Worm Care
Keeping your worms fresh is just about as important as buying the right worms!
In general, stick to the following rules and the worms will be happy.
- BE GENTLE. Handle the worms as little as possible. Do not stretch them.
- Change temperatures of the worms slowly. No extreme temperature changes.
- Refrigerate at 40F.
- Remove sick or dead nightcrawlers immediately because they can infect the others.
- For the same reason, do not mix new crawlers with old crawlers (especially if you’ve taken them out fishing for the day).
What do I do once I get my bulk worms?
Remember that Canadian Nightcrawlers are living creatures and need to be taken care of! Fortunately, little effort is required to keep them happy. It is recommended that you immediately remove the ice pack and refrigerate for 24 hours. If the worms traveled a long distance to get to you, it’s normal that they are weak when you open the box. Please remove the ice pack, remove any dead worms and let them sit in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours to receover. It is very important.
After 24 hours, you can transfer to any container, or even keep them in the same container, but we recommend you get them settled in.
We recommend:
1. dump out entire contents.
2. line box with 1-2 pages of newspaper.
3. put dirt in the box.
4. place worms back on top
5. refrigerate @ 40f
6. after 24 hours check to see that worms have gone down.
*** They should now keep for 3 weeks.
Important note: If you ever see them on top (instead of buried underneath) they are in need of new bedding/dirt. You must change the bedding immediately and refrigerate.
That is it!
How do I care for my worms long term?
PLEASE check on your worms at least once a week if you are keeping them for a long time. Depending on your conditions, worm care may vary. If the worms start to surface and come up to the top of the box, they either need (1) more air or (2) clean dirt/bedding. Use the same process as above. Generally we recommend flipping the box over and completely re-bedding every 3 weeks. However, conditions always vary and you may need to change your dirt at a different frequency. So check on your worms because they’ll tell you what they need!
When they come to the top of the box, they are telling you they are weak. Please fix immediately or your worms may suffer.
How long will my worms keep for?
Our Canadian Nightcrawlers are very sturdy! We keep them for up to 8 months at a time before they are shipped out of our facilities. You just need to make sure that you keep their soil damp (but not too wet) and store them in a cold environment (40-45F).
What do I feed them?
Canadian Nightcrawlers do not require any special feed. They are decomposers and feed on the bacteria of the soil in the box. This means that you need to change the soil in the container every 2-3 weeks. The worms like 1 lb of bedding/dirt per 1 lb of worms.
The dirt that you remove from the container is worm compost and is often used in gardening as fertilizer!
How do I raise them and breed my own nightcrawlers?
We don’t recommend doing this with Canadian Nightcrawlers. We don’t do it ourselves, either.
Is the ice-pack toxic?
We use non-toxic ice gel to make our ice-packs. Don’t worry, it’s not harmful to the worms. Please dump out all contents of the box and replace with clean dirt/bedding if the ice-pack leaked.
What do I do once I get my pre-packaged cups? How long do they keep for?
The prepackaged cups are ready to be put on sale! Simply put them in a cooler and sell.
They will keep up to three weeks with no hassle. If you still have inventory after that, all you need to do is dump the worms out, take out all of their old dirt and give them new, fresh top soil. It is IMPORTANT to regularly check up on your worms. Remember, they’re alive! They need care!