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Harvesting small Nightcrawlers
A few days ago, I found a tremendous amount of "baby" worms in my
Nightcrawler culture. The adult worms are leftovers from a fishing trip,
and while they have been growing well, I had given up hope of them
breeding. I was just impatient, I guess. The little worms have been a
great surprise.
The little 'uns range from about 1/8" or less to 1/2" in size. So far, I
have been picking them out one at a time, which is very time consuming. I
would like to harvest these small worms in greater numbers with a minimum
of mess and fuss and I was hoping you folks could give me ideas. The worms
are in a simple, plastic box containing a mix of potting soil and peat.
Also, I'm curious about what was happening when I found the small
worms; they were feeding on the carcass of a dead adult worm. I am unsure
whether or not the worm was dead before the advent of the baby worms or if
it is somehow related. I regularly check the whole culture for signs of
problems with the worms, but have never found a dead one in the 3-4 months
I've kept them. Neither the dead worm nor the baby worms were present at
the last feeding, which was only two--maybe 3--days before I found the
scene described above. Is the combination of the dead worm and the
appearance of the baby worms a coincidence or is there a connection?
Thanks,
Chuck
grendel at usit_net