Maggot-Sitting

Spent a few hours today maggot-sitting. And for those of you who have never done this before, for BSF, this consists of placing the pod within a wheelbarrow and moving it in to direct sunlight and observing the BSF adults' interaction with the pod.

Doing this is especially important since temperatures lately have been especially low (below 22C), and the maggots have not been feeding. And when they're feeding, they are likely not making synonome. However, we have had 3 more adults in the pod emerge: 2 males and one pod (since yesterday). Hopefully they'll be able to find their way back to the pod w/o much synonome!

Rylo and I plan on putting together two signs to place by our pod on UBC Farm, as many visitors seem interested in our project and have been quite inquisitive. We also want people to know that they should not be scared of BSF, and preferably, to let us know if they have seen any adults (esp. females!) flying around.

The goal will be to have 2 signs. One will be large and rectangular with basic information about BSF. The other will be softball-sized and will solely contain a picture of an adult female and a maggot.

Some good news is that in Australia, BSF seem to have adapted to the higher temperatures; Aussie BSF's optimal temperatures are 45C, while our Vancouverite BSF are happy at a much lower 27C. This is great since it seems BSF are most content in tropical (v hot/humid) temperatures, but if they have this ability to adapt then it looks like Vancouver could be the home to many BSF and we can go on with our composting venture.