Anyone here breed Cali Worms/ Black Soldier Flies?

[Ilike4hornedchams]

Hey folks, considering breeding these amazing healthy feeders for my chams, looks like it wouldn't be hard as they eat like anything, but I have some questions.
1. What climates can they withstand if I want to breed them outdoors because they are... Kinda gross.
2. What problems arise from having a Black Soldier Fly compost pile near your house if any?
3. Is it worth it?

 

[Remkon]

If there would be a clean way to do this I would be interested but the flies will likely escape and the calciwurms can climb everything and slip trough tiny gaps when they have a little bit of moisture on top of that they are smelly!

I read somewhere you could feed them by putting half an orange in their container, so I did... BIG mistake!

 

[Crashbandit05]

If there would be a clean way to do this I would be interested but the flies will likely escape and the calciwurms can climb everything and slip trough tiny gaps when they have a little bit of moisture on top of that they are smelly!

I read somewhere you could feed them by putting half an orange in their container, so I did... BIG mistake!

What was the big mistake? I use bsfl as a staple diet and I've found they'll eat just about any fruit/vegetable. I keep mine in coconut substrate and lightly mist the cricket keeper a few times a week. Never had any escape and the adult flies cannot fit through the lid.

 

[bobcochran]

I bred them for a year, let the adults fly free in the lizard room and just kept a tub of fruit and vegetables where the flies would lay eggs. The larvae stayed in the tub, never had a problem with escapees. The worms mulch just about anything so fast there was never any bad odor. Most people breed them in a large screen cage and feed both the larvae and adult flies as needed. The adult flies aren't near as active as your common house fly and are easily caught by hand (usually against a window), if a few escape.

 

[Remkon]

What was the big mistake? I use bsfl as a staple diet and I've found they'll eat just about any fruit/vegetable. I keep mine in coconut substrate and lightly mist the cricket keeper a few times a week. Never had any escape and the adult flies cannot fit through the lid.

after i put the orange in they would crawl up the plastic and slide under the lid...
I still sometimes find a dried out dead calciworm .

 

[Crashbandit05]

after i put the orange in they would crawl up the plastic and slide under the lid...
I still sometimes find a dried out dead calciworm .

Lol it blows my mind how fast they can decompose food/food waste.

 

[jajeanpierre]

@Ilike4hornedchams You should be able to raise them all year in an outdoor compost bin. They might be local to your area--ask a garden center that is more along the holistic/organic lines. They would know. They are local here and I have pounds of them if I want. I will collect some to pupate into flies.

There are all kinds of designs to be able to collect them without them escaping. Usually it is some sort of sealed bucket that the larvae live and feed in. When they are about to pupate, they climb out and bury themselves in soil, so the designs have some sort of PVC piping that leads to another bucket with moist soil or coco fiber.

Do a Google search on breeding them. I don't breed them, just collect them from my compost bin. They are fantastic composters turning fresh food into black humus in weeks.