How to Raise Bait Earth Worms

Grow your own worms.

If you raise your own bait worms, you will always have a ready supply of worms to harvest whenever an impromptu fishing opportunity arises. Worms are also good to use for composting and are an efficient way to get rid of vegetable and other food scraps.

Instructions

1. 

   An old refrigerator makes a good worm bed.

   Find a large container such as a plastic bin or even an old refrigerator with the doors removed. Wash it well with hot soapy water and rinse thoroughly.

2. 

   Shredded newspaper will help bulk up bedding material.

   Fill the container with bedding material such as peat moss, soil or shredded paper. A combination of these materials will work as well. Add enough manure to equal 25 percent of the total volume of the bedding.

3. Add enough water to the bedding to make it damp all the way through but not too soggy. Mix the material while you are adding water to distribute evenly.

4. Allow the worm bed to sit for two weeks. It will begin composting and reach a temperature that will be too high for the worms. After two weeks, normal temperatures will return and the bedding will be ready for the worms.

5. Add the starter worms and watch to ensure they work their way down into the bedding.

6. Add food material each day. Put in only the amount the worms will eat that day--spoiled food can harm worms. Vegetable peelings, egg shells and leaves are good food material. Rabbit or other rodent droppings and litter from the cages is another good source. Finely ground cornmeal is also highly nutritious for worms.

7. Keep the bedding moist at all times. Dry bedding will kill the worms since their skin needs to be moist in order to breathe.

8. Mix the bedding carefully once a week to allow it to aerate. When the bed gets overcrowded, create another bed or move some of the worms to a compost pile or garden.

Tips & Warnings

• A healthy worm bed will smell like a freshly plowed garden. If it smells sour, you are most likely adding too much food material each day.

References

• Pontiac High School: Vermicomposting
• Aqualand Pets: Raise Your Own Earthworms