BioPod Insulation tip

[pinecone]

Just thought I'd pass on an idea I'm trying out:

I've heard that during the winter its best to have a layer of styrofoam or other insulation placed on top of the grubs to help keep them warm and happy.  I had worries (and read about) problems with the styrofoam being shredded by grubs, leaving bits of foam throughout the colony, doesn't seem like a good idea to have that to me. 

I (hopefully) alleviated this problem by sandwiching a foam disk between to sheets of corrugated plastic.  (the same stuff used for the BSF egg laying on the lid of the biopod)  I got the corrugated plastic from a local sign shop for super cheap, they just sold me some scraps for a couple bucks. 

cut the foam and the plastic to fit, I held them together with some galvanized wire, that doubles as a handle.  Also, the corrugated plastic doubles as an extra egg laying location. 

So far it seems to be working great, we've had temps in the mid 30's and 40's at night here in the Pacific Northwest and the grubs still seem happy and are eating well, we'll see how they do when it gets below freezing.  Might have to move them into the garage at that point.

hope this helps some folks, good luck!

- Joseph

[Andrew]

Good tip, Joseph. My thought was just to wrap the foam in saran wrap, but yours sounds more professional. Right now my foam top can be wedged in the container so it doesn't touch the bedding. I've copied your method in my notes in case I need it with a different container.

~Andrew

[GW]

Hi pinecone,

I like your idea, but you can expect grubs to wedge themselves into every crack and void that they can reach.

Andrew, that also goes for the idea of using plastic wrap. If they CAN crawl into a space, they WILL.

I can't remember who it was, but someone made an interesting suggestion for an insulating disc several months ago. They were planning on taking 10mm thick corrugated plastic and laminating two layers together. Then a disc would be cut from that and the openings in the edges would be filled with just enough material to seal in the air and keep the grubs out. I suppose the concept would work just as well with pinecone's idea of a Styrofoam center or with several layers of thinner plastic. The hard part will be sealing the voids well enough to keep the grubs out. Did I mention that they crawl into tight places? 

[pinecone]

yea, I'm noticing that they do in fact wedge themselves in tight places...and in between the plastic and foam.  I may need to tweak my idea a bit.  whoops!

[GW]

Welcome to the BSF learning curve!  

[Andrew]

yea, I'm noticing that they do in fact wedge themselves in tight places...and in between the plastic and foam.  I may need to tweak my idea a bit.

LOL. I'm right there with you on the learning curve & tweaking. I used duct tape to hold up the harvesting ramp in my bin and the grubs found a gap and worked themselves in. At first I thought they were stuck and I'd have to bail them out. Think again. By the next day their buddies had followed them into the breach and had expanded the gap significantly enough they could go all the way through. The ramp is now being supported by bamboo that I stuck underneath. The duct tape is pretty much completely detached. Obviously ver. 3 of my bin will not involve duct tape. 

[MikeMikeSierra]

An insulation solution that I stumbled into today is this:  a bucket lid from Home Depot [at 98 cents, the price is right] is just about the right size to sit on top of the substrate with a gap around the edges to allow for breathing, cooling off, etc.  The lid has a raised lip [about .25 inches] around the circumference.  I cut a circle of styrofoam that fit inside that raised lip.  The lid is hard plastic that the grubs won't be able to damage, and the styrofoam will add some R-value. 

[Marty]

How about a plastic bag filled with polystyrene balls, the type used to fill bean bag chairs. The bag  should be smaller than the area habited allowing crawl off. It will conform to the surface better than a polystyrene disc reducing draughts, is more hygienic and will not get eaten.
This suggestion is currently untested, can anyone think of any problems with it?

[GW]

Hi Marty, welcome to the forum!

I think you're right about the advantage of a conforming material. I can't come up with a reason why it wouldn't work well.

[rolivier79]

I like the been bag idea...