nightcrawlers/earth worms

[Pluke]

Usually they will last a good couple weeks in the container they come in, atleast from my experience.. assuming they were fresh when you bought them. ALWAYS check them before buying, if they look overly slimy and wilted I'd avoid them. I keep them in a drawer in the fridge or in the back against the wall. That probably doesn't matter though. As far as feeding them goes.. I'm not sure as I've never fed them.

[GrifTheGreat]

No need to feed the worms. They feed on the compost that they are packed in. Best way to tell a good batch is to look at them. They should all be very squirming and look round and solid. Also take a whiff of the contents of the container. Good worms smell like fresh dirt. Any rotten foul odors means their bad. Fuzzy mold growth also means bad worms.

[lumpbump]

No need to feed the worms. They feed on the compost that they are packed in. Best way to tell a good batch is to look at them. They should all be very squirming and look round and solid. Also take a whiff of the contents of the container. Good worms smell like fresh dirt. Any rotten foul odors means their bad. Fuzzy mold growth also means bad worms.

I found some not active canadian nightcrawlers at Walmart. Some had strange white mold growing in their containers. I went to petsmart and found some healthy mold free nightcrwalers. I don't know what species petsmart sells but I've created a shoebox sized sterilite container with moist coir and stuck the worms in the coir. It is now in my fridge @ 45F. I found some info that says nightcrawlers, specifically Canadians are surface feeders. Im going to try feeding them the same food I feed my roaches and rats, breeder vegitable based rat food. I toss a few blocks into a blender and blend till its a fine dust. I've got 24 crawlers in the tub. Gonna titrate feeding starting with one teaspoon a day and see how much is eaten. The roaches and rats are very healthy. I don't see why worms wouldn't. Its balanced with vitamins and minerals. Im also looking into african nightcrawlers which thrive with temps in the 70s to 80s I can just stick a tub in my herp room so ill always have good nutritious food for my frogs. Im thinking about getting a couple more if I can successfully cultivate worms. If anyone has cultures of african nightcrawlers im interested in buying about 50 to 100 large to start a colony.
I like frogs

[GrifTheGreat]

Yeah, definitely avoid anything with mold or a bad smell!!

I don't know much about African nightcrawlers yet. So far I haven't heard of anyone using them for their pacs. I don't know if that is because of availability issues or other reasons.

[Ra]

Im interested in starting a worm colony but I dont know which species to go with. Been looking around for large easy top breed ones so I'll post that when I get it all figured out.

[connor111699]

Im interested in starting a worm colony but I dont know which species to go with. Been looking around for large easy top breed ones so I'll post that when I get it all figured out.

Great idea!

[JIvoryII]

Chase, where you getting the african night crawlers from?.. ive been wanting to get some but have only seen egg cases available.