aug 30, 2010)

They are quite common here and im pretty sure i will have plenty when it warms up but thanks for the offer. I have noticed a similar delcine over the colder months. They go quite well with worms and clean up anything that the worms wont eat, they are great little rubbish disposal units.


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## cheddah (Aug 30, 2010)

I think we dont hear about them as theyre relatively new to the market? 

They sound great and are being used extensively to replace earth worms overseas. Apparently they devour green waste like theres no tomorrow. 
Ill try get a colony going this summer i think..be good for variety if not just an interesting experiment


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## morrie (Aug 30, 2010)

harvesting is an issue but if you can't afford a biopod then there are plenty of DYI designs about - 

people i've talked to have frozen excess over summer and had plenty to last through the winter (they were feeding fish - lots of big fish!) 

from what i've read and observed in my compost and worm farm they will rapidly eat literally evrything that was once alive (including paper , cardboard, meat, citris, onions et al) and out compete everything else in the process thus avioding vermin probs. 

one bloke told me he put all his organic waste in a biopod (~20 litres) for 18 mths and they were so effecient he has not had to empty anything out of it yet.(apart form the worms)

apparently they are currently doing research in developing countries around using these as a human food source

all these claims sound pretty good for a perfect food source! there must be a catch?


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## cris (Aug 30, 2010)

Im not sure if the fat levels are suitable as a staple diet (although that would vary between species) and not everything is keen on eating the larvae, hence why im keen to find out the nutritional value of the adult flies which are more appealing to some animals like geckos and frogs.

I have had some success with homemade harvesting devices including a baited tin with holes punched in it to gather small ones (this is messy) and a dog food bowl partially submerged so they climb into it when they are about to change to flies. 

They are a very useful critter and will become an important part of sustainable agriculture in the future. They were originally imported for use in sewerage treatment plants. There are lots of scientific papers on them and no doubt plenty more research being done.


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## antmisk (Aug 30, 2010)

Danny Brown uses house flies and has a care sheet on his web site


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