Needing help!! Starting a Worm Farm

[Mentat]

...I wouldnt use newspapers because then the worms will eat the paper and that will then go into your frog...

My worms eat paper (great way to make bills and personal papers disappear) and have seen no harm in that. Once fed to frogs with veggies, fruits, coffee grinds, etc. it's all processed into casings and what not. Mmmm maybe that coffee grind is making my frog all jumpy... . No, seriously, if you have any links to scientific or observational articles proving feeding worms paper is bad; do please let me know. Thank you!

[Sandy Bear]

If you are worried about the ink that is used in the newspaper, you can always contact your local newspaper to find out what type of ink is used. Some of the inks that are used these days are soy based.

[TheHornedToad]

I read somewhere about the ink in the paper being bad ill try to find something on it.

[TheHornedToad]

Actually you are right it seems most newspapers today are made out of biodegradable material and the inks are made of soy. I still would feel weird using newspaper it seems unnatural, do you use strips of it or do you just crumple it up?

[Sandy Bear]

It really depends on my mood, and weather or not I'm getting along with my paper shredders, lol

Normally I shred all paper materials that I put in their tubs. Sometimes I get lazy though, or my shredder has a jam, so I will just dump a stack of papers or flyers/newspapers in their tub and the worms can have at it. Sometimes this makes it easier to pick the worms out of the tub after, as they will all go in between the sheets of paper.

The only paper products that I don't use are x-mas wrapping paper, and anything like shiny magazines.

When you shred the paper, the worms are able to eat it faster, the same goes for any food scraps, if you put it though a food processor and grind it all up, the worms eat that faster too.

Red Wrigglers are amazing composters though, 1 pound of worms can go though 1/2 a pound of food a day.

[TheHornedToad]

Do you add the paper as a food source or is it your main bedding?

[fish4all]

It is both their bedding and a food source. The worms can live off the newspaper. They won't be the healthiest worms around but they can and will live off it. The newspaper does provide some nutrients to them but adding fruit and veggy scraps is where the majority of the nutrition comes from.