what sort of worms to add?

[siobhanc54]

I recently received some tropical woodlice (thanks ryan) and they are thriving and doing a fairly good job in the soil, but now I would like to add a couple of worms to help them out.
What sort of worms to add, are normal garden worms ok? Do you need to do anything other than give them a quick wash before introducing them? I have a large back garden and only have to turn a bit of soil and find loads but will they be safe?

[Bumblebee]

After some searching I finally found the thread I was looking for about worms in tanks Or well, its more of a woodlice/worm thread but might still have something valuable information, apparently branding worms is better than normal earthworms, since earthworms seem to be more sensitive to heat

petsnails.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=7986

[siobhanc54]

Thanks for that, I did try do a search but no results came up.
The good news is in my garden we have a huge composter and there are thousands of these worms in there (don't know how they got there) so have a supply already

[crossless]

I'm planning to buy few compost worms, I read that they can't stand more heat than those which you can dig from ground in summer. Soon it's time to my eye doctor so I'll buy them when I got bak from there. And make them nice little jar to spend first few weeks.

[vallery]

I have garden worms in a few of my native snail tanks. One per tank. I got them were I collected the snails.

But they cause the soil to be lumpy and snail eggs get stuck in the lumps and couldn't possibly dig their way out. So I have had to gently try to get the eggs out of the lumps and place them in a small pot.

Should I simply remove these worms and forget about putting any worms in? Is there another type of worm I could place in the tanks that won't cause this?

I just wanted to have native worms for these tanks to keep it as natural to the native snails as possible, which are Cepaea and Heath and Oxychilus alliarus (the oxychilus alliarus eggs are impossible to separate from the lumps because they are so tiny .

Any help would be appreciated.
Thank You.
vallery

[feelahthetigress]

Feb 21, 2013 21:27:26 GMT vallery said:

I have garden worms in a few of my native snail tanks. One per tank. I got them were I collected the snails.

But they cause the soil to be lumpy and snail eggs get stuck in the lumps and couldn't possibly dig their way out. So I have had to gently try to get the eggs out of the lumps and place them in a small pot.

Should I simply remove these worms and forget about putting any worms in? Is there another type of worm I could place in the tanks that won't cause this?

I just wanted to have native worms for these tanks to keep it as natural to the native snails as possible, which are Cepaea and Heath and Oxychilus alliarus (the oxychilus alliarus eggs are impossible to separate from the lumps because they are so tiny .

Any help would be appreciated.
Thank You.
vallery

Well, I have red wrigglers (Esenia fetida) in my tanks, and they don't seem to do this. They do try to climb the tank walls though, but I don't know if that bothers the snails or not, or if I simply have too many worms in there and need to remove some.

[vallery]

Hi feelathetigress ,

Sorry for the late reply.

Do you catch your red wrigglers or purchase them somewhere?

I honestly don't know what red wiggler worms look like.

But I would really like to try them in my tanks.

Thank You
vallery

[feelahthetigress]

Mar 14, 2013 6:03:24 GMT vallery said:

Hi feelathetigress ,

Sorry for the late reply.

Do you catch your red wrigglers or purchase them somewhere?

I honestly don't know what red wiggler worms look like.

But I would really like to try them in my tanks.

Thank You
vallery

I bought mine on ebay from a a guy who actually raises them for compost, so he knew exactly what they are. It's very hard to identify worms in the wild since a lot of them do look similar, but even if you were trying to catch some in the wild you wouldn't find any red wigglers in plain old dirt. They live in compost piles (or piles of rotting leaves) or in manure... Anyway, they are the ideal species for a tank because they can tolerate small confined spaces better, as well as heat and humidity, they eat rotting organic matter instead of soil like many Earthworms do, and they tend to self-regulate their own reproduction so that they do not overpopulate for the tank size. They do like to climb the tanks walls though... On the plus side, mine eat poo off the sides of the tank so even though they leave behind a bit of soil I can't be too mad at them...

Anyway, if you want some they are very easy to find on Ebay and Amazon, especially if you live in the US. Still, I'm sure you can order some for other countries too... I'm also told that if you live somewhere where there are a lot of fishing shops they are sometimes sold as bait. If you do buy them online try to shop around and buy the fewest number possible. Unless you have a whole lot of tanks, you really only need between 10-50 for a tank, and they will reproduce up to the right number even if you only start with 10. A lot of places online are selling by the pound, which is hundreds of worms. If you go to Amazon, though, you can buy from a place called Uncle Jim's Worm farm and they have an entry where you can buy as few as 200. That's one of the least amounts I have seen, unless you get lucky on ebay. You could always release the extras into the yard or go fishing...

The only thing I'd warn you about is that I had about 3 snail deaths when I added my worms. I don't think it was the worms' fault though. Those three snails were already old and looking like they were on their last legs, so it was probably just the stress of change that sent them over the edge. I would like to note that I still have 3 healthy adults in there who are doing great and tons of baby snails that are also flourishing and gaining weight and size, so I don't want to blame the worms for those deaths. But, if you do have some sickly snails you may want to separate them into their own container for awhile until the worms settle in before you add the snails back to the tank.

[vallery]

Thank You feelahthetibress ,
For all of your helpful information.
I will try to find some wrigglers somehow. I don't use eBay. I do have a compost pile if I could see a picture of a red wriggler perhaps I could find some in their.

vallery

[feelahthetigress]

Mar 14, 2013 21:40:50 GMT vallery said:

Thank You feelahthetibress ,
For all of your helpful information.
I will try to find some wrigglers somehow. I don't use eBay. I do have a compost pile if I could see a picture of a red wriggler perhaps I could find some in their.

vallery

If they are in the compost heap, they likely are red wigglers. Nonetheless, if you do a google search you can easily find some pictures of Red Wigglers. I find worms rather hard to recognize myself... If it helps, they should be more red than the very pink Earthworms, although mine are not brilliantly red but only red-tinted... It might have to do with diet. Not sure.

Oh, btw, when you do get your worms, if you don't have all that many snails to make poo or much food to leave in there (they eat the snails' veggies after they rot - it's convenient!) then you can make a "worm chow" specifically to feed the worms. Let me know if you'd like it later!

[vallery]

Thank You feelahthetigress ,

I looked up images of Red Wigglers and I have definitely seen these in my compost pile.

So when it warms up I will collect a few and try them in my tanks.

I am also very, very curious about your forum name. How did you come up with it? If you don't mind sharing that.

vallery

[feelahthetigress]

Mar 16, 2013 5:38:47 GMT vallery said:

Thank You feelahthetigress ,

I looked up images of Red Wigglers and I have definitely seen these in my compost pile.

So when it warms up I will collect a few and try them in my tanks.

I am also very, very curious about your forum name. How did you come up with it? If you don't mind sharing that.

vallery

Well, you're lucky, you can get some worms for free! And if they don't work out for you, you can put them right back outside!

As for the forum name, it's actually my username for lots of different things. I've had it and been using it since middle school, and I'm in my 20's now, so that's been a long time. I seem to recall the name originally coming to me in a dream. I know that doesn't really explain much of anything, but that's the randomness of my mind for you.

[vallery]

Well it is a very cool user name feelahthetigress
vallery

[feelahthetigress]

Mar 16, 2013 20:50:07 GMT vallery said:

Well it is a very cool user name feelahthetigress
vallery

Thanks, and good luck with your worms. Let me know how that goes for you later...

[vallery]

I definitely will
Thank You for your help feelahthetigress
vallery