Caring for Crawlers

[Hoss]

I have a 9 year old boy who just loves picking nightcrawlers. We have over 250 in a styrofoam cooler in the basement 'fridge. They are 2 weeks old and still look to be in great shape. I'm interested in keeping them fed well and what about commercial bedding - worth it? Leaves and dirt (very moist) are what they are in now.

[MIKE]

All I use is moist shredded leaves. Will keep until they are all used up.If they eat all the leaves just replace with new.

[GORD]

There are a lot of theorys and ideas about this. I've tried a lot of them. The best thing that I found is... put the crawlers in a new styrofoam cooler or container. Cover them with a good layer of fresh bright green moss and keep them cool. Change the moss when it stops looking fresh. The crawlers get big and fat. They will last a long time. If you cant get moss, I'd start doing mini comparison experiments using new styrofoam food take out containers. Try digging up a piece of fresh green sod (not too moist). Perhaps two pieces of sod. First one upside down on the crawlers, next one green side up. Perhaps a lot of small pieces of sod the size of a computer mouse might work better. A patch of live clover might be good. If you were a crawler, would you like living in a bunch of soggy old ground up newspaper thats full of chemicals and old ink?

[Tracy]

Hoss,
After picking up enough crawlers in one evening to last the entire season I have had great success in keeping them alive fat and healthy for up to 6 months. Here is what seems to work for me: buy and prepare your bedding prior to gathering your crawlers ( I use Magic Worm Bedding), only gather crawlers that are entirely up and out of the ground ( I only go out after heavy April rains and crawlers are everywhere pulling them usually will result in fatal injuries), gather the crawlers in a 1 or 2 gallon bucket, once you have gathered all that you want, take them home and rinse them in rainwater or distilled water (clorinated water will kill them), place them into your foam container in the bedding ( if you do not rinse them prior to putting them in the bedding they will migrate or try to escape!) I had 18 dozen in one foam box and they actually were able to collectively push the top off!! We had worms all over the basement floor, not good! RINSE THEM FIRST before you put them in the bedding! I place 12 to 18 dozen in each box depending on the size of the box. Keep the bedding fresh, change it when it begins to look like top soil. Check your boxes regularly and remove dead and injured crawlers immediately. Magic Worm also makes Magic Worm Food. Buy a cannister and follow the directions, your worms will thrive and grow big and fat in just a few days. Crawlers will survive best at 40 to 50 degrees. A cool spot in the basement will usually suffice until about mid May, after then you will need to make room in the refrigerator for them.

If you use the sod suggestion above make sure that you do not use sod from a chemically treated lawn.

Good luck!
Tracy