Needing help!! Starting a Worm Farm

[drewnation]

Okay so I have decided I need to start a worm farm. I have considered doing dubias but I just can't do it (fiancé and I both hate roaches lol well more like she cant stand them -.-). Here's what I need help with deciding : Red wigglers or European Nightcrawlers. I currently have 2 Pacman frogs and a pyxie frog. I also have a yellow dart frog i think he's a Phyllobates terribilis (just acquired recently). How many worms would I need to start with if I was feeding out of the farm around once a week? How many of you guys actually have your own worm farm?

[Bombina Bob]

Hi there
You can keep these worms in a ten gallon tank with garden soil and NO ECO EARTH! you can feed the worms bread,friuts and veggies, othorwords compost, i hydrate my worms by pouring a liter of dechlorinated water every week, i would start with ten to twenty worms and when they reproduce, both worms will get pregnant and you will get tiny yellow worms, they would be good for dart frogs but i think that only newborn worms would be good, otherwords, pacmans and pixies love them! i keep 20 worms in an icecream bin and feed them compost every week

[demon amphibians]

earth worms may also take an extended time to breed and grow. But when you get a bunch of them going they are absolutely worth it.

When i was a kid. me and my parents would flood our yard during the day and at night we would go out with flash lights and bare feet. The worms would just come to the surface and lay in the grass. we went bare foot because if you can't see them sometimes you would feel them with your toes ha ha .you have to be fast or they will shoot back under ground. We used to catch these big ol fat worms by the hundreds for fishing bate.

[Sandy Bear]

I really depends on how old/big your frogs are, but I recommend starting out with at least 1 pound of worms, (800-1200 worms), for setting up a new tub. Also give them some time to get established before you start feeding them out. Red Wrigglers will double their population every 90 days, and are probably the most prolific.

I colonize my worms in big rubbermaid/sterelite tubs, the bigger the better, but it shouldn't be so big that you can't handle it. Most of my worm tubs are set up in this size of tub, or a bit larger:
68L Rubbermaid Roughneck (Grey) (10 Pack) at Walmart.ca

I keep Red Wrigglers(3 tubs), European Nightcrawlers (2 tubs), and African Nightcrawlers (2 tubs). There are a few other species of composting worms that are easy to breed as well.
The Red Wrigglers are by far the easiest, and I recommend them first for the first worm colony.
I recommend setting up two tubs, just in case of an accident, you wouldn't want to crash your colony and be left with nothing.
Out of the three types of worms I keep, I'd say that the European Nightcrawlers gave me the most difficulties. I've crashed them twice.

For your dart frog, I'd recommend culturing Flightless Fruit Flies, or Bean Weevils, or something similar.

[fish4all]

The agree with Sandy that bigger is better to a point. When first starting out, you will get a lot more production from smaller cultures because the worms will find each other must faster. 800-1200 worms is a minimum I would start with if you want to be able to start feeding a lot sooner than later.

I started with about 200 red wigglers. Made 2 bins, rather small. One was a shoe box, the other was a boot box, both plastic with holes drilled in the bottom. The bins took 8 months to show signs of growing. I now have well over 20K in 3 bins, 1 sweater box about 2 gallon, 1 taller one abut 6 gallon like Sandy and one largish one about 10 gallon that is fairly shallow but long and wide. I could probably have a couple million if I set up big enough bins.

They are great composters for sure but you don't have to feed them scraps. I use coconut coir in one bin instead of newspaper and scraps. This bin is my indoor plant bin. I want the bin to be rich in nutrients so I feed the worms accordingly. Egg layer mash, pulverized egg shells, baby cereal, corn meal, pulverized oatmeal and the veggies I throw in are always calcium and iron rich.

I guess you could call this a gut load regiment for feeding to pets. I call it the best soil I have ever used for houseplants.

I have never kept Europeans nor Africans but I would try the Africans before any other because they are supposed to so close to the same as keeping Red Wigglers. The only main difference is the African night crawlers can not take the cold that red Wigglers do. I keep my Red wigglers in the garage and the temp is the same as the outside. Winter they don't do much but they do work a little. African night crawlers would die from everything I have read about them.

[TheHornedToad]

My worm bin hasn't been growing very fast but i only started out with 200 worms in a 30-50 gallon tub. My frogs really like european nightcrawlers which are in my bin, especially my african clawed frogs. The substrate for my worms is peat, I wouldnt use newspapers because then the worms will eat the paper and that will then go into your frog. Make sure to keep the soil moist if you do get a worm bin, then the worms will eat off the surface and it will be easier for you to pick one off for feeding. You can also raise springtails in your worm bin mine is infested with them lol.

[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.

[TheHornedToad]

I probably wont use newspapers they would only be used as a food source if I were to use them, and they cant add much nutrition to my worms lol.

[Sandy Bear]

The composting worms need a "Nitrogen" and a "Carbon" food sources.

The "Nitrogen" is the food scraps, fruits, veggies, breads, etc....
The "Carbon" is the paper products; paper, cardboard, corrugated cardboard, egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, paper towels, newspapers, flyers, burlap, etc....

The worms eat the paper bedding, it also helps neutralize any acidity in the bin caused by the food scraps. Worms, just like frogs, breath and absorb moisture though their skin. Egg shells really help with neutralizing the acidity in the bin too. Lots of people will crush them up, I like to leave them in little stacks, I find the worms like to hide in them, which is convenient when you are looking for worms to feed off. Corrugated cardboard is really good for that too, the worms like to burrow into it.

[fish4all]

Sandy is right, you have to have a carbon source and something that will act as the bedding for the worms. I use a lot of coconut coir in mine as bedding and a carbon source.

I do crush the egg shells but only because I have heard the worms are aided by having some sort of hard particle they eat and use to grind up their food in their stomach.

I have started bins with nothing but cardboard, newspaper and egg cartons without adding anything to the bin for 2 months. The worms worked everything although it was slower than the bins I added scraps to.

The worms will not have anything in them that is going to harm the frogs or other pets unless you put it in there. The particle size is so small that impaction shouldn't be an issue with anything the worms would normally eat. Paper material is eaten when it has started to break down from natural bacteria and molds.

[Sandy Bear]

If you get into African Nightcrawlers at all, from what I've been told by other worm farmers, is that they like a lot of "outdoor" materials. I give mine all the "reject" leaf litter that I make in the fall. It all gets baked in the oven prior to giving it to the worms.

I've also bought "C-Clamps" to place around the lids of my tubs for my African Nightcrawlers as well. These guys are "bad worms" IMO. I've tried duct taping the lid shut, they got out. The light is only a mild deterrent for them. African Nightcrawlers do not like to be disturbed, it will make them crazy for days to weeks when they do. I started culturing mine almost a year ago now, and they've only just started to calm down.
I bet I lost at least half the worms I started with, in the first month that I bought them, just from them escaping the tubs. When worms escape, they usually die within 2-3 feet of the worm tub, they dehydrate quickly.

One thing I was told, is if you have a roach or cricket tub (or other insect), you can put the used egg cartons from that tub into your worm tub for them to consume. Don't do this. You could end up crashing your worm colony.

Used Coffee grounds/filters and used tea bags are also a favourite for worms to eat.

[TheHornedToad]

My worms seem to be doing fine without paper products they have been going for 6 months now. I only put a little food at a time so the food doesn't change the ph of the soil.

[TheHornedToad]

I use a specially blended food source from wormetc and they say that is a complete food for worms. Maybe that is why my worms are doing ok.