Worm farming - almost everything you need to know.

[auntiejude]

Tights would work, but you'd still have to secure it with tape. On the outside tape would be fine. And that also why I originally said use a hot pin to make holes!

My worm composter can hold more worms, it has drainage, and it's easier to harvest the compost and feed worms than in a bucket.

 

[Mevv]

great information. I have tried to create a worm farm in the past but with little success. Will try some of these tips, especially for catching them.

 

[jAfFa CaKe]

I read on WormsDirect that Lobworms don't breed in artificial conditions, is this true???

 

[Lianne]

One month ago I received my worms from a baitshop webshop. I put them in a bin with earth and provided them with food every week or so. Yet I still cannot find baby worms. What am I doing wrong? Should I wait a little longer? I'm going to pick up my juvies within 2 weeks or so and while I do have plenty of worms (about 150) I'd really like to see them start breeding.

 

[auntiejude]

@Jaffacake, yes lobworms won't breed in a bin, they require deep cold soil.

@Lianne, do you know what type of worms you have? Do your worms have breeding saddles? If you don't have baby worms yet do you have eggs (little yellow balls)?

 

[Lianne]

Oh I forgot to mention the species. It's the Dendrobena veneta. I have not spotted prominent breeding saddles or eggs yet, but I'll take a closer look later today when I'm home again.

 

[Lianne]

Whoops, I kind of forgot about this topic. I still have not seen any eggs or wormlets. I also think my worms are quite lethargic (slow/hardly reacting) and none of them appear to have a saddle. Am I doing something wrong? There are also a few fruitflies in there, how'd they get there and are they bad? I've been feeding the worms lettuce and other vegetables, uncooked eggshells and coffee/tea muck and the earth is damp, but certainly not wet/moist but also not dry. I keep them in a relatively dark place without any windows.

 

[auntiejude]

OK, those worms don't breed as fast as E. fetida, and they are usually used for composting rather than feeding because of their slower reproduction rate.

How big are the worms? If they don't have saddles they may not yet be mature enough to breed, and you may have to top your worms farm up. Worms can take up to 3 months to mature to breeding age.

Your worms requitre a higher fibre content - try adding some shredded/torn up paper or card to the mix, or 'browns' for composting (leaves, small half rotten twigs etc)

 

[Lianne]

Oh I forgot to mention I've also given them some soaked paper from cereal boxes. The worms are about 10 cms, I suppose they're not big enough yet, huh? I've had them for about 2 months now, ordered them as 'medium' size. (They also had small and large).

 

[Lianne]

Has no one got any clue why my worms seem to not be doing so well?

 

[auntiejude]

@Lianne, your worms are slow to grow and breed. You might do better if you get some different worms - Esenia Fetida are much faster to mature for axie food, the ones you have are composting worms.

 

[Lianne]

Aw okay. I went with this line on the first page, thought I'd be ok:

scientific names such as dendrobaena, lumbricus or eisenia

Maybe remove dendrobaena then.

But even if I get different worms, won't they also become lethargic like the ones I got now?

 

[bethinak]

This is fabulous, thank you all.

At what size should Axolotls be moved to worms?
How much worm can an axolotl eat?
Do Axolotls prefer live worms, or they don't really care?

 

[auntiejude]

Maybe remove dendrobaena then.

But even if I get different worms, won't they also become lethargic like the ones I got now?

There are several differnt types of dendrobaena (the old name system), the one you have is also known as esenia hortensis, the best worms for quick breeding axie food is esenia fetida.

Worms breed best kept cool and damp, and fed on mashed potato and other food scraps. They become lethargic when they get hungry, too wet or are exposed to sunlight.

 

[auntiejude]

This is fabulous, thank you all.

At what size should Axolotls be moved to worms?
How much worm can an axolotl eat?
Do Axolotls prefer live worms, or they don't really care?

Axies can be moved to worms as soon as their mouth are big enough - you can cut worms to inch-long pieces if the worms are too big (use scissors not a knife)
Axies will eat worms until they upchuck. Try them with one or two, feed them enough to keep their body as wide as their head. You can't really overfeed juvies though, they tend to eat until full and then stop.
Live worms are most nutritious, but some axies are fussy and don't like the excretion and wriggling of live worms. blanching with a dash of boiling water, cooled in cold and then fed to axies straight away works well.

 

[Lianne]

Okay, so I mailed the baitshop where I also got the dendrobena worms from. They did have the fetida but only in a big mix with other species of worms. I asked them if they would be able to sell me the E. fetida seperately, but this was their reply (translated by me):

"We cannot give you -only- the E. fetida worms, because these worms are very frail/weak and die easily. We've heard from other people who keep amphibians that their amphibians don't always want to eat E. fetida, although we can not provide any proof for this. Sorry we can't be of more help."

So I'm officially clueless now, because of all the mixed advice. Also, I wouldn't know where else to get the fetida worms if I can't get them from this shop - for as far as I know this is the only online supplier of worms in the Netherlands. Is this species really as weak as the shop says they are?

 

[Lianne]

Anyone?

 

[auntiejude]

No, E. fetida are pretty robust - mine have survived -3C in the winter and 30C in the summer, and as long as they are well fed they'll be fine. Don't forget that you want them as food rather than for making conpost.

If you get a mixed bag you'll find the E fetida breed quite quickly, and you'll be able to differentiate between the different species quite easily as E fetida are very red. Just use the E hortensis as food first and give the E fetida a chance to breed.

 

[tinyali]

Does anyone know why my worms suddenly died all at once?

I bought a bucket of worms several months ago and have been feeding them mainly vegetable peelings and they've been doing fine. Then yesterday I fed them mashed potato as recommended on this thread. There was a worm feeding frenzy - they loved it! Then this morning I found that all of the worms were dead. What happened? Any ideas?

My poor beast is on axolotl pellets until I order some more worms. At least my garden is about to get some amazing compost...

 

[auntiejude]

The chances are that your worm farm got too warm or too wet. But it could have been any number of reasons really.

But before you dump the whole lot on your garden you might want to wait a short while - there are likely to be some worm eggs in there that will hatch. Mix in some fresh organic compost, keep the farm cool and shaded and see what happens (if you can stomach removing some of the dead worms do it, but it's a pretty nasty job ).

Good luck!