Do i have grindal worms????

[HandS]

I have had white worms for a few years now, in 2 diffrent polly boxes, and in the last 6 months the worms in one of my cultures have been getting smaller and smaller. To start with i thought they were only baby white worms, but now they are all a uniform size, and almost none of the larger worms are to be seen. I am now starting to think that i have Grindal worms :bounce: As i have never seen grindal worms i was hoping that someone out there that knows a little more than me can ID them for me

From the culture

With a clump of white worms in the middle

Next to each other

[Caryl]

Dwarf white worms? Stunted growth due to underfeeding? :lol:

I understand grindal worms are small white worms so I think you might be right.

[Insect Direct]

yep looks like you have both but im no expert, either way they look like theyre thriving any tips like what ya feeding & temp u keep them at etc??

[HandS]

underfeeding lol i don't think so, they can devour 6 peaces of luncheon in about a week, and as for temp, i just keep them as cold as possible in the garage

[alanmin4304]

I have a number of whiteworm cultures. One seems to be mainly large (on the garage floor), one is a mixture of large down to small (on a bench in the garage) and one which is mainly small worms (outside under a tree). I also have grindal worms and they are very fine compared to any whiteworms. Whiteworms need to be kept cool but grindals need to be warm and would die off at cooler temperatures.

[HandS]

Ok, that is interisting alan, the two polyboxes are sitting next to each other in the back of the garage, there is no diffrence between the 2, same soil, same food, same starter culture but for some reason one has large worms, and one has small. There have always been the smaller worms in amongst the large worms. I was just thnking that maybe the grindal worms were always amongst the white worms, but for some reason the white worms died off in one culture, allowing the grindal worms to thrive.

[Janelle]

Those small worms do look like the grindal worms I've got, but it's interesting since I was always under the impression that white worms wouldn't breed over 15 degrees and grindals wouldn't breed under something like 20-25? Plus grindals like their dirt more wet than white worms do. Maybe some information is incorrect but it would be good if you could keep white worms and grindals in the same culture.

[alanmin4304]

I understand that grindal worms were discovered by Mrs Grindal in a whiteworm culture but in my experience they are easier to kill off than whiteworms and as stated one likes it cool and the other warm and wet. They may be grindals but to me look more like a healthy culture of young whiteworms. My outside whiteworms look like that and a month ago the top of the culture was frozen solid in the mornings and they only came visable when the media thawed out. Grindals would be dead and gone in those conditions.

[MrEd]

If the cultures are a few years old as you say and kept cool then they must be white worms as Grindals need the warmth to breed and looks like your Whites have met favourable conditions and suddenly bred causing the a uniform small size! PM me if you want a starter culture of Grindals which I find very easy to breed though they need more maintainance. The main thing to watch out for, because they like it warm, is they are suseptible to the media drying out and the food going off (especially luncheon) if over fed .... best to stick with potatoe flake and add a little as needed!