I would have responded sooner but I've been overloaded with non BSF stuff lately.
I personally have never processed close to 10 lbs per day in my unit. I think I averaged about 2-3 lbs per day since I began this season in the spring. ProtaCulture used to cite a possible rate of 11 lbs per day but revised it down to 5 lbs. I believe they achieved the 11 lb rate but that was probably under optimum and not average circumstances.
I've seen reports of waste-to-larvae conversion ratios everywhere from 7% to 24% and for most of this summer I was averaging about 15%. There are a lot of variables involved. Your relatively low yield might be due to the water content of the waste you're processing. There is a big difference in nutritional content between a pound of papayas and a pound of cornmeal for example. As a matter of fact, the 10 lbs you're adding might be about the same nutritionally as 5 lbs of average household food scraps. (A substantial portion of the waste I processed this year was fish)
Predators might be effecting your yield as you pointed out, but it would take a lot of very fat geckos to make a significant difference I think. Something else to consider is the possibility that some percentage of larvae are escaping your BioPod. If condensation is forming on the walls of your collection bucket then it's likely the mature grubs are getting out. I live in a fairly humid area and I control this problem by always having 2-3 inches of sawdust in my collection bucket. That defeats the larvae from escaping almost entirely. It also helps them to settle down while they wait in the bucket instead of constantly churning.
I've also seen periods with little or no mature larvae crawl-off. You might have much more regular cycles with your colony due to more consistent environmental conditions than I have. I can go a week or more with a BioPod full of juvenile larvae and get no harvest of mature larvae. Then I might get a full bucket for a few days in a row. This is a new science/hobby and we have a lot to learn. I don't believe anything is wrong with your system, I think you're simply learning the limitations of the waste you're processing and the area you live in. I appreciate you posting your experience as it helps everyone who is interested in BSF culturing.
