Maggots and Beetles in Worm farm (forum)

au0rey starts with ...
Hi all, been quite concerned with maggots and beetles infesting my RELN worm farm.

The maggots are the babies - white and about 6mm length. And the adults are about 6mm very dark brown to black crawling beetles.

A lot of the maggots get drowned in the last tray of my farm as sometimes water gets trapped there. The beetles are able to get out of the farm and I saw them crawling on the ground. They dont seem to fly when I tried sweeping them up.

Can anyone identify them? Are they harmful? How do I get rid of them?

If the pictures are not clear, I can take them again.
Thanks!
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Picture: 2

Time: 28th February 2011 4:29pm

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amateur green thumbs says...
the maggots would most likely be the larvae of the soldier fly, not harmful and should do a similar job to the worms but to get rid of them soak some white bread in milk and leave in the top tray, check daily and the maggots should be hoarding on the bread, discard.

Time: 28th February 2011 11:31pm

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Julie says...
If they are black soldier fly, don't get rid of them! They are really useful.

Time: 1st March 2011 8:01pm

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au0rey says...
Hi all, these maggots are largely found in the liquid at the lowest tray drowned.

But I am sure many became adult bugs as I could see them crawling in the top tray where the food was.

I did a read up on soldier flies but i doubt mine are as they are only about 6mm (0.6cm) long. They do not fly at all, just crawling. Their maggots are about that length or slightly longer.

I am concerned and would like to get rid of them as some actually crawled through the kitchen window (worm farm is in back yard out of the kitchen) and into kitchen. Yucks!

I have got more pics taken. Please help if you have any idea and I can do read up on google if there are more names.
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Picture: 1
Picture: 2
Picture: 3

Time: 2nd March 2011 4:54pm

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About the Author au0rey
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Julie says...
Those beetles are definitely not soldier fly.

Time: 2nd March 2011 7:08pm

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Amateur Green thumbs says...
Maggots generally represent too much food or the wrong food types, no meat fish, dairy, bread types. try the milk soaked bread to se if the maggots congregate, if so throw it out and repeat. I guess if you remove the larvae, the beetles will diminish also
Good Luck

Time: 2nd March 2011 10:28pm

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au0rey says...
hmm i dnt put meat but smetimes i do put in bread which are expired. i thought we can put in bread as it is plant based. i put in crushed eggshells too. i wil try the milk soaked bread. the beetles seem harmless but i would love to identify them. they give me the creeps as long as they are not the earthworms which are the normal hosts in my worm farm. creepy esp when they make their way into my kitchen!
thank you gals!

Time: 3rd March 2011 11:48am

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au0rey says...
The two slices of milk-soaked bread attracted a lot of the beetles so I could take them out.

Can plain cooked rice be fed to worms? My family eats rice a great deal and I usually give it to the worms if we cannot finish.

Thanks!

Time: 3rd March 2011 5:25pm

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au0rey says...
Hmm I just realised those beetles can actually fly but they hardly most of the times.

Is there anyone who can help me with the question regarding giving cooked rice to the worm farm? Will that be alright? Thanks!

Time: 8th March 2011 7:02pm

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EmBa says...
Hi there! I too have these beetles and maggots in my worm farm in large numbers. I'm curious to identify them and was hoping that this thread could help haha. I'll keep searching and report back if I find a suspect.

Edit: my best guess is a Carpophilus Sap Beetle. The larvae match, and the adult beetles have the characteristic knobby antennae and pointed abdomen. They feed on decomposing plant matter so that fits too.

Time: 19th December 2017 11:34pm

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Original Post was last edited: 20th December 2017 12:02am
About the Author EmBa
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