How Much Do Black Soldier Flies Eat?

Black soldier flies aren’t just ugly; they are incredibly hungry. They will consume almost double their body weight in food each day. This is more food than an average 150-pound human can consume in two weeks. A single adult black soldier fly can consume more than 300 pounds of food a day, and the larvae can eat twice as much.

To test how much black soldier flies eat, researchers collected black soldier fly larvae from Grubbly Farms and fed them chicken feed. The larvae were starved for 24 hours before the experiments. They were fed chicken feed for the individual eating rate experiment and leftover fruit pulp from smoothies for group feeding rates.

Black soldier flies’ larvae eat about twice their body weight every day, until they pupate. It takes these larvae two weeks to reach adulthood, but they still need to eat food to keep growing. In addition to the food that black soldier flies eat, they also compost waste nutrients.

While BSF larvae can survive in sunny areas, they prefer shaded or semi-shaded areas.

Continue reading:

Do Fly Traps Expire? Can You Use Fly Spray on Plants? Can You Eat the Fly Agaric Mushroom? How to Visit the Burning Man Geyser How Do Flies Turn Into Maggots? Can Fly Larvae Regrow Legs? How Quickly Can Fruit Flies Reproduce? Dragonflies and Other Insects Play Dead to Avoid Predators