Feeders: Vermicomposting and Vermiculture

[Sandy Bear]

I know that this is going to seem like a lot of work, but they really aren't. These worms are very easy to breed and make great feeders for any herps that will eat them. They are very nutritious, high in protein and high in moisture. Not all herps will eat them though. Most desert species and arboreal species will refuse to eat them - not all, but most won't. Worms make great feeders for most species of amphibians, turtles, fish, garter snakes, horned mountain dragons, Chinese water dragons, etc...


Bedding:
It is a good idea to layer your bedding materials, as the worm-bin needs to have some air-circulation in it.
Bedding should be kept damp, like a wrung out sponge.
The bedding in my tubs are largely made up of shredded paper, newspaper, cardboard, and egg cartons.
If you are culturing African Night Crawlers, they tend to prefer bedding materials that are made up of dry leaves, grass clippings, straw, and similar items. If you are using your worms as feeders, be sure to bake anything from outside so to not transfer any sort of bugs or parasites to the worms.

Acceptable Bedding Materials:

Coco Fiber (Coir) and Mulch
Newspaper
Shredded paper (no glossy magazines or x-mas wrap)
Cardboard egg carton
Corrugated cardboard
Wood Chips
Dry Leaves
Straw
Burlap
Peat moss


Foods:
When feeding it is a good idea to bury the food under the top layer of your worm bin. This will help keep out some unwanted pest insects, like fruit flies
All food items should be blended in a food processor before you feed your worms, it's not mandatory though. They will have an easier time eating it, as they do not have any teeth.
1 pound of worms can eat 1/2 a pound of food waste a day. You do not have to feed the worms fresh foods, they will wait until it starts to rot, the more rotten, the better, mold and all!


Acceptable Foods:

Fruit Peelings & Cores, (apples, bananas, kiwis, melons)
Cereal (no milk in it though, just dry stuff, like cheerios, cornflakes, Special K)
Vegetable Peelings (potato, sweet potato, cucumbers)
Grains (Rice, Quinoa)
Cake
Pizza Crust
Tea Bags (rip the bags open first, but put the whole bag in)
Coffee grounds (filters too)
Bread
Eggshells, dried & crushed
Pulp from Juicers
Melon rinds
Corn bread & meal
Pancakes
Lettuce
Oatmeal
Pasta
Tomatoes* (use limited amounts, worms do not enjoy eating these foods)
Orange Peels* (use limited amounts, worms do not enjoy eating these foods)
Onion Peels* (use limited amounts, worms do not enjoy eating these foods)
Peppers* (use limited amounts, worms do not enjoy eating these foods)
Paper products, such as napkins and paper wrappers

Unacceptable Foods:

Meat, Poultry, and Fish meats
Dairy Products like milk and cheese
Oil and grease
Butter
Non-foods like plastics, glass, aluminum foil, rubber bands, sponges
Dog and cat feces, litter box materials
Salt or Salty foods, foods that are really spicy or acidic

Unusual Acceptable food items:

Hair (uncolored, no harsh chemicals/styling products in it)
Animal fur
Fingernail clippings
Vacuum cleaner bag contents
Pet Rabbit Poop


Worm Temperature:

Keep your bin at 12°-28°C. Worms will produce best between 15-26 degrees Celsius (60°-80° F)
It depends on what species of worms you are keeping, some, like the African Night Crawler like it hot, anything below 10 degrees Celsius is deadly to them.


The Worms:

The worms will live for about 1-4 years
There is about 500-1000 worms in a pound of Red Wrigglers
European Night Crawlers: 450-500 worms per pound

African Night Crawlers: 100-250 worms per pound

Different Species of Vermicomposting worms:
Red-Wrigglers (Eisenia fetida) *Most common

Red Tigers (Eisenia andrei)

Red Marsh Worm (Lumbricus rubellus)

African Night Crawlers (Eudrilus eugeniae) *needs warm temperatures (never below 10*C)

European Night Crawlers (Eisenia hortensis; previously, Dendrobaena veneta)

Indian Blue Worm (Perionyx excavatus) *needs warm temperatures



Supplies you will need:

• Dechlorinator (Prime by SeaChem is a really good brand) The worms are sensitive to the chlorine in the tap water
• A food processor, the worms like when their food is blended up
• A paper shredder, if you want to put shredded paper as bedding
• Two Rubbermaid bins of the same size. One bin fits inside the other bin. You can also do a single bin method, and I prefer doing it this way.
• A Drill for drilling air holes on the inside bin and lid
• Egg Shells! Egg shells are very important, they neutralize any acids in foods, so the worms don't get burned by them.

