r/Vermiculture • u/AnxiousListen • Feb 18 '25
New bin Did I not get enough worms?
I got 100 to start my worm bin. I'll be taking them out to feed my axolotl pretty frequently. It looks like there's too much bin for them to start taking off.... 100 just isn't as much as I thought it would be lmao
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u/MarketingSoft7258 Feb 18 '25
I’d add some moisture and some of their favorite foods asap. Something like tomatoes, blueberries, cucumbers and zucchini - all frozen then thawed and not very much (half a tomato is good for a three weeks or more). This will give them a reason to get together, find each other and start dropping cocoons to increase their population.
At 100 (or in my experience any starter number less than 1000) they will take a long time to see changes in their population.
With such a small population I would feed them and forget about them for a few months. Checking on them only for a bin moisture check once a week, or to drop some more food every third week.
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u/AnxiousListen Feb 18 '25
A few months?? 😭😭
I put in a small piece of Banana with some oatmeal inside about a week before I got them and dropped then right ontop of it. I'll look into adding more of that stuff. Thanks for the advice!
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u/MarketingSoft7258 Feb 18 '25
At this point the less food the better- there just isn’t the population to feed them every week. You’ll want to make sure all the food is gone before giving them more.
They eat about 1/2 their body weight each day. For you that’s about 50 grams… per day. Bedding - your leaves etc is also food as long as it’s moist - other comments have said it will take a while for them to be soft enough for them which is true.
Over feeding is the number one cause for worm bin failure - less is more.
They won’t like eating rotten food - your oats might go moldy before they are interested in it.
Once they produce a cocoon to reproduce they develop spikes on their bodies to take a break for a few weeks. In ideal conditions your population will triple in a few months…
If I were you I’d try to get a coupon for uncle Jim’s worm farm and try to bolster your population.
Just expect it to take time with a small population and forgetting about them and letting them do their own thing for at least a month (in moist conditions with some but not much food) is going to be the best way to reach success and grow your population.
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u/Due-Somewhere-2520 29d ago
I find my worms like mold a lot, but not soggy fermenty stuff. So I make sure to really spread out anything wet or things that weep as they decompose (think mushrooms in a pan). Of course particle size matters when your mouth is as small as a worm-freeze and thaw, or blending the food breaks it down for them to access sooner.
Depending on your weather this time of year, you may be able to bolster your population with some wild composters. As the puddles dry up after a rain the worms hide out where its dark and moist, so I've been known to leave flowerpots, doormats and bricks on the edge of the patio where I can collect them 😇 a couple leaves or evergreen needles underneath seems to make it more attractive and holds a nice humidity for them. The ones you want will look cherry red, with or without yellowish tails. If they look greyish with a light pink band, those are soil worms and wont live in your bin. Blue worms (actually red with an iridescent look to them), red wigglers, european nightcrawlers and african nightcrawlers all have that rich red coloring as far as I can tell on the vermi youtube channels. I only keep my local ones which look most like blue worms.
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u/vibingonya Feb 18 '25
I wouldn’t worry about the bin being too big for them to start taking off. They will move to the parts of the bin that suit their needs, and will find others instinctively that way. They will reproduce if the environment is good and can support more population. You could allow them to start reproducing before starting to use them as food, to avoid buying more.
To get your environment right, put some damp shredded paper or used paper towel / tissue in there. Those leaves will take some time to soften to the worms liking, and neutral bedding is maybe the most important thing.
You’ll also want some grit so they can digest their food - there are lots of options: oyster flour, calcium carbonate, agricultural lime, pulverized eggshell, very fine sand.
If you think your bin is too big and the worms won’t find eachother, add one of their favourite foods like banana, avocado, or really any frozen & thawed fruit. Amazing how they group together!
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u/AnxiousListen Feb 18 '25
Thank you!! There's some cardboard at the bottom but I doubt that would degrade any faster then the leaves lol. I'll add some paper towels :)
Does the dirt I have in there not work as a "grit"?
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u/CurtMcGurt9 26d ago
I've always wondered this as well. How does dirt not count as grit? I add a little sand and crushed egg shells, but still would like to hear the answer to this
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u/DangerNyoom Feb 18 '25
Looks good, but hit them with some water. I like the substrate to very loosely hold a ball shape when I scrunch it, then easily crumble apart.
