eco earth for nightcrawlers?

[Maharg]

I know this probably belongs in the feeders section, but it's slightly urgent and the worms are for my Pacman.

I just received a box of 500 large worms. The box of dirt they came in is full of rock hard dirt clumps. The worms can slither between the clumps, but I doubt they can consume which I believe they need to live.

I'm thinking of filling a small tank with eco earth, transferring the worms and keeping the tank in the fridge. So I'm wondering, does eco earth have a similar vitamin and mineral makeup of standard dirt to sustain worms and keep them healthy for a month+? Do I need to but actual chemical free potting soil?

[MatthewM1]

I don't believe that they eat when they are refrigerated, it's puts them in a hibernation like state

[Sunshine]

Here is a care sheet for nightcrawlers Hope this helps: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...Hae-zOVxAkCJxg

[motiszm]

Most outdoors stores sell worm farms, you should go check them out. Fishermen use them to grow their own worms to save money. They come with "worm food", it's a powder that you add to the substrate. You can probably be successful by yourself without one, but if you worried it's a good way to go.

[Maharg]

Thanks for the replies. I wish I could find a worm farm here in Canada. I'm sure I'll be going through 6000 or more worms per year. When I begin trying to breed them I'll be feeding them chicken mash and oatmeal, worry about soil PH and the whole nine yards, but this batch is strictly for feeding.

[Heatheranne]

Thanks Sunshine! I think I'll give breeding a try. Now that winter is coming it should be easy to keep them cold in the downstairs storage room. I currently have 10 store bought containers of them in the fridge. Takes up the whole bottom side shelf.

[arielgasca420]

I find this thread amusing because I get my canadian nightcrawlers at walmart and you live in canada and cant find a worm farm!
definitely look up nightcrawler vermiculture. those are the two key words you want to search for. nightcrawlers need a cold environment to thrive, and a mini fridge would be perfect because you can control the temp. eco earth would be ok for a short time, but typically you want to use newspaper when breeding. I think eco earth is generally neutral (pH7). low pH will burn worms.

[GrifTheGreat]

Think compost when it comes to these worms. You can actually feed them decomposing fruit and vegetable matter. As was already stated they thrive in cold temps especially 35° to 45°F. They can handle up to 70°, you need to stay on the cold side.

[DVirginiana]

We raised nightcrawlers for years. IMO worm food is the way to go. A single tube lasts for forever, and you never end up with any nasty surprises like what can happen if you accidentally put too much decomposing food in for them and forget about it (of course I didn't do that dozens of times...). We were friends with a guy who could get us pesticide-free peat, and we used that for their soil, and covered the top in moist paper towels.

[Leaper]

Yes you can use coco for bedding, just keep the lights off the worms don't like light.
Worms feed off of decaying matter so you probably could burry like two chopped up old tomatoes, or kitchen scraps ran through a blender to help the decaying process.
About two cups of blended scraps will feed for about a week maybe two.
Also with the coco bedding you can mix a junk mail letter or two with it for their pleasure. I raise red wigglers worms but night crawlers I guess all the same except diet. My worms will eat anything just about absolutely no salt.

Don't let it get to moist and maybe rinse the coco some for PH issues or the worms will try to escape if not happy. Worms regulate their population if they're happy they grow in pop. But if not happy they die off. Keep at room temp too.

Buuuttt if you get a microscope and look into the bedding your worms came in you probably will see all kinds of things moving gnats, mites, etc., not harmful to you they like what the worms are doing. It's like they live with the worm population.

Hope it helps