I am having problems with immature larvae climbing out of my tube and harvesting in my holding bin with my mature larvae. What's up with that? Is this common? What should I do to keep the babies in?
---BSFlyer

babies don´t like to get out the substrate unless something wrong are going on:

1. is it too hot?
2. does the substrate are getting too much moisty?
3. Is there any repelent substance in the substrate?
4. Is it too dry?
5. Is there any predator (mites, ants, etc...)?
6. Are the babies starving?
7. Is the substrate too much heavy for them to move inside the substrate? They don´t like substrate too much dense!

If I remember everything you may have one of these problems.

Good luck and don´t give up!

João Pisa

You saved me! I upgraded to a much larger bin, and when I made the transfer I realized the substrate was far too dense. Now I have them in a 4x2x2 ft plastic toy chest that I modified into a BSFL bin. They seem much happier now. In fact, just today I've gotten 4 new batches of eggs. Although I'm seeing many houseflies for some reason. Also, I've had some of those little dung beetles to get into my bin, will they be bad for my colony or will the larvae just overtake them eventually? Thanks for your help!

The fly will always appear in some specific conditions. I´ve noticed that they prefer a more moisty substrate than do bsf. They will appear in the first stages of colony when the population of bsf are not strong enough to colonize the entire substrate. The commom fly are the first one in nature to discover rot organic matter. And I´m sure that BSF will only prevent the common fly if it is everything okay with the compost system. If you have flies you must look for the reason they are there.

Neither commom fly or BSF prefer to stay in the top of a compost pile. They feel more safe in the inner part of a compost pile. But If you have a huge batch of bsf larvae, they will push the common fly larvae to the top of the pile. I´ve note that BSF produce much more heat than common fly can handle with, so it can also helps to push the commom fly out of the pile.... The fact is that in a colony with a lot of bsf larvae, the common fly will not find their way to complete their lifecycle, but you must assure that the environment is good for bsf larvae development.

Don´t worry about the beetles, but if you have lot of then maybe you are giving too much food than bsf can handle.