Septage for lunch
In the same area of eastern King County, WA, where we are investigating the forest-disposed sewage sludge, lo and behold, we encountered what appears to be a discarded load of septage (Septage = Partially treated sludge stored in a septic tank, generally human waste).
So, as a preliminary look at the potential toxicity of this land-surface-discarded waste, our academic colleagues performed a typical Cricket feeding experiment with a sample of the septage sludge material.
The results show that crickets prefer dried lumps of septage waste for dinner over their usual top choice meal of Fluker's 'Orange Cube,' a typical diet for lab-raised crickets. Oh, my!
It will be interesting to see how they like dried lumps of the toxic wastewater treatment plant sewage sludge in a next experiment. It kills nearly all forest biota, except for our short list of mushrooms, so what about the crickets?
Fluker's 'Orange Cube' Cricket Diet: Ingredients: Water, Carageenan, Soya Protein, Dried Brewer's Yeast, Dried Kelp, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium, Sorbate, Ascorbic Acid, Citric Acid, Yellow #6 Food Color. Contents: Crude Protein not less than 3.5%, Crude Fat not less than 0.1%, Crude Fiber not more than 0.5%, Moisture not more than 92%, Calcium not less than 560 ppm – Yum!
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