Question: UK Owners: Where can I get earthworms from?

S

squiddon

New member
Joined
Jun 2, 2007
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Llantrisant, Wales
Country
United Kingdom
I really need to vary Ray Mysterio and Binky's diet and I've noticed earthworms being mentioned here a lot. Ideally I'd have a go at breeding earthworms in a box (sustainable food!) does anyone know where I can get earthworms from in the UK (I'd try and get some from the garden but I'm paranoid about poisoning my axies) and how I'd go about breeding them?

Cheers in advance :D
 
If you search on here for wormerys or on google there should be loads of info. I'm thinkin about it also. But i get mine from my garden at the moment. Mel
 
Fishing tackle shops? (although where I live they seem to be extemely rare)
 
Don't be paranoid about the worms from the garden, they are far more likely to be safe than anything caught on a canadian golf course and shipped over here or grown on a commercial worm farm.
 
I have ordered worms through ebay. Lately I have been using them from Pollywog as they are sold as feeder food. However I do usually use my garden worms.
 
Hi again!

Thanks for the responses, I also asked a friend who has quite an epic collection of lizards, arachnids and salamanders and she recommended livefoods.com so I ordered a box.

I was a bit worried about my garden worms because of the house being on a hill that slopes back into the garden. So when washing the car any soapy suds will eventually work their way down to the garden. This is probably just me being uber-paranoid! If so I'll have a look for some worms and use some earth from the garden and set up a worm farm.
 
If you want an already set up wormery rather than doing it yourself, a good place is wormsdirect.co.uk

I bought mine from there and have had no problems at all :D
 
I have just recieved my second order of 100 Lob worms from wormbait.co.uk, they are a worm farm, but as far as I can tell I have had no problem with them pesticide wise.

wormsdirect.co.uk seems like the place for ordering in bulk in the UK, they offer pesticide free "cleaned" worms especially for feeding fish reptiles and amphibians.

I may switch to this company just for the piece of mind that the worms should definitely be safe for my Axoltols.
 
Wormsdirect.co.uk

Genius! Not just for the suggestion but for the fact there is a site called wormsdirect!

Got the worms through today (very swift) from livefoods. The worms aren't exactly massive tbh. I'll get a pot from wormsdirect too for comparison.

EDIT: Thinking about it, what do I do with them now that I've got them? Do I need to add water to the soil or just add bits of kitchen waste? How does one go about feeding them to Axies (chop, how big a chunk etc)?

Yep, really showing my n00b colours now!
 
I keep my worms in a lidded plastic tub with holes cut in the lid for ventilation. You can use just kitchen scraps for the worms (but not onion or citrus fruits) or you can use any of the prepared 'gutload' foods available. Personally my favourite is fish food flakes. I use these along with some vegetable scraps and it works fine. I found when I used a lot of vegetable scraps the compost got too wet and some of worms drowned, also it smelt awful!

To feed your axies you can often feed the worms whole, it obviously depends on the size of your axies compared to the size of the worm. I have managed to get away without having to chop up worms so far!
 
I ordered 100 Dendrobaena Worms from Yorkshire-Worms on eBay for a fiver. The listing said the worms were suitable for Fishing, Composting and Wormerys. I was hoping they to breed them in a wormery.

Anyway, they looked like normal earthworms except they were slightly more red in colour. My axies hated them. They ate them whole (as they do with comparable sized worms from my garden) but later regurgitated them (sometime during the night). Are these the type of worm that give off a horible tasting slime or something? Did I buy the wrong type? Has anyone else had a similar experience? Have my axies just been spoilt with juicy pure-bred Lancashire worms?

I really want to try this again because my garden is like a quagmire at the moment and all the earthworms seem to have gone on holiday, it's taking me ages to find just a few.
 
Its that yorkshire soil putting em off lol

Did you try soaking them in water for a while first and then feeding? Or chopping into smaller chunks?

I'm no expert on worms so not sure which type are ok and which arn't

Mel
 
Dendrobaena are the same type of worms I feed my axies and they love 'em!

Unless the seller has tried to palm you off with different worms?

All I can suggest is try to purge the worms by soaking them for 20 mins before you feed them to the axies (as Mel said), perhaps they will be more palatable.
 
Thanks Kerry, I usually soak the garden worms for 15 mins prior to feeding, but I didn't do that with the Yorkshire-Worms ones. It's got to be worth trying again.
 
Commercial wormbreeders use manure as soil for their worms. Most salamanders and newts won't eat those. Unless the worms are bred in peat. That are the worms you need for your Axo's
 
That's an interesting comment joostpopei. The worms I got from ebay came in a small amount of dry compost like material and I asked my wife if she thought it was peat. I was a little concerned that if it was peat, the worms could eventually cause a change in pH levels.

After talking with my wife, something new cropped up about these so called dendrobaena worms I got off ebay. She recalled they were less smooth than our local worms, has any one else noticed this?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    Chat Bot: Kepuchie has left the room. +1
    Back
    Top