I ordered phoenix worms for the first time a few weeks ago (The Zan's foster mom told me about them). After doing much research about them I decided to give them a try. They are the larva (maggot) of the black soldier fly. Last night some things were flitting around the room and were easily caught. They looked much like a small wasp, but indeed they were the adult phoenix! With all my work with my wild silk moths I am have a pretty good eye for parasitic wasps and flies and this definitely had some key characteristics.
Sure that this is safe I thought: great, a new feeder for the gang, esp. the newbie. I put the two in newbie's cage and he watched them for quite sometime but he never shot either one! At first I was surprised, but it has very distinct yellow and black coloring on its tiny abdomen so he sees this as warning colors and wouldn't go near it. I left them there and he ended up walking right pat one as if it wasn't even there. So he will exist with it but not eat it. Darwin wouldn't eat one either.
It's too bad, b/c this would have been quite handy, but another interesting lesson in mimicry. If it looked more like a regular housefly it would have been a snack for sure!
to link below:
You will notice the big fly eyes and the two wings, which are two identifiers for flies, vs. wasps, which have four wings and eyes are smaller.
Black Soldier Fly
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she's back!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet
