Worm Farm questions

[Grunter023]

Hey there,
I am planning on getting a worm farm as an alternate food source (meaning just a few every now and then not a sole source) for my bearded dragon and eastern water dragons so that I know the worms are coming from a pesticide free source. What type of worms should I be buying? I would imagine that different breeds can be bought from a fish bait shop etc so I was just wondering which would be better for breeding and feeding. And also what sort of substrate/soil should I use in the worm farm? also any foods that I should NOT feed to the worms,and foods that I should be feeding. cheers.

 

[Just_Joshin]

You can buy boxes of 500 or 1000 worms from bunnings. As well as worm farm soil. I'd suggest only feeding them vegetable scraps from foods you know are safe to feed your beardy. Can't comment on their suitability as a food source as a i don't know.

From Memory the box of 500 worms is around the $30 mark.

 

[dottyback]

Not sure how well beardies will take to them, that said boyds and southern angle headed dragons eat them. Dont get tiger worms and they can be distasteful..African night crawlers are the best as they grow bigger and do better in a warm enviroment.

 

[camt44]

hey, i wanted to do this too, so are they just your average worm that you find in the garden that you buy from bunnings? or are there heaps of different types?

 

[camt44]

i went to bunnings today, and the boxes of worms they have there are mainly tiger worms (the guy said they are the most popular as they grow the quickest, so compost more). they were pretty cheap, like 45 bucks for a 1000 worm starter colony. are tiger worms ok, or are they bad for feeding to lizards (beardies and netted dragons)?

 

[geckos_are_great]

i feed my beardies large earthworms from the garden one or twice aweek

 

[Grunter023]

I am only going on what dottyback has said above and will prolly try and hunt down some african night crawlers,not sure where from,maybe the local bait shop has them here. I also went to Bunnings and they were only tiger worms. Anybody else have any experience with what are good types of earthworms for lizards?

 

[Grunter023]

This is an old thread but I was wondering what peoples thoughts are on buying the larger worms like the "scrub worms" or whatever they are from bait shops that sell worms for fishing for feeding to my Boyds,Beardies,Bluies and shinglebacks?

 

[Frog1974]

hey, i wanted to do this too, so are they just your average worm that you find in the garden that you buy from bunnings? or are there heaps of different types?

The worms you would buy from bunnings are not ordinary earth worms, they are composting worms. I have been told they are different but to what extent I do not know. I always thought a worm was a worm. As for a food source they do like banana skin and the softer veggies.

 

[mad_at_arms]

This is an old thread but I was wondering what peoples thoughts are on buying the larger worms like the "scrub worms" or whatever they are from bait shops that sell worms for fishing for feeding to my Boyds,Beardies,Bluies and shinglebacks?

I would be reluctant to feed them straight out of the tub. They are sold as bait so I imagine little thought has gone into making them nutritionally valuable.
I don't know how you would go about feeding them up as they don't generally keep as well as other worms..

 

[GeckoJosh]

I doubt it's the cheapest source but Pisces sell feeder worms so I'm sure any shop that stocks their brand could order them in.

 

[Cypher69]

Some councils even give out free worm farms to encourage composting your food scraps. You've just got to sit through like a one hour lecture on recycling & composting then they give you a free kit. The kit includes the plastic trays, soil & worms.

 

[PythonLegs]

I've posted this so often they should be paying me a spotter fee. They're not though..yet.

compost worms, worm farm, delivered Australia wide

 

[Grunter023]

Thanks for the link PythonLegs. For the breeding of worms for reptile food only (not interested in compost) do you recommend the GARDEN WORM BOMB with Gardeners Friend worm eggs and Indian Blue/Spenceralia worm eggs over the compost variety? It's my understanding the Indian Blue can get to a max length of 6 inches which would be a great large size for reptiles. But I could be wrong on the max length though.

 

[PythonLegs]

I am spectacularly bad at getting worms to hatch. I got the 'can o worms' with 1000 worms..just for food though I'd go with 1000 mature worms for $45 and put em in the fridge...should be ok for a month at least.