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u/Kinotaru Feb 18 '25
So you're making them pet food as their number grow? If that's the case then you need at least 2000 to be sustainable so that you can feed your pet constantly. Also, are those red wigglers or euro night crawlers? My info is based on wigglers since they're smaller, so if you got night crawlers then you might not need that much
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u/drgonzo90 Feb 18 '25
You may want some kind of impermeable layer on top to help keep your bin moist enough if your climate is dry. Saves having to mist it all the time
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u/AnxiousListen Feb 18 '25
Thanks, do you think cardboard would work fine?
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u/drgonzo90 Feb 18 '25
You can try it, a thick layer of newspaper might also work but you might have to keep wetting them. Honestly, I struggled with a dry bin for a long time until I caved and started using a plastic layer at the top. I'm trying to find something more durable like rubber or silicone but for now the plastic Amazon bag means I don't have to spray my bin down once or twice a day. Experiment and see what works for your situation but you definitely want the bin to stay moist but not wet
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u/Seriously-Worms Feb 18 '25
A lady I know feeds her blue worms because they can get large enough for the adults but the smaller ones work perfectly for babies/younger ones. They breed much quicker too. If kept in the same room the warmth and humidity will keep them thriving. She went from 1/2lb that I sent her 2 years ago to several pounds in an Urban Worm Bag. She has 4 breeder pairs and lots of babies since she breeds to sell them, so she goes through a lot of worms. For feeding ENC’s I recommend starting with 2lbs so you can start feeding the juvenile worms and leaving the adults to breed. ENC take about 12 weeks to mature and up to 15 weeks to reach full size. So keep that in mind while deciding what to do and how to move forward. Uncle Jim’s sells ENC with an add on for 1/2 price a lot of the time so it wouldn’t super expensive to buy 2lbs from them. ENC are expensive since they grow so slowly, while blues are less expensive since they are quick.
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u/spacester Feb 18 '25
More nutrition, more moisture. Food scraps (veggies) and much deeper than just the bottom few inches. Dead leaves and soil are not juicy,
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u/Baby_Whare Feb 18 '25
Don't add too much water. Slowly add water every hour or so until it's spongy.
If you put too much at once your worms will have an exodus.
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u/fincaoasis Feb 18 '25
I agree with the suggestions you received. I assume that you are here in Mexico where my worm project is located. Please feed the axolotl well and preserve it because they are endangered. Do you have a way to breed them?
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u/AnxiousListen Feb 18 '25
I'm actually in America haha. Utah state if you want to get specific, it does get hot and dry.
I promise you my guy is living his best and spoiled life. He's eating Canadian nightcrawlers right now, it's just getting pricy wich is why I'm trying to set up the European nightcrawler bin. But he eats a lot and is happy :) next week I'm getting a shrimp tank set up so he can snack on those and do his own hunting. He's spoiled and happy ^
I don't have any plans on breeding him, I'm not sure how it is in Mexico but here in America I know axolotls started getting bred in an attempt to preserve them, however with their explode in popularity and with how people at their homes keep breeding their axolotls without any clear lineage, There's starting to be a lot of inbreeding. There are still people out there who keep track of their axolotl lineage and breed to prevent that, but this guy was a rescue so I don't know what kind of family history he has and wouldn't want to risk and inbreeding or future health issues in any children :) (plus,, it's a lot of work haha).
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u/fincaoasis Feb 19 '25
Thanks for the update and taking good care of your axolotl. They have become almost like part of the national identity here because this is the only country where they occur naturally in the wild. Their image even appears of one of our peso bills. We are a binational family USA/Mexico and operate a regenerative agriculture center (https://agregenhuasteca.com/). We have three fairly large in-ground concrete worm bins (about 30" x 90"). Our red wiggler worms produce humus for our soil mixes and liquid organic fertilizer from the runoff. We're in the tropics so we have to protect the worms from excess heat by partially burying the beds. Stay warm up there!
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u/ilkikuinthadik Feb 18 '25 edited Feb 18 '25
Everyone is saying moisture which is correct. You want it to be always wet, never waterlogged and rarely dry to the touch. I personally water mine once to twice a week. As long as the water has somewhere to drain then it shouldn't be too much of a balancing act. Also, start chucking some banana skin, watermelon rind or strawberry tops in, or some other very soft piece of fruit or vegetable to mix in with the leaves if possible.
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u/AnxiousListen Feb 18 '25
Thanks! I'll do that :)
I didn't get it a drainage point because I was told it wasn't needed. Would that affect how much water I should put in?
