09-24-2020, 08:38 PM
SMART idea, one I should have thought about, and am extremely embarrassed I didn't. I use to collect and sell worms to supplement our merger income when first married. I had a spot in a public park that was flood irrigated. The worms would come up in hordes into the cool water pools, then go down once the water sank in.
Once collected, we put the worms on newspaper to let them drip, then put them in bedding where they were just fine.
I probably never made the connection because the water was not "cold" enough. The worms did not plump or toughen, that took a couple of days in bedding, so maybe if the water had been colder, ice water.
Talking about toughing up crawlers, I have one for you, well two. Standard bedding will allow worms to soften up. If you put a single tablespoon of find sand into a dozen count container of commercial worms, about 24 hours in advance, their movement through the bedding will normally firm them up as if they had been exercising for months. LOL If the worms are kept on their cool side, it takes longer because they are not moving as much.
The second is replacing the bedding with the moss type bedding - Not peat moss, not paper or dirt, but the fibrous type bedding that is getting hard to find and is never labeled as such on the bag. I have found it sold as Sphagnum Moss and also found it as florist moss and at some nurseries for mulch.
Once collected, we put the worms on newspaper to let them drip, then put them in bedding where they were just fine.
I probably never made the connection because the water was not "cold" enough. The worms did not plump or toughen, that took a couple of days in bedding, so maybe if the water had been colder, ice water.
Talking about toughing up crawlers, I have one for you, well two. Standard bedding will allow worms to soften up. If you put a single tablespoon of find sand into a dozen count container of commercial worms, about 24 hours in advance, their movement through the bedding will normally firm them up as if they had been exercising for months. LOL If the worms are kept on their cool side, it takes longer because they are not moving as much.
The second is replacing the bedding with the moss type bedding - Not peat moss, not paper or dirt, but the fibrous type bedding that is getting hard to find and is never labeled as such on the bag. I have found it sold as Sphagnum Moss and also found it as florist moss and at some nurseries for mulch.