Symbi Biological
Dung Beetle Search: Aphodius fimetarius
A couple of days ago, I was flipping some cow pads to see what kinds of dung beetle activity we have on the ranch. I found Aphodius fimetarius, which is a European dung beetle that was brought over to North America by the settlers presumably.
Is that it?
As you can see, the adult Black Soldier Fly in the photo is belly up. I saw another fly in the Biopod 3 days ago, but that is the last I’ve seen any adult flies. They’ve either laid eggs and died off. Or, they just straight up bailed on this gig and went into nature. I see some white dust that could potentially be eggs, but it could also be diatomaceous earth from the ant invasion. The most interesting thing right now is that the Biopod does not smell.
Adult Soldier Flies!
We’ve had many Soldier Flies pupate and emerge as adults. Some of them have flown away. Others have stayed. Our little greenhouse isn’t that big and we want the females to be able to leave and come back. I was told that the females need to be able to travel 200 feet. I wish we had a longer greenhouse to keep them inside at all times. I sure hope they come back! Everytime I think this experiment is ready for the compost pile, these flies surprise me. We’ll see.
Drying Spirulina
Found a way to dry Spirulina so it dries quickly and is easy to grind into a powder.
Some BSFL have crawled out!
I was starting to wonder about the larvae. Not much action in the last week or so. We outlasted an invasion of ants, some other flies, and a nasty hot spell. It looks like we’re moving on to the next step, pupation. They’ve been climbing up the Biopod ramps leaving lovely little streaks. Hopefully, they successfully pupate and emerge as adults to make more larvae. Exciting stuff.
BSFL take back the Biopod
A few days ago, some other kind of flies took over the Biopod and the normal BSFL odor changed to a very stinky garbage smell. All the literature I’ve read says that the BSFL have something that deters other flies. That didn’t seem to be the case the last couple of days, but now the bad guys are gone. The nasty smell isn’t so strong. Here’s to hoping the soldier fly larvae have taken back the bin.
Our new guests stink
https://vimeo.com/108432497/settings
Boo. We have some more uninvited guests. And they stink. Black Soldier Fly Larvae have a certain smell to them. I’m not saying it is pleasant, but it is distinct. Now the bin smells kind of like bad food scraps. I think the heat lowered the activity (mixing) in the bin and the extra moisture from the food scraps created some anaerobic spots allowing flies to take advantage.
Egads! Ants in the Soldier Fly bin
The ants found the Biopod. A little diatomaceous earth sprinkled around the bin worked like a charm.
Hot Larvae!
It got pretty hot over the weekend. At one point, the temp was 110F in the Biopod. The literature I’ve read says the larvae shouldn’t be exposed to temps above 105F. They’re still alive, but a lot slower.
BSFL after 5 days
Here’s what the Biopod looks like after 5 days. They’re hungry little guys.
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