How to breed & feed Euro & Canadian Nght Crwlrs, pls, pls help. I am having trouble with it. Msg from Australia

Hello B.K.,Amazon sent me an email asking if I could solve this question and luck is on your side with this one. I am very experienced in worm farming. Introductions out of the way lets address the first issue here.Canadian night crawlers. It is not impossible to breed these in captivity. I have seen first hand that they can reproduce but the mortality rate is almost 90%. The problem is providing the right conditions and even then it is going against everything they want. Canadians are your typical worms you pick up at the bait shop. I happen to live very close to Canada and when it rains, that species of night crawler is all over my back yard. It is a native species where I live. The problem is that Canadians are tunnel dwellers. They have deep burrows in the soil, and come out only to feed and breed. Otherwise they are very reclusive and seldom interact with each other. They also love cold weather. Which only makes sense because of where they live.Canadians require cold temperatures. I see your from Australia, so I will give you temps in Celsius. 4 degrees C or 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Is their ideal living temperatures. There really does not exist a way to provide them with a substrate to live in that is over 6 feet(2 meters) deep in which to create their tunnels. It just isn't logical unless you have a massive amount of land in which to farm them. Even if you did have that much land, it would never be profitable to farm them. I don't want to sound all negative, but nature is fickle like that. So the idea of farming Canadians is not impossible, but unprofitable. :(Europeans, which I will call Euros for short are another story. They are a very hardy breed and can survive in just about any climate. Their ideal temperature range is similar to humans. 60-78 degrees F or 15 C to 25 C for the rest of the world. The sweet spot is closer to the beginning range. They seem to like a cool basement/cellar average temperature. Their bedding/substrate should consist of a mixture of Peat Moss, shredded paper, and a small amount of sand. 50% moss, 49% paper, and 1% sand. The sand is there to give them some grit is all. It is needed in small amounts to aid in digestion and to help them move around.The shredded paper serves two functions. One, it gives them something to crawl around in, and acts as a food source. You should use black and white forms of paper. As the nice shiny colored sections will poison them. Paper shoudl not be thier only source of food. It is a staple, but should be supplemented with a variety of rotting/old vegetable scraps. There is one thing that you absolutely must include their diet. Crushed egg shells. They need the calcium from the egg shells to give them the nutrients to create their egg sacks. Calciferous rich dark green veggies, such as Kale can do the same job as well, but egg shells are a source you most likely have at your disposal almost on a daily basis.So save your left over veggies from meals, place them in a bucket, and keep those cracked eggs shells left over from breakfast. Literally your daily waste, will feed them. When it comes to feeding your euros, treat them like dedicated vegans. Fat, meat, and oily foods are a no go. Everything is just fine to them just don't forget the egg shells. Avoid Dairy products, it is high in calcium but also in fat. The fat/oil plays hell on them. They literally breathe through their skin, and the film from the fat/oil coats them. When that happens they literally suffocate.OK! Feeding is taken care of so lets talk substrate/bedding.Euros are perfectly happy in a bed less than 18 inches in depth(.5 meters). It needs to be damp. If you followed the peat moss/paper/sand ratio you should be good to go. The question is how damp? I call it the three drop test. The substrate once mixed, you should be able to press it into your fist firmly, and within one second three drops of liquid should drip out from your hand. Relatively 80% water. The euros are very tolerable of varying water conditions so don't stress about this too much.The real key to keeping them hydrated is to avoid chlorine, chloramine, or any other nasty side affects of your local water supply to prevent bacterial growth. There is a reason they put the chemicals in the water, and this is not a place to debate that. The simple solution to bypassing all this chemical warfare, which is not good for your little worms, as they are on the non beneficial end of the receiving spectrum. Is to use rain water. There are laws, at least where I am located that prevent me from collecting rain water, and using it.So that leaves us with another issue. You need clean water for your crawlers, and don't want to subject them tap water. Good call on your end. This will make you a better worm farmer, and you will see a much improved activity rate of your worms. You could of course invest in a Reverse osmosis and De-ionization unit to treat the water you plan on using. Or you could take the slow route. The slow route is simply taking tap water, putting into some kind of vessel, and using a mechanical pump to aerate it. The more oxygen rich bubbles the better.You can get a simple aquarium pump at any store that sells them. In my parts of the world we call them Maxi-jets, or under-gravel filter pumps. Its a simple mechanical water pump that includes a eductor for supplying fresh air into the water stream. If you cycle the water with an appropriate pump for 24 hours it will neutralize all the nasty stuff in the local water supply.Personally, I use cheap, plastic 55 gallon barrels. I cut them in half on the long side. Lay them out on individual racks, filled with my mix of substrate, and they breed faster than rabbits. PH is also a concern, but in my experience not really needed. I turn my beds over every 3 months, and I send the substrate, minus the worms into the compost pile. I hope this can help you. Good luck on your worm farming. :)

I have raised garden beds and wondering how many per sq. ft. is recommended. Also, can they be separated since I have 2 beds? 108 sq ft & 68 sq. ft.

I personally never go beyond 25 per sqft, I think 10-12 per sqft works best.

Can the worms survive the heat while being shipped?

As long as you choose expedited shipping European nightcrawlers should tolerate the heat. If not I would bet they would make it right with you.

Will these worms do well in raised beds in New Mexico heat, generally 90-95 for high temps in the summer?

I live in Texas and my worms are doing well yall just need to give them plenty of water even if yall over water yall can add some cardboard to soak up the extra and give the worms somewhere to hide from the heat and feed them all at the same time just check on them every other day to make sure they're not getting to dry and they should thrive in the raised flower bed

Package Dimensions	10 x 5 x 3 cm; 907.18 g
Part number	2lbsrw
Manufacturer	Uncle Jim's Worm Farm
Item model number	2lbsrw
ASIN	B001OOD8NW

Uncle Jim's Worm Farm European Nightcrawlers Composting and Fishing Worms 2 Lb Pack

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