How do you best to care for nightcrawlers.

[Bart SD]

Just got my pack of worms from cabela's and would like to keep them alive. Looking for advice or websites on how to care for them. Thanks!

[Fritz]

I have kept crawlers for a long time. A couple of key things to remember. Number one is to keep them cool. A refrigerator works great, but do not put them in the back where they might freeze. I did it once, my crawlers now are not allowed in the frig. Now I keep them in the basement in a big cooler. I use Buss bedding, it works great and is legal to go across the border into Ontario. I have two half gallon milk jugs full of water frozen. One is in the freezer, the other is in the cooler with the crawlers. Daily I switch it and it keeps the bedding cold. Remove any crawlers which look sick or are broken.

How are the crawlers? I was wondering about the quality from Cabelas?

[dummie]

Bart,
I keep mine in a styrafoam cooler. $1.99 @ Walmarts. I use worm bedding, follow the instructions on the bag to mix. They need to be kept in a fridg at 40 to 50 degrees. Check them everyday for dying or dead ones and get rid of the bad ones. Keep moist but not soaking. Mine have been a long time since I have had to moisten them. You can feed them coffee grounds, corn meal, or worm food. Some bedding says there is food in the bedding. Do not mix food in bedding, let it lay on top. When gone add more. Have not lost one crawler and they will keep this way up to 10 months. Remember check them every day. That is glance in the cooler for sick or dead ones. When they are sickly they come to the top.Good fishing, God bless. By the way how much are Cabelas crawlers, I can't find them on the net. I catch my own anyway.

[Bart SD]

They look real good, no dead ones yet and they are fairly plump. They cost $40 for 500 and come in a nice styrofoam cooler. Thanks for the help!

[Backwater Eddy]

Well you may laugh but this is a tried and true way to keep them crawlers, and cheap too!

Plain old newspaper, non-colored ink print torn into 3" strips keep them long don't tear to bits! Dip them in fresh unclorienated water just long enough to make the layers stick together then shake the excess out. Next layer the paper and Coffee grounds into a 7 day cooler, add crawlers and a thermometer on top to keep the temp in check, place in a fridge or even bury in a shaded area just deep enough to keep ground temp 52 deg average. Simple method and all it is needed is add more paper on and off and a bit of fresh water to keep the mix tacky, not soaked!

The crawlers love the coffee grounds and if you wish feed them Magic worm food to boot, that basically is just a bone meal base "worm Twinkie".

Cheap and low maintenance method that works for me and makes fat "Jittery" short tempered crawlers that a walleye can't resist taking a smack at!

Try a small batch and see.

[Erie_Tournament_Troller]

All who answered gave you good advise, It's been a while since we kept crawlers, but it used to be a way of life. We liked Buss bedding also and never feed unless they were almost gone. The food spoils and poisons the crawlers (if you put too much on). Here's some tips we learned from 25 years of keeping crawlers (and we'd keep them all summer). When you first introduce the worms to the bedding just lay them loose on top. Pile right on top of each other and leave them alone over night. The next day check the bedding and remove any unhealthy worms still on top. ( I said unhealthy not dead). Now all you have to do is keep the bedding cool but not frozen, and remove diseased worms. The styrofoam "flat" they come in is fine so long as they can't crawl out of it. A 20" square flat 5" deep is fine for 500 worms . I used to use the worm ranches that were about 16' x 24" and put up to 700 in each one. The trick is to get the the bad ones out before they ruin the whole bunch. ONE BAD WORM WILL SPOIL THE WHOLE FLAT !!! To be safe you might want to go through them in about 1 week and then every 2 weeks after that. Best way to do that is to take em out in the back yard and just dump the box on a sheet of card board. If there are several dead are weak worms, replace the bedding . If they are fine don't bother. You'll learn to discard any questionable worms to eliminate the possibility of them causing a problem. You can talk to em if you like , but the neighbors might think that's kinda funny. But then again if they are like my neighbors.... they already know I'm kinda funny. Good luck, and catch a biggun.

[Time to Move]

Good advise. Also, use your NOSE. If you smell anything, take a closer look for something wrong. Healthy crawlers and clean bedding have NO ODOR.

[Bart SD]

Wow that's some great info, thanks! The only thing I'm still fuzzy on is the feeding part, can I keep them all summer without feeding them or should I feed em? If yes how often? Thanks again for all the help!

[Erie_Tournament_Troller]

Feeding is the biggest bugaboo. You'll do more harm than good trying to feed them. They eat the bedding anyway. If you must feed put just a small amount on top of the bedding and do not put any more on untill the first is gone. I've keep them for 4 months without feeding.

[Wall-nut]

The coffee grounds thing is a myth. There's no way on earth they could eat or digest them. Keep your crawlers in moist newspaper. Color or black and white: it matters not. Crawlers have no eyes and couldn't tell the difference. (Although they do have light sensitive nerves.) What they LOVE is the glue (for lack of a better term) that binds the particles of newsprint. It is very nutritious for them. Furthermore, damp paper acts as a natural refrigerant, the result of evaporation. If you wish to get fancy, put your wet newsprint in the little lady's food processor and make a kind of pulp. Water should be squeezed out so that it's damp, only. Now you have almost the same stuff they sell in Wal-Mart as "worm bedding". Avoid tap water. Always use rain water, water that has sat overnight or water that's been treated with a chlorine neutralizer (available in the pet dept.). Dump all the crawlers on top of your bedding. The next day, remove any worms that have not disappeared beneath the surface. They will become very stinky, very soon. The basement is a good option for storing them. Keep the bedding moist, keep invigorating the mix with new paper every two weeks, or so, and eventually, they will grow so big you'll have to include them as dependants on your tax return.

[pooch]

I still have some of last years crawlers in my "worm/beer" fridge in the basement. They have now been in there for over a year. I'm using Buss bedding/Styrofoam flat/feeding them buss worm food (bone meal?)once in a while. Keeping the temp at 45 degrees. I have not changed the bedding for over eight months, but it will need it soon. They are very healthy. Not one dead one in the entire time. They are REALLY getting big. Actually too big, but I'm curious to see how fat they will get. There are some serious "PORKERS" in there. I'll send you a photo if you want.
Pooch

[Airwave(OH)]

LOLOLOL my wife just yelled what the heck are you laughing at -at 5:30am ..Good one-- Send a photo !!!Glad to see I'm not the only crazy one here...Was starting to worry...

[larry g]

Theres night crawlers, and then theres super night crawlers.I am thinking of going back to a system that I used many moons ago.it was a way to super condition crawlers, I mean these things were awesome if done properly.There used to be a book called"NIGHT CRAWLER SECRETS", it was written by a fellow called Bill Binkelman, the method he used is simple and really worked.But night crawlers almost led to my divorce. Bought an old refrigerator, and moved it into the basement, this was my sole use thing only, period.I used it for almosttwo years, had frozen alewives in the freezer, salmon eggs in the fridge, and lots of super crawlers in the ridge also.Yep!! power surge while I was at work, no one told me about it. several days later it was time to go fishing, opened the door to the fridge, and it almost killed me it smelled so bad, the odor stayed in that part of the basement for hours, even with the door closed.Wound up doing the laundry cause the wife refused to go down there.Triple garbage bags, and wait for the garbage men to make their rounds.I have beeen leery of trying that again, even though that wonderfull woman has passed away, the present one says No Way Jose.

[fishinjones]

Try FAT & SASSY worm bedding premixed and food in already mixed in. At all Ganders and most tackle shops. Broke into the market last year and starting to make a dent. Clean in the boat!