Earthworm breeding questions

[Niels D]

I'm breeding Dendrobaena Veneta. I'm keeping them in substrate made out of a little bit of dirt and soaked rabbit and chicken (with calcium) pellets. They're in a plastic container (60x30x30cm) and I've taped the top to prevent them climbing out. I throw in some coffee grounds, veggie leftovers and the soaked pellets from time to time. I keep the container outside except in the winter, because of the low temperatures. I'm needing a lot of worms for my salamanders and newts, but in this setup I can harvest 30 worms every 2 days. I started with 1 kilo of worms.

[amanda]

I tried breeding them, second time was a charm. First time.......i put them in a rubbermaid container no dirt nothing closed the lid and went to bed. 30 mins later I look towards the patio door saw a black mass, flicked the lights on and thousands were crawling up the wall and blinds, i couldn't step on the floor without stepping on a worm YUCK! Pretty traumatizing! Needless to say I went wormless for about a year than tried again. What i do now is keep them outside since i live in southern ca winters dont get too cold where i live. I have them in a dark rubbermade with holes drilled in the top for ventilation. Mind you youre going to want a decent sized container depending on how many you buy that way theyre not over crowded. Fill your container with dirt, some use shredded newspaper and cardboard but i prefer dirt; when you feed them just put the food on top with a layer of dirt over DO NOT MIX IT IN that might cause your worms to die because you wont be sure if they ate all the food you buried whichcan cause overfeeding leading to protein poisoning. Once in a while you might want to toss the dirt to aerate the soil. Salty and acidic foods tend to make the soil ph too high it should be around 7 or 8, meat, dairy, and poultry should be avoided for best results. Keep the soil damp not soaking and youre good to go! Oh when first getting worms make sure they have food from the start and if they start to wander which some usually do being introduced into new soil; keeping a light shining on top will quickly make them change their minds since they prefer cool dark places. Hope thats works as well for you as it does me! Goodluck!

[Poly]

I recommend Red Wriggler Worms (Eisenia fetida).

The best way to keep them is in a plastic container (40 Gallon or so) with demisions of 2ft deep x 3ft long x 1.5ft wide. They do not require deep soil.

These worms consume roughly 3-4lbs of organic matter per week, and will start to breed in under 3 months.

Though they only grow to a maximum of 1.5”, they make up for it with their quick and easy breeding!

Hope that helped!

~Royce

[Sandy Bear]

I would suggest getting some Red Wrigglers or European Nightcrawlers. You should be able to buy these from anyone selling Vermicomposting supplies and worms.
I breed both for my frogs, the Red Wrigglers are a small worm and the European Nightcrawlers are a medium sized worm. They both should be kept indoors, and reproduce best around 15C-30C, although they are tolerant of a larger temperature range. The red wrigglers will double their population every 90 days, and can consume half their body weight every day in food. They also make the best natural fertilizer/dirt.
They require a "nitrogen" source (aka fruits, veggies, bread, etc...) and a "carbon" source (paper, cardboard, etc...) and some crushed egg shells (this makes sure that the foods don't burn the worms skin). They also need a handful of dirt in the tub. This is for their gizzard, it helps them eat their food.

I keep mine in Rubbermaid tubs.

They can escape, but only if you've done something wrong to their habitat. (too dry, something is burning them, etc...). Occasionally they may try to escape when your first set up the enclosure, but you can fix this, by leaving the lid off for a couple of days and setting up a lamp right above the bin. Worms don't like the light and they will burrow down to avoid it.