Needing help!! Starting a Worm Farm

[drewnation]

Okay so I have decided I need to start a worm farm. I have considered doing dubias but I just can't do it (fiancé and I both hate roaches lol well more like she cant stand them -.-). Here's what I need help with deciding : Red wigglers or European Nightcrawlers. I currently have 2 Pacman frogs and a pyxie frog. I also have a yellow dart frog i think he's a Phyllobates terribilis (just acquired recently). How many worms would I need to start with if I was feeding out of the farm around once a week? How many of you guys actually have your own worm farm?

[Bombina Bob]

Hi there
You can keep these worms in a ten gallon tank with garden soil and NO ECO EARTH! you can feed the worms bread,friuts and veggies, othorwords compost, i hydrate my worms by pouring a liter of dechlorinated water every week, i would start with ten to twenty worms and when they reproduce, both worms will get pregnant and you will get tiny yellow worms, they would be good for dart frogs but i think that only newborn worms would be good, otherwords, pacmans and pixies love them! i keep 20 worms in an icecream bin and feed them compost every week

[demon amphibians]

earth worms may also take an extended time to breed and grow. But when you get a bunch of them going they are absolutely worth it.

When i was a kid. me and my parents would flood our yard during the day and at night we would go out with flash lights and bare feet. The worms would just come to the surface and lay in the grass. we went bare foot because if you can't see them sometimes you would feel them with your toes ha ha .you have to be fast or they will shoot back under ground. We used to catch these big ol fat worms by the hundreds for fishing bate.

[Sandy Bear]

I really depends on how old/big your frogs are, but I recommend starting out with at least 1 pound of worms, (800-1200 worms), for setting up a new tub. Also give them some time to get established before you start feeding them out. Red Wrigglers will double their population every 90 days, and are probably the most prolific.

I colonize my worms in big rubbermaid/sterelite tubs, the bigger the better, but it shouldn't be so big that you can't handle it. Most of my worm tubs are set up in this size of tub, or a bit larger:
68L Rubbermaid Roughneck (Grey) (10 Pack) at Walmart.ca

I keep Red Wrigglers(3 tubs), European Nightcrawlers (2 tubs), and African Nightcrawlers (2 tubs). There are a few other species of composting worms that are easy to breed as well.
The Red Wrigglers are by far the easiest, and I recommend them first for the first worm colony.
I recommend setting up two tubs, just in case of an accident, you wouldn't want to crash your colony and be left with nothing.
Out of the three types of worms I keep, I'd say that the European Nightcrawlers gave me the most difficulties. I've crashed them twice.

For your dart frog, I'd recommend culturing Flightless Fruit Flies, or Bean Weevils, or something similar.

[fish4all]

The agree with Sandy that bigger is better to a point. When first starting out, you will get a lot more production from smaller cultures because the worms will find each other must faster. 800-1200 worms is a minimum I would start with if you want to be able to start feeding a lot sooner than later.

I started with about 200 red wigglers. Made 2 bins, rather small. One was a shoe box, the other was a boot box, both plastic with holes drilled in the bottom. The bins took 8 months to show signs of growing. I now have well over 20K in 3 bins, 1 sweater box about 2 gallon, 1 taller one abut 6 gallon like Sandy and one largish one about 10 gallon that is fairly shallow but long and wide. I could probably have a couple million if I set up big enough bins.

They are great composters for sure but you don't have to feed them scraps. I use coconut coir in one bin instead of newspaper and scraps. This bin is my indoor plant bin. I want the bin to be rich in nutrients so I feed the worms accordingly. Egg layer mash, pulverized egg shells, baby cereal, corn meal, pulverized oatmeal and the veggies I throw in are always calcium and iron rich.

I guess you could call this a gut load regiment for feeding to pets. I call it the best soil I have ever used for houseplants.

I have never kept Europeans nor Africans but I would try the Africans before any other because they are supposed to so close to the same as keeping Red Wigglers. The only main difference is the African night crawlers can not take the cold that red Wigglers do. I keep my Red wigglers in the garage and the temp is the same as the outside. Winter they don't do much but they do work a little. African night crawlers would die from everything I have read about them.

[TheHornedToad]

My worm bin hasn't been growing very fast but i only started out with 200 worms in a 30-50 gallon tub. My frogs really like european nightcrawlers which are in my bin, especially my african clawed frogs. The substrate for my worms is peat, I wouldnt use newspapers because then the worms will eat the paper and that will then go into your frog. Make sure to keep the soil moist if you do get a worm bin, then the worms will eat off the surface and it will be easier for you to pick one off for feeding. You can also raise springtails in your worm bin mine is infested with them lol.