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 #629263


Allthatremains1
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 Phoenix Worms

I’m Getting some Phoenix Worms from Worm man and is there any way to breed them
01/31/06  02:34pm

 #629637


Timber
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   Message To: Allthatremains1   In reference to Message Id: 629263


 Phoenix Worms

Worm man is very accessible. Allthatremains is to shoot him an email and get the answer from the expert himself. Doesn’t get any better than that.
01/31/06  06:57pm

 #859442


Kiethcox
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   Message To: Timber   In reference to Message Id: 629637


 Phoenix Worms

I want to know too. I saw a person on another forum say that he emailed worm man and was told no it was too difficult. The pheonix worm turns into a soldier fly.

Soldier Flies
The soldier fly ( Figure 9 ) is a widespread pest which occasionally becomes a problem in animal facilities. The adult is a large fly about 1 inch long with 2 large translucent areas on the abdomen. The fly behaves like a wasp and is similar in appearance to a mud-dauber wasp. The larvae prefer to feed on human or animal excrement, although they have also been known to breed in abandoned honey bee colonies in building walls.

So I can see why that’s a bit gross, nasty, unsanitary to raise.
06/30/06  02:04am

 #1103408


Jason@beardeddragons
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   Message To: Kiethcox   In reference to Message Id: 859442


 Phoenix Worms

I have found a plethora of information of Phoenix worms aka black soldier flies: Enjoy!
It seems from the info I have found that they only live as flies for 3 days and don’t have mouths to eat, they only breed and die. This is what I read on this site:

http://www.windward.org/notes/notes66/walt66-7.htm
They are using the phoenix worms to get rid of food waste, lol check it out!

http://www.esrla.com/brazil/frame.htm
this site covers every thing from breeding cages for them to info on feeding/life span etc.

I breed bearded dragons and am looking at phoenix worms as a sustainable food source higher in calcium than any other feeder. I just wanted to help the discussion with some facts on the subject. Thanks for looking

Regards,

Jason Couch

Bearded Dragon Breeders
12/22/06  11:58am

 #1240452


Godzi
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   Message To: Jason@beardeddragons   In reference to Message Id: 1103408


 Phoenix Worms

I see this is an old post, but if anyone is still watching it...I am interested to know if anyone has had success with these yet? I followed the links above, my main questions are...commercially raised worms are usually advertised as being "grain fed", if you feed them on waste products does it affect their nutritional value significantly? If so, what is the recommended diet. Secondly, commercially sold worms are recommended to be left in the cup they arrive in to maintain the correct moisture level - what is so special about the cups design, and how can you judge the moisture level to be correct, OR if I use the methods described in the above link do I just fish them out of the muck (ew!) when required, or wait till they migrate out of the muck (though if you need tiny ones I guess you have to fish them out?). Lastly, if you are storing them what ’bedding’ do you need to use? Oh, and how do you prevent them turning into flies and flying away as presumably you need them to lay more eggs to keep breeding?
Phew, lots of questions but if anyone has any answers to any of this, very much appreciated - we battle to get appropriate foods for our herps in our area so to be able to breed these would be great!
04/10/07  02:59am

 #1240748


Jason@beardeddragons
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   Message To: Godzi   In reference to Message Id: 1240452


 Phoenix Worms

I haven’t tried yet, however I plan to this summer. I have breed lobster cockroaches and it was easy just feed them 2-3 times per week and thats it. However lobster cockroaches can climb glass and this makes them a bad feeder. I am either going to get some non climbing non flying roaches or try the phoenix worms (soldier fly). You need to have a fly proof container with screened in openings to keep the soldier fly from getting away. I assume that you could feed them more desirable food than at the link I posted. I just found that info and it has 100s of pages of info about the exact worm people wanted to know about. If you were breeding them for feeders you would use higher quality food and keep the cage cleaner. Good luck and if you try yourself please post your resunts or any issues you encounter it will benifit us all. Thanks for keeping this thread alive and have a great day! Happy spring!

