Culturing Nightcrawlers?

[Beep617]

I finally ordered some Europeans! The are pretty small though, hoping they'll get bigger. Right now my big guy won't even eat them. I'm realizing maybe it is Canadians I've been getting for him. Any idea about how big the Europeans will get in comparison? And..my main reason for this post.. I can't get them to stay down in the substrate!! I have Ecoearth in there for now until our ground thaws out some, then I will dig up some soil. I have newspaper on top. The first night the paper was pretty damp so I took it all out and shredded more. That seemed to help a kittle, as there's fewer worms coming up. But how do I get them to stay?!

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[mapdoggis]

I don't use anything but newspaper in my bin. The only reason to add dirt from your yard is for the decomposition organisms. Keep the top layer of newspaper dry. Nightcrawlers crawl through moisture at night so u want to discourage them with dry newspaper. I'll take pics of my worms later. My baby chameleon has fallen asleep on my left hand so I'm a tad indisposed.

[mapdoggis]

European nightcrawlers are about half the size of Canadian. Euros are the larger cousins of the red wiggler so they are composting worms. Canadians are burrowers and don't do well in worm bins because of the confined space, but will aerate your garden like no other.
Canadian


Euro


My bin (food and newspaper)