WalMart Worms?

[d_virginiana]

We get ours from a bin in our basement... Only problem is that after about fifty generations of vermicompost-worms, the nice little nightcrawlers from our backyard have turned into giant mutants that give whatever they're being fed to a run for its money!

[RedSidedSPR]

Yikes... scary...

I just buy my nightcrawlers, i don't seem to have many. Walmart is now my source.

I've been trying to find earthworms for my baby, but no luck.

Doesn't help when a tornado covers your best spots with trees.

[ssssnakeluvr]

We get ours from a bin in our basement... Only problem is that after about fifty generations of vermicompost-worms, the nice little nightcrawlers from our backyard have turned into giant mutants that give whatever they're being fed to a run for its money!

I have caught huge mutant nightcrawlers in Kansas... flip out when touched and huge!

[RedSidedSPR]

How big?

[ssssnakeluvr]

close to a foot long

[kibakiba]

That's how ours are. They're huge. After we feed them some coffee grounds, bone meal, calcium supp., aand old veggies, they become giant. My largest one was 6 inches, 13 when it was spread out. Its almost as if the food is steroids for them. Haha.

[RedSidedSPR]

Mine, are 6 inches... I thought that was normal...

[kibakiba]

It is normal. They get very large when you feed them a lot, some are short and stubby, long and thin, long and fat, etc. I keep mine until they've eaten what I give them, and have had a little time to grow before feeding them to my snakes. It makes it cheaper, because they get scraps (and I get the left over poop), saving a couple cents on the garbage bill, I don't have to buy so many, because they're so large that my snakes get (usually end up feeding only 2 to my whole 12). You don't have to do that though. There are downsides to keeping them for a long time. I hit 60 worms (breeding) and they all just randomly died. It was quite weird.

[Spankenstyne]

It is normal. They get very large when you feed them a lot, some are short and stubby, long and thin, long and fat, etc. I keep mine until they've eaten what I give them, and have had a little time to grow before feeding them to my snakes. It makes it cheaper, because they get scraps (and I get the left over poop), saving a couple cents on the garbage bill, I don't have to buy so many, because they're so large that my snakes get (usually end up feeding only 2 to my whole 12). You don't have to do that though. There are downsides to keeping them for a long time. I hit 60 worms (breeding) and they all just randomly died. It was quite weird.

Could possibly be a case of protein poisoning? I have been trying to read up on raising them as feeders & have seen a few warnings about it. I have no actual experience with them yet though so take that into consideration, but what I've read so far seems to point towards it being a case of excess food buildup in the substrate over time that can then suddenly wipe out an entire colony. There were a few recommendations to not harvest any worms while there is feed still on the surface to avoid mixing it in and being unable to monitor how much is uneaten.. Anyways just throwing that out there as a possible cause, but again with no basis of experience from me.

I'd love to hear some experiences others have had with raising feeder worms.

[RedSidedSPR]

I was thinking about breeding them too, although I can get them so cheap, it would probably be better to breed guppies... they AREN'T cheap. not to mention I have to drive 20mins to get them.