I've seen the repeated warnings about feeding compost worms and iffy warnings about European Nightcrawlers. What I haven't been able to find is any detail on what the problem is. I've spent some time searching and haven't been able to find a single study that describes what the problem is. I haven't even found an account of a person who has actually lost a snake that was being fed exclusively any type of worm where the death can be attributed to the worms.

I have a lot of questions and thought maybe someone here can supply some detail. Is it a toxic compound that the worm produces? If so, what is it? Or, is it likely the worms were feeding on rotting material that is very high in a type of virulent bacteria? Or, is it possibly due to a contaminant that got on the worm before feeding. Is the death quick after eating a few worms, or does it take days, weeks or months? Is the problem only with one specie of worms or more? Has anyone here actually lost a snake they know was killed by eating a particular type of worm?

It would seem to me that if there is a real and serious issue that there would be some kind of detailed information on the problem. Lot's of beginners would feed worms without ever coming to the internet to find these details. I would expect to see reports of people with dying snakes that just ate a bunch of worms coming here for help. I can't find anything other than anecdotal accounts that are usually more of the " I've heard that it's bad". Heck, I fed some white worms before learning of the worm "problem" and the garters gobbled them down. They are easy to culture so I can always go that route, but I think red worms would be more nutritious.

Since I'm going to culture a worm for the snakes, it would sure make it a lot easier to culture a worm that is prolific and with a wide temperature tolerance. It would also be nice to find some reliable information on what exactly the problem with some worms is. If no one knows, I will eventually set up my own experiments and find out, but I can't do that with the few garters I have at this time. So, if you have a link to a good source explaining this problem I would greatly appreciate it.