Worm colonies?

[KephrenJorgensen]

I would like to start a worm colony in the spring, as well as a slug colony. I just have no experience in it. I've found some useful information on slugs, but not much on worms. Does anyone here have any advice they can give?

[guidofatherof5]

Which worms?
Sorry I can't give any advise on the slugs.

[KephrenJorgensen]

Earthworms/Dew worms/Nightcrawlers. I would mainly be using them for feeding. I know a lot of people use them for composting.

[guidofatherof5]

Have you searched "YouTube" for any how to videos. I think there is a difference in raising night crawlers and compost worms(which are bad for garters).

[Steveo]

Compost worms are easy to propogate but they will kill a garter... I've never considered raising nightcrawlers because they're already far cheaper per meal than pinkies.

[Invisible Snake]

Interesting Facts & Information: tourism, travel, culture, language, business, people. » Blog Archive » Raising Canadian Nightcrawlers (http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/canada/raising-canadian-nightcrawlers/2876)

Breeding Nightcrawlers. (http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?100928-Breeding-Nightcrawlers)

[Greg'sGarters]

I'm the opposite of Steve because I can't give any advice on the worms. For slugs, it's really easy. I did it when I was 7. You just take some slugs, stick em in a tank (I'd use about a 5.5g or 10g) with sphagnum moss and coconut fiber substrate. Keep the substrate REALLY high (right in between damp and wet, there should easily be 100% relative humidity) by misting 2-3 times a day with spring/RO/DI water. Add A LOT of hiding places, about 3/4 of the tank should just be covered in rocks, branches and quarter logs (I take 1/2 logs from the pet store and split them, vertically, down the middle). Keep them at about 67 degrees, and dark. Throw some lettuce in there once a week for them to eat and watch magic happen. They do lay eggs.

[Ctah_Lu]

That´s interesting, i have already caught some slugs, but have a few questions, theres a risk of parasites living on the slugs? (really dangerous parasites), if yes, how can i prevent the parasites pass to my snake or how to deworm the slugs? , any help or info about this is very appreciated, thanks.

[thamneil]

I would think that like worms, parasites would be less of an issue with slugs. Someone with more slug experience is sure to chime in. I would recommend "purging" the slugs if you have the slightest worry of toxins.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Earthworm Care Sheet - Earthworms as food for reptiles and amphibians - Feeder Insect culture care - The Reptilian.co.uk (http://www.thereptilian.co.uk/care_sheets/Earthworm_care_sheet_feeder_insect_culture_care.ht m)

[Jeff B]

I would love to have a giant earthworm bin or bins to have a constant supply of worms. Oh wait, I do......... it's called Walmart.

[Kantar]

there is a natural worm colony in my sisters front yard, on any given summer night (if its cool enough) I can pluck a dozen out of the ground, my sister doesn't mind, she says it helps getting rid of all the bumps from her lawn

[Artic Exotics]

Ok so up here where i am in AK our walmart only supplies the worms in summer. Not in winter at all. So what ive done is i got ahold of a batch of canadian NC's from steve (many thanks again) and one of these

The Worm Factory® 5-Tray Recycled Plastic Worm Composter - Green - Worm Composters at Hayneedle (http://www.hayneedle.com/sale/cascadewormfactory5traywormcompostergreen.cfm?sour ce=pla&adtype=pla&kw=&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=CAD011-1&gclid=CJTMntT3xbUCFel7QgodtjMATQ)

And yes its true its a composter bin for redworms but it works really well and Ill tell you why.

Nightcrawlers actually borrow pretty deep out in the wild. This thing is 28" deep and the worms can climb up and down the whole thing. I keep this out in the solarium which has about 60 degree highs at best and some pretty low lows at night. Because of my latitude to their native Canada i dont sweat the lows too much, as its pretty much the same temperature and daylight fluctuations as they would have in the wild (im pretty sure nightcrawlers are not aware of political boundaries between Alaska and Canada lol).

I use coconut fiber and newspaper strips for bedding in each section. they seem to like this.

Every now and then usually when i go to harvest for my garters, i will notice that they have chewed through their collard greens and I replace those. dark leafy vegtables are high in calcium and whats good for the worms is good for the snakes ;-)

every week or so the bottom tray will fill with excess water and well earthworm poo. Use the spicket and collect this for your house plants. they will love it. if you dont have houseplants sell it to a nursery, this is called "worm tea" and people will pay for it.

I have once this season needed to replace the eco-earth newspaper blend bedding because the worms completely composted it. I sold this blackened soil to a green house for $15 and they want more as soon as its ate through again. It is seriously great stuff for plants.

My worms are so ridiculously easy to care for.
1.) I drain with the spicket once a week, takes a minute. this keeps the environment clean and failure to do so is my personal opinion on why so many people are having a hard time keeping their worms even though they keep ideal temps, think about it worms breathe through their skin, if they are breathing in their own liquid poo all the time....

