Nightcrawler mystery

[leigti]

Hello. I have a very simple worm bin with some red wigglers in it. Occasionally I will buy one or two dozen nightcrawlers and also put them in there. I do this to detox them from the crap they have in those little containers for them to eat. I have never had an issue until today. I put two dozen nightcrawlers in there one week ago and they are gone, I mean gone. I know this because I went through the entire thing by hand and I found lots of red wigglers but no nightcrawlers. Did they die and decompose? And if so why? I tried to find information on whether to mix nightcrawlers and red wigglers and didn't find anything. I figured if anything the red wigglers would have a problem because they are about 1/10 the size of these Nightcrawlers. Any ideas?

 

[TortsNTurtles]

The same thing happened to me in the past. I wonder if the red wigglers kill the nightcrawlers. I do know since worms are made of mostly water once they die they decompose fast.

 

[turtlemanfla88]

I raise African nightcrawlers in FL and I never had a problem with anything except moles once in awhile. I would not mix them just like tortoise species one could carry something that could kill the others. Also, Canadian nightcrawlers like to kept in the fridge and once i left them out and i had worms that turned to soup.

 

[TortsNTurtles]

@turtlemanfla88 Thanks I didn't realize the Canadian nightcrawlers needed refrigerated. I never realized there are different types of nightcrawlers. The ones we find in our back yard are they another type?

 

[leigti]

Maybe they got too warm and died and decomposed quickly. Never had this problem before though.

 

[Maro2Bear]

One of the absolute best web sites out there regarding the care and feeding of red wrigglers is http://www.redwormcomposting.com

Theres all kinds of good info, and one of the issues that is discussed is to NOT mix worm types. Like torts, each type requires different care and feeding. Night crawlers are deep burrowers, red wrigglers are top feeders, quickly gobbling up detritus, compost, garden waste etc. i have multiple red wriggler bins going and use to feed my EBT. I simply lift my shredded newspaper that is the very top covering, and I'm greeted with 100s of treats for my turtles.

I doubt that the wrigglers killed the night crawlers, but if the night crawlers died due to any reasom, I'm sure the wrigglers ate the remains.

So, check Bentley's web site out for more! http://www.redwormcomposting.com

 

[Yvonne G]

Night crawlers are so called because at night they come out of the dirt and crawl away. The weather conditions have to be just right for them to live, and you have a good point about them being too warm, but my best bet is they crawled away.

 

[leigti]

They couldn't get out of the bin. The lid is secure. I think they must have gotten too warm. The bin is in a different place than it was last time I had Nightcrawlers in there. I may try putting a little container in the fridge. then I can feed them good food instead of the stuff they come with. I do plan on ordering more red wigglers for my box turtles when spring gets here.

 

[turtlemanfla88]

I used to get my nightcrawlers from walmart in the fishing section my turtles and some of my tortoises would go nuts over them. I live in FL and use a local place that will ship worms it is called Rabbits etc. They are into a lot of organic meats, veggies,eggs,etc. I also get rabbit liver that i use for my turtle pudding / tortoise pudding. The nightcrawlers in your yard are not the same nightcrawlers I learned this after I started researching raising worms for my animals.

 

[leigti]

I used to get my nightcrawlers from walmart in the fishing section my turtles and some of my tortoises would go nuts over them. I live in FL and use a local place that will ship worms it is called Rabbits etc. They are into a lot of organic meats, veggies,eggs,etc. I also get rabbit liver that i use for my turtle pudding / tortoise pudding. The nightcrawlers in your yard are not the same nightcrawlers I learned this after I started researching raising worms for my animals.

I'm almost afraid to ask what turtle pudding is. . The soil in my yard is so bad, it's basically rocks. So there are not a lot of worms in it. So that's why I buy them. I might check out that place where you get your worms.

 

[turtlemanfla88]

Rabbit etc. are family business very nice people.Tortoise pudding is a list of foods that I put together in a pot then mix in Jello and freeze it for my tortoises. Turtle pudding has a lot more meat items such as rabbit liver, beef heart etc. It smells horrible when making it.