I have read a lot of different information on this and wanted to ask those who know.
I have red worms that I use to vermicompost. Thousands of them and if they are okay to use would make a great food source for my frogs. But I do not want to give them to my frogs if anything i have read about them is true.
Is it safe to feed them to the frogs or are feeder worms limited to night crawlers?.
These worms are Eisenia Fetida, just to make sure we are talking the same worms.
Last edited by fish4all; December 23rd, 2012 at 03:30 AM. Reason: added details
you can give them those worms just be sure you didnt put any fertilizer or -cides and also what are the feeder worm what kind is it?do you mean mealworms??and also you can feed them those worm just be sure the soil of the worms has no fertilizer or -cides and also if he doesnt mind it chop the worm in pieces.My toad loves these worms.
I've always used Nightcrawlers (specifically Lumbricus terrestris) so I have no personal experience with Red Wigglers. As far as I've read they're safe for frogs assuming they've been raised in a safe environment, but they are foul tasting and not all frogs will accept them. They're available as feeders at Red Wigglers (45-55 count) | Josh's Frogs so I'd tend to assume they're suitable as feeders or they would have run into heaps of problems by now.
Mealworms are the larval stage of the beetle Tenebrio molitor. The OP said he had Eisenia fetida.
Eisenia fetida Those are Red Wigglers, composting worms, vermicomposting and organic matter recyclers. Thery only get to about 2 inches long and the width of pencil lead, maybe a little larger.
My frogs won't eat night crawlers so it may be a lost cause trying red wigglers. Might be better to just put them in the vivarium and let them work as my cleanup crew.
No worries jerome, just wanting to let you know what they looked like a what type they are. They are actually very easy to culture and you can have 1000's of them in about 6 months if you set up a large bin or 3.
Not African night crawlers. These are much smaller. The key to culturing them, keep them under 90 degrees F, 32 d C. Too hot will kill them. Too cold will slow them down but not kill off a colony.
Get a shallow bin, if you want co culture them indoors. Outdoors, build a large wooden, brick or other type of frame as large as you want and up to 2 feet deep. Start the bin off with shredded newspaper, coconut coir or grass cutting but make sure they are dry and chemical free. You can also use shredded leaf litter. Next put food scraps in for them and let theme at them.
DO NOT ADD: eggs, dairy of any kind, meat, bones, or any other animal product. It is more about the fats than anything and they can ruin the whole culture very quickly and kill them all.
Be patient, I started one culture from worms I caught outside, less than 100 of them in a sweater box. It took 8 months to see any real population growth and another 5 months before I had a thriving colony. f you really want to see a lot of them quickly start with a good 2,000 to 5,000 of them for large bins. Large meaning 20-50 quart. Anything large and you may need more than that to get a larger enough colony going to feed off of a lot.
Mine right now are slowed down a lot. I have them in an unheated garage and they have pretty much stopped. For me it doesn't matter because I want their casting for fertilizer. I don't feed them off. If you want a steady supply you have to keep them between 70 and 85 F for faster production.
I will get a picture when I find my camera but they are nothing more than a plastic tub with a hole cut in the top with mesh hot glued over the hole and a dozen holes drilled about half way up. I also drill holes in the bottom to let out excess moisture. Any sitting water in the bottom will kill them causing an acidic environment.
Oh and if they are escaping then the bedding has something wrong with it or they need food. Mine do not try to leave at all unless their numbers have simply gotten way too high.
Nightcrawlers are likely too big for pacific chorus frogs, unless you chopped the worms up and fed them to the frogs while still moving. They should take red wigglers in the same manner, or even whole if the worms were small enough.
I did give them a try and every one of them spit them back out. I think 2 of them even gave me a dirty look after spitting it back out. So much for that option. Oh well, at least the worms make great fertilizer. And a safe one for terrariums/vivariums.
Christopher: There is A LOT of bad information out there concerning earthworms. I breed Red Wrigglers, African Nightcrawlers and European Nightcrawlers. All three of these worms are used in vermicomposting. I feed all three of these worms to my amphibians and reptiles - including my garter snakes - and have not had any problems with them. I will not feed any Canadian Nightcrawler though, as these worms are normally WC and I won't feed WC feeders to my pets any more.
All of my bins I compost "safe foods". Bascially, everything comes out of the fridge or from my cardboard/paper recycle bin that is appropriate to use with the worms.
I do not feed any "outside" materials, with the exception of my African Nightcrawlers, I will give them dried leaves but only if they've been baked in the oven first (my reject leaf litter pile).
The only dirt I add to my compost bins are either coco-fiber or peat moss, as both substrates are safe to use with most types of amphibians. If I were to use any sort of "soil" from say outside, I would be sure to sterilize it prior to adding it to my tubs.
The earthworm you want to avoid is "Bimastrus foetida" (aka the manure worm), this worm is usually used by people dealing with large amounts of cow manure. This worm has a yellow line on it's body, and tastes terrible enough that fish will reject this feeder.
All types of earthworms will produce a foul taste, it's a defence mechanism.
Not all types of herps will eat earthworms though. I find that dessert herps (beardies, leos) do not like earthworms and tree frogs do not like earthworms. They show interest in the prey, but usually spit it out, I think it's a texture thing as it's not a typical feeder that they would naturally be eating. There are exceptions to every group though, so you will have to try them out on your pets and see how it goes.
Earthworms can also be used for human consumption, and I know that when people are using them for food, they will normally remove the worms from the tub and put them in a (ventilated) tupperware container filled with moistened cornmeal for about two days before cooking with them. They do this to purge the worms gut of any soil that would make them gritty when you are eating them.
I hope I can get my frogs to eat earthworms because they hate red wigglers. Gonna try to find a shallow dish with a lip on it to keep them from crawling out.
As for eating them, they're not too bad actually, sauteed stir fry with some crunchy veggies. Gotta gut them first but there are species that are simply huge so it makes it pretty easy.
Yes, I've tried red wiggles in the past also. Mine spit them out too. They, as mentioned above, secrete a foul mucous as defense, which apparently tastes bad. My tree frogs will not eat earthworms/night crawlers, but my pacmans will. My newts and turtles love them.
Can't say that I've ever eaten one, lol!
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Shall I make a post with some recipes?
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