Bearded Dragon Breeders | Bearded Dragons for Sale
04/10/07  01:15pm

 #1368144


Alpha ralpha
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   Message To: Jason@beardeddragons   In reference to Message Id: 1240748


 Phoenix Worms

I get the creeps just reading the post. What’s so bad about plain ol’ earthworms?
07/21/07  03:05am

 #1414153


789
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   Message To: Alpha ralpha   In reference to Message Id: 1368144


 Phoenix Worms

Are you talking about feeding earthworms to your pets or using them for composting?

I believe that the black soldier fly larvae (pheonix worms) are more nutritional than earthworms.
As for composting, it’s about breeding them for a source of food for your reptiles instead of buying them in a cup which is expensive.
08/22/07  03:29am

 #1499633


Ladybirdscreatures
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   Message To: 789   In reference to Message Id: 1414153


 Phoenix Worms

I’d like to know how to breed these as well. Specifically what to feed them and what container to use to stop them flying away
11/03/07  12:51pm

 #1542959


Jen&Glen
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   Message To: Ladybirdscreatures   In reference to Message Id: 1499633


 Phoenix Worms

Me too- deliveries and suppliers are unreliable here in the uk!
12/11/07  09:37am

 #1800656


Rachella
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   Message To: Jen&Glen   In reference to Message Id: 1542959


 Phoenix Worms

Excellent questions, indeed.

From reading the site given, I’m referencing this question: "Secondly, commercially sold worms are recommended to be left in the cup they arrive in to maintain the correct moisture level - what is so special about the cups design, and how can you judge the moisture level to be correct,"

If you check out the 18th section of the website http://www.esrla.com/brazil/frame.htm entitled tough and robust, you’ll find out that the larvae actually can actually survive under extreme conditions of oxygen deprivation. It took roughly a couple of hours for one to die submerged in rubbing alchohol. So, regarding those cups, they’re probably not designed at all except for the twists in the lid. Letting in just enough oxygen for the worms to get by.

Really all it sounds is that you would need a large enough container to hold the larvae, preferably dark given their fear of light. A way for mature larvae to crawl away and a dark place for them to go to turn into soldier flies. They live a few days, make more larvae, repeat.

The hardest parts would be two. One is the diet of the larvae. Technically it said they’ll eat food waste, so then it’s a matter of figuring out healthy food to feed them, I think..

The second is making sure you take the dead adult flies and get rid of them so they wouldn’t cause any damage, if they could.

That’s what I can tell, at any rate. The website also says those buckets would be available, hopefully, for less than 10 bucks if I read it right. Whether or not they’re actually available is another story.
07/18/08  03:00pm

 #1824252


Crablegs
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   Message To: Rachella   In reference to Message Id: 1800656


 Phoenix Worms

I just ordered some phoenix worms from wormman. I couldnt help myself after I found out that:

you got 150 for 6 bucks
they didnt need food
they were packed full of good shtuffs

I am going to feed them to anoles!
08/08/08  04:55pm

 #1844822


Braverducky
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   Message To: Crablegs   In reference to Message Id: 1824252


 Phoenix Worms

I know this is an old post but...
I’ve been interested in phoenix worms for some time but I live in Canada where it gets pretty chilly during the winter. -40 degrees celcius sometimes. I want to know if i could keep them inside, say in a bucket in a closet or something along those lines. I imagine most food waste would suffice. If you’re worried about what kind of food waste it seems like the waste from the food I feed my beardies would suit them just fine, no? As for catching the flies having an exit from the bucket for the prepupate worms could also serve as a re-entrance for the flies. I don’t think the dead flies would pose any problems because the worms usualy eat poo, a few dead flies doesn’t seem like it would have that big of an effect. This is all speculation... I look forward to testing this all out, but I don’t look forward to paying to buy expensive worms when they won;t be immediate feeders AND the experiment might potentialy not work... *Sigh*



08/28/08  02:10am


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