Massive Quantities of White Worms Easily Produced

[Finchop1]

White worms (Enchytraeus sp.) are cultured as a live food source by hobbyists the world over. There are many ways to culture them and those methods do work to varying degrees of success. When I raised exotic finches, I was taught to soak white bread in milk and place in whiteworm container. Worms would gather underneath the bread and a scoopful of soil with WW's mixed in. Finches love picking through the soil/ww mixture and quickly came into breeding condition.
This worked for me as I just kept replacing the soil taken out to feed. Looking back I realize that it was an inefficient method for WW production.

A few years ago I attended an American Livebearer Association convention in Michigan. A gentleman in his 80's shared his method using dark rye bread, plain yogurt and brewers yeast to easily produce mass quantities of whiteworms.


1. Fill plastic shoebox with sterile topsoil (no additives of any kind)
2. Add white worm culture and lightly mix into top 1/2" of soil.
3. Slather plain greek yogurt on toasted dark rye bread to 1/4" thickness.
4. Lightly sprinkle dry brewers yeast over yogurt.
5. Invert bread onto culture and cover culture with cheesecloth to prevent mites incursion.

Worms will accumulate underneath and around the sides of the bread. To harvest, use a spoon or knife to pick up worms and place in cup of water.
Rinse any soil from worms by pouring from cup to cup, changing water each time. Easy process that takes about 1 minute. Viola! Lots of clean delicious whiteworms!

Dark rye bread is used as it has natural anti-mold characteristics that lighter breads do not. White bread molds within a day. Dark rye takes 4-5 days to mold.
Dark rye bread must be toasted very dry, basically you want to spread the yogurt on a dry crisp rye cracker.
The white worms are mostly eating the yogurt which when combined with brewers yeast turbocharges their production. I usually replace bread every 3-5 days depending on how it looks. If the colony is too wet the worms will cover the surface of the soil and climb all over the sides of the box. If this happens just allow box to dry out for a day or two. The pic with the spoon shows just one of the 3 teaspoonfuls of pure whiteworms harvested that day.

The following series of pictures illustrates the process:

 

[Itcllc]

White worms (Enchytraeus sp.) are cultured as a live food source by hobbyists the world over. There are many ways to culture them and those methods do work to varying degrees of success. When I raised exotic finches, I was taught to soak white bread in milk and place in whiteworm container. Worms would gather underneath the bread and a scoopful of soil with WW's mixed in. Finches love picking through the soil/ww mixture and quickly came into breeding condition.
This worked for me as I just kept replacing the soil taken out to feed. Looking back I realize that it was an inefficient method for WW production.

A few years ago I attended an American Livebearer Association convention in Michigan. A gentleman in his 80's shared his method using dark rye bread, plain yogurt and brewers yeast to easily produce mass quantities of whiteworms.


1. Fill plastic shoebox with sterile topsoil (no additives of any kind)
2. Add white worm culture and lightly mix into top 1/2" of soil.
3. Slather plain greek yogurt on toasted dark rye bread to 1/4" thickness.
4. Lightly sprinkle dry brewers yeast over yogurt.
5. Invert bread onto culture and cover culture with cheesecloth to prevent mites incursion.

Worms will accumulate underneath and around the sides of the bread. To harvest, use a spoon or knife to pick up worms and place in cup of water.
Rinse any soil from worms by pouring from cup to cup, changing water each time. Easy process that takes about 1 minute. Viola! Lots of clean delicious whiteworms!

Dark rye bread is used as it has natural anti-mold characteristics that lighter breads do not. White bread molds within a day. Dark rye takes 4-5 days to mold.
Dark rye bread must be toasted very dry, basically you want to spread the yogurt on a dry crisp rye cracker.
The white worms are mostly eating the yogurt which when combined with brewers yeast turbocharges their production. I usually replace bread every 3-5 days depending on how it looks. If the colony is too wet the worms will cover the surface of the soil and climb all over the sides of the box. If this happens just allow box to dry out for a day or two. The pic with the spoon shows just one of the 3 teaspoonfuls of pure whiteworms harvested that day.

The following series of pictures illustrates the process:

Did you dampen the potting soil before adding the toasted bread with yogurt and yeast?

 

[Itcllc]

Any recommendations for the potting soil? Could I use pure coconut coir or sphagnum moss?

 

[Finchop1]

Hello, I should have been clearer in that the topsoil is moistened first so that the worms can travel easily through it but not "wet".I don't recommend any particular top soil brand as top soil brands are regional and this website is international. The only requirement is that the topsoil has no chemical additives. Any chemicals will interfere with the whiteworms natural systems and probably kill them.

I recently have been using a 60% soil/40% peat moss with good success. I noticed that after a while the pure topsoil culture would "gum up" - that is the soil would become a little dense and the worms didn't move as well. The peat moss "fluffs out" the soil making it easier for the worms to move. Peat moss also maintains the correct ph as the worms break it down.

""Could I use pure coconut coir or sphagnum moss?""

That is an excellent question. There are different methods that folks use to cultivate whiteworms and other tiny creatures for our charges consumption. Some folks swear by the use of coconut coir or other base materials. Here's the key - try them and see what works best for you. Different methods work for different people. Don't be afraid to try something different but always keep a clean starter culture in case one culture fails. I added the peat moss to the topsoil this year and production was better. So that "experiment" worked!
Due to warmer temps in the Midwest USA last year fruit flies/gnats were a problem as there was not enough cold to kill them off. I'm considering purchasing a wine cooler as they can be set to the perfect temperature (50 to 55 F) for breeding whiteworms and the tiny flies won't be a problem.
Steve