Keeping Worms

[halyz]

I purchased some worms from the pet shop today, as my axolotl isn't doing too well on frozen blood worms. A mix of red, tiger and african night crawlers, the pack says. Just wondering how to keep them, and have them so they'll breed and I don't have to buy more for a while? The pack says keep them in the fridge and they'll last a week or so..I'm hoping they'll last longer than that as they weren't that cheap! I've read they can be kept in unprocessed bran and in a dark/cool area..is that right? What do I feed them?

 

[tony]

check out Caudata Culture Worm Article

worms will keep more than a week in the fridge, but these are living creatures so things can go wrong. exactly a month ago i bought 2 tubs of 24 baby nightcrawlers from a bait shop. 1 tub spoiled after 2weeks... it appeared 1 died and quickly fouled the rest, usually i have time to inspect these guys but was extra busy with work. the other tub i have 7 left a month later and found 1 that must have recently died since it was not decaying

 

[jennifer]

Those varieties of worms are very hardy, I'm sure they'll last more than a week. If you want to feed them, I'd recommend keeping them at room temperature in any kind of light damp substrate (peat moss, coco fiber, potting mix). There are more details about this in the link Tony gave. If you refrigerate them, you don't need to feed them at all. I've never heard of using bran for earthworms (it's the usual thing for mealworms). What kind of substrate did they come in?

 

[hayley]

They came in what looks like potting mix. It doesn't say what it is on the pack so can't be sure. Is any type of potting mix ok to keep them in? We have a few bags of the stuff, but it's just the general/common type, nothing special. Will that be safe?

I'll go have a read of the link, I may find the answers there. Thanks