Sources of earth worms for newts.

[ira]

hi!

I am just wondering where everyone gets earth worms for their newts. I am not really located somewhere where i can dig them up (and dont really think city worms would be good for the little beasts anyway). Fortunatly i live in a place where i can get "can-o-bait" earth worms pretty cheap. are these fishing worms ok for my pets or should i try to find a petstore that stocks earthworms that dont have the potential of being contaminated.

 

[sharon]

LOL! As long as you don't buy the florescent green ones I think you are fine with fish bait!

I buy mine from walmart, raise them in with the frogs, to get more I just turn over a bit of the dirt and instant meal. LOL! Talk about your fast food!

Sharon

 

[jennifer]

I have two sources: Walmart and vermicompost. Vermicompost is basically a tub with compost worms where I put my kitchen scraps and they happily produce baby worms for me.

 

[joeri]

I live in the city as well, but my father doesn't

One day he had to fertilise his garden and digging in his compost I saw lots of worms. I had some plastic boxes ready and took 50 or so. Now I keep them outside my apartment in a 50liter plastic box with typical kitchen leftovers and soil. (don't forget to add water on a regular base) Every now and then I take worms. In the mean time they survive and maybe even breed.

 

[kaysie]

I dig mine up in my woods. I'm luckier than most. They even reproduce in a couple of little gallon buckets.

 

[peter]

I get mine overturning logs when looking for salamanders and from the bait shop or gas stations. Even in cities you can usually find them after a good rain, back on campus all the sidewalks were full of worms after a shower. I just keep them in the fridge; they're getting pretty old but they keep well.

 

[joseph]

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Jennifer Macke (Jennewt) wrote on Tuesday, June 22, 2004 - 23:18 :</font>

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They like redworms?

 

[pin-pin]

Joseph: Shameless species like P. waltl and T. granulosa will eat redworms.

Growing your own worms is pretty simple too. A whiteworm culture is easily kept (I check on mine every 3-4 days), and if your salamander will eat redworms, those produce like crazy with a little TLC and baby cereal.

 

[michael]

Last time i got mine from wormman,com I keep them in the basement in a rubermaid tub for the winter and outside for the summer. I'm planning to go through lots of worms this year. I just bought a paper shreader to make more food and substrate. I have thousands ov baby worms but might have to order some new adults.

 

[jennifer]

Joseph, some newts will eat redworms, especially if they go down whole. There is also another kind of worm, Belgian nightcrawlers, that are suitable for compost and don't have the acrid smell/taste of the regular red wigglers. I have this type. The disadvantage is that the Belgians reproduce more slowly than the red wigglers. It has taken me about 9 months to get the "culture" to the point of being able to harvest mini-worms.

 

[joeri]

yay, for once I'm the lucky guy, living in Belgium where I can dig in compost any time I want for the great "Belgian Nightcrawler"

 

[alan]

Sorry, but no you can't Joeri. "Nightcrawlers" are deep burrowing earthworms and will not be found in compost heaps.
As others have said, some species will take "compost worms", aka redworms, Dendrobaena, etc, more eagerly than others, but you can train many species to take the latter if you start them young and are persistent.

 

[joeri]

ow, my mistake then (doh)
My pleuros like the redworms then

Jenn, by any chance, could you post a picture of the Belgian Nightcrawler?
Are it those long, fat worms? The kind I don't see how cynops species could ever eat it, unless chopped in a zillion pieces.
(now I chop my redworms in 2 or 3 pieces for my adult pleuros - and even smaller for my cynops)