Improving my White Worm culture's

[Devon]

Hiya.Ive got 2 ice cream containers with White worms in them and i was just wondering if i should be giving them more air then just and open lid. Say should i put pin holes at the bottom????? I normaly just put some water in and make the soil wet and then leave it ,is this alright????

[alanmin4304]

I find they do best in a wooden box lined with plastic where the media is, to protect the wood, but it still lets it breath. I have one wooden box with an icecream container in (without lid) which does ok. I found with just icecream contaners the worms went all over the -place instead of staying under the glass, and they end up too wet.

[Alan]

Agree there Alan.

Wet worms are woeful.

Damp worms are delicious.

Plastic is US in my view, mine are in an old washing machine bowl with about 150mm of mix in the bottom and I don't know how many million worms.

Absolutely LUVE luncheon.

Alan 104

[MRSkz]

Here's the instructions I send out with every white worm culture I sell.

White Worm Info

http://petcaretips.net/raising-white-worms.html

Equipment:

1.container with lid (ice cream pottel will be fine)

2.peat soil and organic compost

3.approx ¼ piece of bread soaked in milk

1st add small air wholes to lid

2nd fill container ¾ full with mixture of equal amounts peat and compost (peat is recommended but not necessarily required)

3rd dampen the soil to where you can almost ring water from it

4th place culture into container

5th soak ½ slice of bread, white recommended but not required, soaked in milk and place on top of soil

When the remaining bread shows signs of mold, remove and replace it with a fresh slice. Once established, a good culture will consume a slice of bread in about 36 to 48 hours. Now here is the nice part about using bread as a food for the worms. Once established, the worms will consume, and actually replace the bread slice. This means you do not have any “separation†task, just scoop up a clump of worms, and place them in water to rinse away any bread remnants, replace the cloudy water with fresh water, and baste them into the tanks. After a few months, the worm bedding may become fouled. You can tell this by seeing if the worms are “trying to exit the box by climbing up the sides. When this happens, start a second box culture by splitting the culture into a second box and adding a fresh batch of worm bedding to each box.

Hope that helps.

[Keri Anne]

...1st add small air wholes to lid...

LOL Tammy... don't you mean "holes"??

[Devon]

Thanx guys

[MRSkz]

lol well darn that spell check!!!

[jordan]

This is a couple of things I do that isn't mentioned on the websites. You would do these things when starting a new culture.

1. microwave the soil: this wil kill any insects or mites in the soil. and when you punch holes in the lid of your container 2. cut out piece of tissue paper (one piece big enough to cover all the holes),place it on top of the holes and cellotape the edges of the paper.

8)

this should stop the mites from invading your culture, nice and simple. unlike some of the crazy ideas i've read on the internet, such as making a moat of water around cultures

:lol:

jordan

[Wok]

I think you have missed one important thing as well Jordan

When microwaving the soil... make sure your partner is nowhere near the house when you do it. or they will make a meal out of you for putting dirt in the microwave :lol:

[Lucid]

A mate of mine suggested putting the soil on under gravel filter plates inside a fish tank, this keeps moisture in the tank and the soil just damp.

And then I have a peice of glass over whatever I am feeding them(bread or luncheon) and a lid on the tank aswell, keeps them warm and damp.

happy ittle worms = Happy, full fish

B

[alanmin4304]

Mites are good fish food.

[antwan]

as alan says, i think luncheon is a great food for them. I used bread for a long time and got average results, the other day i could only find a couple of worms, however when i added some luncheon, within a few days i have tonnes covering the stuff, they even like it more when it goes mouldy.

[caserole]

Ballistic said

And then I have a peice of glass over whatever I am feeding them(bread or luncheon) and a lid on the tank aswell, keeps them warm and damp.

I kind of question this info, white worms are best kept betwwen 10 and 14C to much colder they will stop breeding - warmer they get to hot and will try to escape before being cooked

The tank Ballistic uses must be just right or he wouldn't have worms, but if someone tried keeping them under a light hood on a hot tank well it may be a different story.

Another thing is feeding bread soaked in MILK the milk Will cause your culture to go off more quickly. I know, lost a dam good culture this way .

Just soak bread in water and very there diet rather then adding milk.

But then you must remember the golden rule :bounce: if it ain't broken....