2) I throw in a couple dark leafy vegetables and a little CLEAN eggshell. Im not sure exactly what the eggshell does for them but a lot of people do this and im just going to throw them away anyway so why not?

3.) keep the substrate moist, you just cant let them dry out. In this system the drain at the bottom will keep you from over-watering and drowning them so the system makes this stupid easy.

4.) change their bedding when it gets black, hard and crumbly. about once every 3 months or once a season. This is the most labor intensive part of the whole process but it only takes less than an hour.

Now heres the coolest part. About a month ago I thought for sure that I had developed some sort of parasitic infection in my bin because I had just thousands of these clearish white threads all over in my substrate. So I took a scoop out and brought it to my local nursery. They didnt know what it was either, but we figured that it was the larval stage of something so I reared it in a separate container in my solarium to see if we would be able to indentify the "infection". It was the "larval stage" of my nightcrawlers themselves! So now I have these ridiculously small nightcrawlers I am raising alongside with my adults. Apparently my colony is breeding and I'm not even sure how i got them to erm.. "do it". How exciting is that?!

[guidofatherof5]

Scroll down in this article for a great photo of worms making more worms.

Earthworm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthworm)

[-MARWOLAETH-]

I'd like to try and see if a box or bucket that's been filled will soil and buried in the ground up to the lid would work as a suitable worm culture.

[KephrenJorgensen]

I was thinking of a similar idea Will. Just have a fine screen at the bottom as opposed to a wall. The only problem would be changing the substrate.

[Mommy2many]

I have kept slugs for the winter. Use a chinese food container, fill with dirt, add lettuce and place in the fridge. You can also collect eggs when you find them. Pull them out every so often, add fresh lettuce, air and warmth. Stick back in fridge. If you collect enough, you won't even have to worry about them reproducing. They will live in the fridge all winter.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

I was thinking of a similar idea Will. Just have a fine screen at the bottom as opposed to a wall. The only problem would be changing the substrate.
Throw in some leaves and let the worms make their own substrate:D

[Ctah_Lu]

I have kept slugs for the winter. Use a chinese food container, fill with dirt, add lettuce and place in the fridge. You can also collect eggs when you find them. Pull them out every so often, add fresh lettuce, air and warmth. Stick back in fridge. If you collect enough, you won't even have to worry about them reproducing. They will live in the fridge all winter.

How many slugs are enough and what kind of slugs do you have?, I have colected only 5 slugs and my slugs look like this:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BI4Mprsi1dQ/TFMcVN_ZRvI/AAAAAAAAAGE/IeOStufFDpw/s1600/babosa1ik1.jpg

[Mommy2many]

I collect them in the fall; as many as I can get. I am only feeding one Dekayi and she will eat earthworms as well. You can also use a styrofoam cooler as a holding place. Just fill with dirt, leaves and feed them lettuce. Keep them cool or they will die and rot. Make sure that the lid is on tight (I used packing tape) cause they will get out :)

Slugs need to be kept cool (they do better that way) but cannot freeze or you get slug mush :(

What kind of snake are you feeding?

Also, my slugs look like yours; I also get small black ones. Mine are small to medium. I live in the North East, we do not have MONSTER slugs here :)

[KephrenJorgensen]

I live in the North West, and we DO have monster slugs. !2 inch banana slugs crossing the road everywhere. Ive been thinking of using these slugs and just using the younger ones after they breed. I suppose having a few different species could be beneficial to the snakes. There are so many slugs around here that I honestly dont need a colony, it would just be more convenient if I didnt have to go out and obtain so many slugs from somewhere other than my fridge :P I'm feeding an adult female ordinoides, she readily eats anything I give her (pinkies, safe fish, worms, slugs, snails, frogs/tadpoles). Her 3 remaining babies are feeding on fish and worms with a little calcium and multivitamin supplement right now.

[guidofatherof5]

If the diet is so varied I would drop off the frogs/tadpoles to reduce the chance of parasites plus it helps the frog population. They can use all the help they can get. You can still use them for scenting purposes if needed.

[KephrenJorgensen]

I've honestly only used the frogs a few times in 2 years. She just has so much fun catching them, and I hate to take away her fun. When I did use them they were young tree frogs that I had kept for a few weeks and fed gutloaded crickets. Her staple foods are fish and worms and slugs, but she gets a couple pinkies every once in a while. She gains a lot of weight from snails, so I only use them as treats. I was using the frogs as treats I guess too. She would try to eat tadpoles, but could never catch them. I think she successfully ate 3 frogs, 0 tadpoles, it may have been more or less on the frogs, and the rest were just too fast for her and were let go.