White worm and micro worm cultures in the usa

[paris]

i havent really searched hard for these before but i think i remember some people trying to find them in the us. i ran across some cultures and instructions for sale on e-bay(of all things), i wrote the person and asked if it would be ok to post their email adress, so here it is

dnichol1@columbus.rr.com
i am currently bidding on a batch of them-so please dont bid against me....but im sure she/he will sell them off ebay.

 

[jarid]

People in the US are having trouble finding microworms and whiteworms?!
Haha, check aquabid.com.
Also, Jim Atchison is a good guy.He has just about every type of live food culture for sale there is.
http://atchison.com/

 

[jennifer]

Speaking of white worms, I've recently been growing them for the first time and I love them. My compliant about microworms has been that they are just too darned small. Only the tiniest larvae need worms that small. The great thing about a whiteworm culture is that it produces all sizes, from microworm size on up to blackworm size. Put a glob of them in water and it's not hard to pull out a bunch of the smallest ones, and they are slightly bigger than microworms. Perfect!!!

 

[ralf]

Jen, I absolutely agree with you. Jarid, you are right, it often pays off to "look over the fence" at how frog- or ornamental fish breeders deal with problems and especially cultures of food organisms. I received my starter culture of white worms about 8 years ago and since then these worms are one of my main food sources and I rely on them even for my pickier animals (even adults like them a lot). I breed them in flower pots of different sizes using flower pot soil as substrate (without any fertilizers!). One can experiment with different soils or mixtures though, as long as the culture stays well aireated (no clay). I cover the top of the culture with a piece of wood (the worms will aggregate and feed underneath it) and put a fine net or pantyhose over the whole setup (you don't want flies or other unwanted guests to spoil your culture). Keep the culture moist but not wet. If the culture is too wet, the worms will flee from the substrate and die eventually, if not transferred to a new setup. There are different recipees for feeds available, but things became a lot easier for me when I started to feed with a half-moist variety of dog food pellets instead of messing around with margarine and oatmeal. This also reduced greatly my former mite- and mildew-problems.
Ingredients of dog food pellets (unfortunately the list on the package isn't very detailed):
cereals (at least 4 %)
carrots (at least 4 %)
meat (beef at least 4 %)
vegetables
oils and fatty acids
milk and dairy products
sugar
fish

nutrients:
crude protein 17 %
crude fat 13,5 %
crude ash 7 %
crude fibre 3 %
water 20 %
6,000 IU Vit A / kg
400 IU Vit D / kg
80 mg Vit E / kg
7 mg Cu / kg

Maybe you can find something similar in the U.S..

 

[jennifer]

Ralf, thank you for the pictures! How bad of a problem are mites in a whiteworm culture? My culture has mites, and I'm not sure if I should start over, or continue and see if the worms can co-exist OK with the mites.

 

[ralf]

Hi Jen,
mites and white worms can coexist. Mites are rather a nuisance than a real threat for your culture. They seem to thrive quite well, when food which has not been eaten by the worms is left in the culture. They compete for food with the worms but aren't suitable food organisms themselves. Then there is always this "mite-smell" and some people might even show allergic reactions, when handling the cultures. I used to remove a lot of mites from the surface with a small spoon. They dissappeared however, when switching to other feeds (instead of a doe of oats, margarine and sugar) and covering the food items (with soil or a piece of wood). Some people advice the introduction of woodlice into the culture as they will prey on mites but not on the worms. Others apply a piece of glass, treated with a sticky substance e.g. margarine. The glass is put on top of the soil and the adhering mites are removed every 1 to 2 days. One is even supposed to get rid of the mites completely this way. Haven't tried either of the two latter methods myself though.

Ralf