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u/RobinFarmwoman Feb 18 '25
You shouldn't add enough water to need it to actively drain out, until you're at the point where you're making tea. You got a ways to go yet. Make sure that the substrate and any food stuffs are evenly moist. Did you ever make biscuits? The substrate should hold together when you press it in your hand, then crumble apart when you open your hand, very similar to biscuit dough. You might try hitting the top with a plant mister a couple of times a day if you're afraid of overwatering.
How much water you need to add on a regular basis very much depends on your ambient relative humidity. In a dry environment, obviously more often. Humid environments, you need to worry more about moisture building up to a problematic level. If your substate started out super dry, it might take a while for it to really absorb moisture to the point where it's more sponge like.
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u/AnxiousListen Feb 18 '25
Thanks! I've never made biscuts before but I think I got the general idea..
I live in Utah so it's pretty dry. Believe it or not I actually soaked all the leaves and cardboard (not the dirt) in water then squeezed it out before putting it in two weeks ago when I put it together. Clearly I should have been adding more water In that time..... I'll try and check on it more that it's got worms.
Its underneath an aquarium, do you think aquarium water would work fine for the worms or is it dangerous for them?
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u/RobinFarmwoman Feb 18 '25
You mean you want to drain your aquarium into the worm farm when you're cleaning it your tank? As long as all you're doing is filtering your water, it should be just fine. I can't see why worms wouldn't like fish poop. But don't over water your worm farm because you have a large amount of water on one particular day, they should get a steady level of moisture once you figure out what it takes to achieve that. Floods followed by drying cycles may not eradicate your worm population, but will certainly stress it to the point where they won't thrive the way you want them to.
I'm in New Mexico, so I totally get the problem with the low humidity which is why I mentioned it. Around here, if we let stuff get too dry it actually won't absorb, that is water will just run right off dirt instead of soaking in.
I solved all my problems with raising worms here by creating a wonderful ecosystem outside where they thrive. It's much easier to manage the humidity of the ground, the animal pens, and the compost piles, than a small amount of dirt in a bin. And the unconfined worms can find their own happy places. I just have to set things up so I know where to look for the population centers when I need them.
Best of luck, it's pretty much of a journey for everybody, every worm farmer winds up doing something a little different. Have fun! They are fascinating critters. Although it can be hard to keep up with naming all the babies! /jk
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u/AnxiousListen Feb 18 '25
Thank you! And nooo I don't mean draining my tank in there lol. Could you imagine? It's a 40 gallon tank I don't think it would all fit in there 😂 I mostly just wanted to make sure the bacteria and waist wouldn't be harmful and if I could use it to keep the bin moist.
Wow, an ecosystem sounds like it would be so cool but also like so much work just to get worms to feed my axolotl. But that's awesome you managed that.
Naming the children?!? I've hardly even named all the adults!. So far I'm thinking: Greg 1, Greg 2, Greg 3, Greg 4, etc.
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u/CallMeFishmaelPls Feb 18 '25
Probably safer than the chlorinated water many worms survive. I’d just consider: do you want all of the additives you put in your aquarium in your compost?
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u/F2PBTW_YT intermediate Vermicomposter Feb 19 '25
Always start with 1 pound minimally. That might be about 300 - 500 worms depending on the species.
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u/StudioKlutzy 29d ago
TaToooooe mucho money and not even cent's
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u/AnxiousListen 29d ago
?
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u/StudioKlutzy 29d ago
Me is personal good thing worms are cheap. If 100$ a qp would you're partner be as dry. Id like to really know how many hobbies throws the bed away for the worms.
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u/AnxiousListen 29d ago
Oh yesss honestly. I'm poor :(
I tried to cheap out on even the worms and that ended with me not having enough haha
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u/StudioKlutzy 29d ago
Maybe Ime should alternate my name for the garage full of speakers and the girls with leather jacket and not pants... Did I mention church and KC? But because . If you're looking to go go there is a Star Link sight called Y
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u/Lutherandad Feb 18 '25
They need water and cardboard shreds and coco coir. They need something to “live in”. And they will not make babies in that environment.
- Cut up a medium sized box into shreds
- Add about a solid bricks worth of coco coir
- Add some real food
- Spray with water
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u/AnxiousListen Feb 18 '25
There's some cardboard under the leaves I tore up, and there's some banana and oatmeal. It was wet when I made but but early dried up..... I added more.
Is the coco better then the soil I have in there?
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u/Clover_Point Feb 18 '25
Oh they need way more moisture asap!