Gut Loading worms

[Selkielass]

Well, Abby is eating well and growing visibly, but so far, she refuses anything that isn't live and wiggling. This somewhat limits my options as feeder guppies are only sporadically available, and when I offered her a live pinky it scared her!
I don't want to give her goldfish, and while minnows are easy to get, the parasite issue scares me! (Abby came up clean and healthy on her test results!)

So I'm looking at Earthworms as her mainstay, and I'm trying to figure out a good diet for them, so that Abby gets as much as possible out of them.

I found this recipe for homemade earthworm food at Worm Composting (http://wormcompostingblog.com)

The Simplest Advanced Grain Formula Mix You Can Make:
As with any grain mix, sprinkle on top and even mist with some water. I personally leave my fishing worm bins uncovered; hence I place some moist shredded newspaper over my grain. Be consistent on feeding the grain as needed whether once a day or once every couple days.
The recipe:
2 Cups Oatmeal
1 Cup Cornmeal
1 Dozen Egg Shells
Many websites state you need to cook your eggs with the shells in order to use in your worm bin. I have never had an issue by rinsing cracked egg shells than have not been cooked with warm water thoroughly. Allow them to dry out well.
Add the egg shells to you blender and pulverize them to a powdery mix. Slowly add your other ingredients. You may need to shake the blender or rattle it back and forth as this is a dry mixture in order to continue mixing and breaking down to a powdery mix.


Does anyone here add reptile vitamins to worm food to 'gut load' as they do with crickets? I'm going to make a fraction of this recipe up at a time to maximize freshness, but I'm open to suggestions for improving it.

[drache]

sounds like a spice grinder would be an easier way to pulverize this stuff; it's what I use to turn müsli into roach food

[Selkielass]

Museli? That's Classy roach food!
When I was studying Entomology at Michigan State University, the Entomology department maintained their cockroach colonies in screened bins of dog food.

[ConcinusMan]

Does anyone here add reptile vitamins to worm food to 'gut load' as they do with crickets? I'm going to make a fraction of this recipe up at a time to maximize freshness, but I'm open to suggestions for improving it.

Yes, I do gut load worms but often people don't give worms the credit they deserve when it comes to nutrition. Many people are worried about calcium but earthworms often have MORE calcium (or about the same) than a mouse with bones!

And then there's salmon. Most people think of salmon being more nutritious but it's not true. Calcium is much lower and the amount of energy (calories) is also much lower than worms!

Gut loading worms is easy. First off, a good compost provides much nutrition. Secondly, all you have to do is sprinkle some powdered reptile supplements into the compost. It ends up inside the worms. If your snake will eat garden slugs, collect them in early morning after they've had a good meal of greens. Much calcium and iron in them at that time.

I prefer to stay away from a main diet of worms not because of nutrition, but because they are rather expensive if you have to buy them, and they go right through the snakes quickly, and make a big stinky mess.