[#0000FF]Starting next Wednesday there is going to be a long seige of wet weather...mostly rain...with warmer temps. The first prolonged rain storms in March usually trigger the night crawlers to come up out of their holes...both to escape being drowned and lookin' for love.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]If you like to gather and raise your own bait this is a good time to score a bunch of worms. But it's a good idea to get out early in the morning...before the sea gulls and other birds scoop them all up.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]So this is a good time to prepare your containers and worm bedding...to get ready for some new "guests".
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I always look forward to that day and am never prepared for it. I'm out there in my nice clothes on my way to work in the morning pulling them out of the gutters and off the driveway and putting them in old drink cups. Thanks for the heads-up. I think I'll be ready this year. Weird side note: a couple of times each year I dream I'm collecting big nightcrawlers, some of them as big as water snakes and water-hose thick and wiry and strong. It's kind of creepy [
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A sure sign of better things to come. I, too, watch for the crawler crop each early spring. Another sure sign of coming spring is when the muskrats start seeking love in the rain and wind of March. I always watch for the losers that don't quite make in across the freeway. Anyway, always a sure sign that the snow shovel can be put away for the year.
Good times to come.
BLK
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I am ready- also ready for back pain,
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Any tips on starting a worm farm to grow my own? Our family has property in central utah where i can always get plenty of HUGE crawlers and i would love to bring a bunch home to farm them and have my own supply where i don't have to drive 3 hours to get them.
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I'm wondering, too. How do you keep them cool in the summer? I think I'm going to have to get a dedicated fridge/freezer just for fish and bait, but otherwise?
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[quote addicted2fishin]Any tips on starting a worm farm to grow my own? Our family has property in central utah where i can always get plenty of HUGE crawlers and i would love to bring a bunch home to farm them and have my own supply where i don't have to drive 3 hours to get them.[/quote]
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If you go to your web browser and type in "raising nightcrawlers" you will find more info than you ever care to read. One I think is a good place to start is [url "https://hubpages.com/living/How-to-Make-a-Nightcrawler-Worm-Farm"]LINK[/url].
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Some of the key elements are 1. A good bedding medium 2. The right moisture levels 3. Avoid overcrowding 4. Proper temperature control and 5. Nutrition. In other words, they gotta be in the right stuff with proper temperature and moisture...and they gotta be able to get nourishment from the medium in which they live and eat.[/#0000FF]
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Some folks find out (
ly) that you can't just keep them in a plastic bin on your porch. When temps are moderate they will be okay. But when summer temps climb the crawlers usually go much deeper in the ground...in their natural environment. So if you do anything outside, you should bury your containers...and having them in a shady spot helps too...like under a porch.[/#0000FF]
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There are a lot of commercially prepared worm bedding mixes. Most consist of processed newspapers with other ingredients. You can make your own by soaking and rinsing a bunch of papers until they aren't bleeding ink, drying them out a bit and then shredding the heck out of them. The crawlers like that stuff to live in but you will have to add supplemental food items like garden mulch, coffee grounds, egg shells or a dozen other things you will find listed on most "how to" websites.[/#0000FF]
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Some guys just use potting soil mixes. My advice is to read up on it and based upon what you have available, try a couple of different things until you find what works best for your worms in your setup.[/#0000FF]
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"Weird side note: a couple of times each year I dream I'm collecting big nightcrawlers, some of them as big as water snakes and water-hose thick and wiry and strong. It's kind of creepy"
[#0000FF]But not impossible. There are places in the world where "annelids" (worms) DO grow big. Can you imagine if we had them in Utah...and if we could catch fish proportionate to their size. How about a 90 inch cat for the contest?[/#0000FF]
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That's what I'm talking about. They can be about impossible to pull out of a hole. They are tough enough but they are too strong. According to my dreams.
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[#0000FF]The key is to sneak up on them when they are all the way out of their holes...lookin' for love. But if you have to grab and rassle one still partly in the hole, you should have an able bodied assistant and maybe a small A-frame with a winch.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]But that is only the first challenge. Wait until you got a five foot reluctant worm that you are trying to impale on a big hay hook. You ever been body slammed by a worm?
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