Assembling your Worm Bin:

Take the first inside bucket and drill a bunch of holes in the bottom and the lower half of the sides of the tub. If you are using the single tub method, do not drill the tub!


Drill holes in the lid. If you are using a double tub method, the second lid can be discarded. Air circulation is important.

The tub with the holes will fit inside the second tub. There should be an inch or so of space between the bottom of the drilled tub and the un-drilled tub. If the tubs fit too snugly, put something in between them to raise up the drilled tub, (ex, small mason jars, small clay flower pots, bricks, etc)

Put a “drainage layer” in the bottom of the drilled tub, about 1-2 inches thick. (this can be anything like, aquarium pebbles, bark chips, gravel, sand, etc).
This is optional, and I don't do this in my tubs any more.


Make sure that any cardboard or paper products have been soaked in dechlorinated water prior to adding to the bin. Also, soak your coco-fibre brick, about 1 hour before you want to use it, so it has time to absorb the water.

Start layering your worm bin bedding materials. The bedding should be a total of 8-12 inches deep, it doesn't need to be any deeper then that, because that is how deep the red wrigglers like to burrow in. Be sure that any food gets buried underneath the paper and cardboard layers. Otherwise you will attract unwanted fruit flies and gnats.




Trouble Shooting Your Worm Colony

Bad Smells and Odors

This is caused by a few reasons.
You are putting too much food in the colony. Remember, 1 pound of worms can eat 1/2 a pound of food a day, if properly prepared.
Their is not enough air-circulation in the bin. Layering you bin with multiple types of substrates helps keep oxygen levels up.
There is not enough holes drilled in the bin, and the worms have become too wet
You are putting the wrong types of foods in your bin. Adding things to your bin that your worms won't eat will cause odors. Meats, poultry, and fish are foods that they will not eat and will become sour quickly, giving unpleasant odors. It will also attract mice and rats!
Putting the food on the top layer of substrate will also cause the bin to smell. Foods should be buried


Creepy Crawlies in my worm bin!
Fruit Flies/Gnats. If you add your peelings to the top layer of substrate, you could be attracting fruit flies. They are a nuisance, and will breed and eat the food source for your worms. To correct this problem, you must bury the food under a couple of layers of substrate. Also, set up fruit fly traps in the inside and out side of the bin. You could also find a small spider and add him to your worm colony. He will do his part to help catch and eat all the fruit flies up.

Springtails. These are little tiny hoppy bugs (hexapods). They are usually white in color, but they can be other colors. These are beneficial to your worm bin, and will help break down the food waste. They will not harm you or your worms, they are only interested in eating decaying matter. Many people culture Springtails as feeders for small herps (poison dart frogs) or use them as clean up crews for vivariums.

Ants. If you are getting ants in your colony, set up some sticky at traps around the base of your bin. If you worm bin has legs, stick each of the legs in a bucket of water. Ants can't swim

White Worms. These are not harmful to your colony. They will probably be eating whatever the worms won't eat. You can also collect these and culture them as food for small fish, small aquatic amphibians, etc...

Bedding Problems:
Bedding is always drying out. You may want to change some/all of the bedding materials in your bin. Some bedding’s do not hold moisture well, and will dry out rather quickly (Straw for example). If you cannot change out the bedding, you could also try adding another layer of bedding material to your bin after you water it down. Such as a layer of plastic sheeting, burlap, old 100% cotton T-shirts, card board, wet newspapers, etc...

Lots of dead worms all at once:
Bedding is too dry, and the worms have suffocated
Bedding is too wet, and the worms have drowned
All the food has been turned into castings, and the worms have starved
Someone has added salt or salty foods to the bin


Worms escaping, climbing out of the bin. The bin may be too acidic, and they do not want to be in there. Try adding some wet cardboard, newspaper, or shredded paper or egg shells to help reduce the amount of acidity in the bin. Also, if it is a new bin that has been set up, leave the lid open for a couple of day, with a light shining over it. This will help keep the worms in the bin.

Excess worms:

Extra worms can be released into the garden

Given to a friend to start a vermicomposting bin
Start a second vermicomposting bin
Feed to herps
There should be no worries of worms over crowding your bin. They should self regulate.



Worm Castings (the worm poop) can be sold as all natural fertilizer, used in the garden, in house plants, on your lawn, on trees, you can even use it in a vivarium provided it won't leach into the water source.


Native species of worms that are found outside, do not culture well, if at all. I do not recommend using them. I have tried and the colony crashed both times.

[SCF]

Good job!