how can blackworms be kept alive longer

[iamwhatiam52]

The refrigerator is out of the question.

I tried keeping a thimble sized clump it a plastic shoe box sized container half full of water but they didn't even last a day. I was thinking of trying a 5 gal bucket.

What works best? Large volume of water, tap, RODI, running water to a drain, aeration?

 

[1DeR9_3Hy]

Cold water around 50 F. and daily water changes are your best bet. They dont require much water, i have kept 8 lbs of worms in a 10 gallon that was getting a trickle change of water from my cold tap all day. That lasted about 2 weeks before i was able to sell all of them, i would guess i had about 10-15% die off.

 

[SlukBunWalla]

Keeping them cold is about the only way to have any long term success. (More than about a day, if that.)

If the fridge is out of the question, looks like an ice chest is about your only option.

I assume nagging is the reason the fridge is out, in which case, I know where you're coming from. Rationalizing a bucket of wriggling worms in the fridge is a hard sell for most anyone.

 

[BLKTANG]

Mini Fridge is your friend.

 

[iamwhatiam52]

Yup. Woims in the fridge would compromise my domestic bliss.

Mini Fridge would be nice! I have a mini freezer for fish food and bait.

How do they raise them?
Could that setup be duplicated on a smaller scale just to maintain them?

 

[Elysia]

I could never keep black worms alive in the fridge (because I would end up forgeting to change their water) so I started to buy them and throw all of them into my fresh water tanks (I have a 20 freshwater fish tank and a few tiny set ups w/ out filtration in with my frogs.) The darn things lived in there. No cold. No filtration (in some.) Nothing. Lived for more than a month. Its been three months and I think a few are still alive. Most were eaten by the fresh water animals.

 

[Paul B]

I have always fed blackworms and have built this keeper.
They need shallow, moving water but no pumps.
The water goes down the right tube and is pumped up the left tube by air bubbles. The 1/2" deep water flows over the worms and keeps them alive. I feed them with a few flakes every day.
They don't eat the flakes but live off the decomposing by products of them. The trick is to do not clean the container. You can change the water but the bacterial slime on the sides of the container purify the water. It may take a week or two before the bacteria builds up enough. You can just put food in there for a while to grow it. I also have plastic window screens rolled up in there to give the worms something to cling to. When I need to harvest worms, I just pick up a screen ans swirl it in "fresh" water.
I can keep worms a few weeks like this. Worms are common in NY so I don't need a large supply, if I did I would need to build a much larger one. Keeping them cool will make them last much longer but not in the fridge.

 

[iamwhatiam52]

Thanks Paul B. Looks like just the solution I was looking for.

There will soon be some version of your worm keeper tucked away in a cool dark corner of my basement behind my sump.

 

[Paul B]

Thats where mine is

 

[iamwhatiam52]

WHAT!!!???

Yours is in my basement?????

 

[Paul B]

Yes, behind your sump in a dark corner

 

[iamwhatiam52]

Thanks!

My fish love 'em!

 

[sidjam]

I keep mine in a mini fridge barely covered in ro/di water. I change the water everyday. They stay alive up to 2 months this way.

 

[ackee]

I keep mine in the refrig, in one of those blue plastic boxes with a screen bottom insert, keeping the worms slightly submerged. A thorough cold tap water rinse every two days and a weekly clorox cleaning (worms removed), followed by a rinse with a de- chlorinator keeps the worms healthy wriggling odorless good citizens of the household.

I made it clear to my wife when we began getting serious that certain things were here before she was, and if it comes to that, they will be here after she's gone. In any event, she sees the need for blackworms to feed the baby turtles that hatch in our garden and wander out onto the driveway every August.

Worms are not so bad. Some people keep huge chunks of dead animal flesh in their refrigerators. It's true, I've seen it.

 

[Paul B]

Worms are not so bad. Some people keep huge chunks of dead animal flesh in their refrigerators. It's true, I've seen it.

I personally only keep huge chunks of fish flesh in my fridge.

 

[Lotus99]

I keep them in the fridge, in a tupperware marked "Fishy." LOL.

I agree that you can keep them several weeks in the fridge if you change the water with refrigerated RO water daily.