What to do when your worms arrive
What to Do When Your Worms Arrive
Microworms and Walterworms
BASICS
These worms are not particularly sensitive to shipping stress. If you receive a ready-to-feed culture, simply empty the bag into a culture container, using a spoon or similar instrument to scoop out the culture medium. There may be large numbers of tiny worms remaining in the bag. You can swish a ½ tablespoonful or so of dechlorinated water in the bag, and then add this to the culture container. If needed, add dry oatmeal to soak up the extra water. Close the lid of the container and set the container in a safe place at room temperature. Within 24 hours, worms should begin to crawl up the sides of the container. You can harvest them with a cotton swab. If you purchased a starter culture, simply add the culture medium, simply scoop the starter culture onto the surface of culture medium (cooled, cooked oatmeal) in the culture container. Put on the lid, and keep it at room temperature. Check the culture every day. After a few days, if you hold the culture under a strong light, you will see the surface “shimmer.” These are thousands of worms moving. Within a few more days, you will see womrs beginning to crawl up the sides of the container, at which point you can harvest them.
FOR MORE INFORMATION on culturing microworms and walterworms please visit these links:
audio (podcast)
http://aquarimax.com/2009/01/14/episode-1-culturing-microworms-and-walterworms/
text (not the script of the podcast)
http://aquarimax.com/shop/microworms/culturing-microworms/
Vinegar Eels
BASICS
I usually ship these worms in a small piece of filter floss. Vinegar eels are attracted to materials with a large surface area, so they are easy to collect and ship in this way, with a minimum of liquid. Simply place the piece of filter material into your culture container, along with culture medium. You can rinse any stray worms out of the shipping bag and into the culture with some of the vinegar solution (the culture liquid.) These worms should be ready to harvest within a couple of weeks.
FOR MORE INFORMATION on culturing vinegar eels worms please visit these links:
audio (podcast)
http://aquarimax.com/2009/01/14/episode-2-culturing-vinegar-eels/
text (not the script of the podcast)
http://aquarimax.com/shop/vinegar-eels/vinegar-eels/
Grindal Worms
BASICS
Of all of the species of worm I culture, these are the most sensitive to shipping stress. Grindal worms often retreat to the substrate as soon as they finish available food. This is often the case during shipping, so you may not see any worms. As soon as your worms arrive, place a piece or two of kitten kibble (provided) on the surface of the substrate. You may moisten the kibble for a few minutes prior to feeding, but this is not strictly necessary. If the soil seems quite moist, you do not need to add additional water. If the soil seems slightly dry, spray the surface of the culture (under the plastic sheet(s)) lightly with dechlorinated water. Replace the lid, and put your culture in a dim or dark area at room temperature. After 6-24 hours, you should see a large number of worms congregated around the food. You may use a moist cotton swab at this time to lightly begin harvesting from the underside of the plastic sheet included with the culture, or you may choose to wait a week to allow the culture to recover from shipping stress. At about this time many of the egg capsules will begin to hatch, and you should see many young worms “spiderwebbing” on the substrate near the food. As you feed your worms, remember that the ideal is to feed every 24 hours, just enough so that your worms finish the food, but not so that they spend a lot of time hungry.
FOR MORE INFORMATION on culturing grindal worms please visit these links:
audio (podcast)
http://aquarimax.com/2009/01/15/episode-3-culturing-grindal-worms/
text (not the script of the podcast)
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