Well, I get to start over on my worm box

I put a few leftover worms in a foam box last summer just to see how they'd do. They actually started to take off and it wasn't long before I could tell I'd doubled, then tripled the number of worms that I'd started off with. I don't fool with them much. I just try to make sure they're moist and I feed them ground up dog food every 2-3 weeks, and I keep moist newspaper over them before putting the lid on the box. I guess it got too hot though this summer. I've been keeping them on the floor in my workshop under a workbench but last night when I went out to feed them, not a worm to be found.

I thought that something wasn't right when I opened the box and grabbed the wet newspaper and it was warm to the touch. Then, when I dug my hand into the moist dirt it was warm too and it didn't get any cooler the deeper I went.

So, I guess I get to start over. Should I get rid of the dirt, or should it be OK to use again? (And like a really big dummy, I just put a Coleman 80 quart cooler out at the street last week. By the time I thought about using it for the worms somebody had already stopped by and picked it up. DOHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!)

I lost all of mine this summer due to the heat....just too many 102 degree days.

I think that you should get rid of all that dirt that you had in there and start all over again.Sorry to hear about the little guys.

Yep......time to start all over with my red worms. I even lost all my mealworms. This is the first time this has ever happened to me and I have had worms for years.

I would suggest that you change the bedding because you have alot of decayed worms and therefore a lot of ammonia in the soil. This will be deadly on the new batch. BTW Did you find ANY worms in the box? dead or alive??? It could have gotten too hot and they may have migrated out of the box. They will do that if it gets too hot. I had them try until I figured out my light bulb was too strong during the winter. I opened the lid a bit to vent the heat and they were fine after that.

Well, I didn't really have dirt in there. It was a mixture of shredded paper (bought at BPS), peat moss, and leaf compost that I had been accumulating. And, no I didn't find any bodies left. If they had escaped I'm thinking my shop would be smelling pretty foul about now, plus I'd probably find carcasses all over the place. I'm pretty sure they died and decayed right in there. I hadn't fooled with them for little over a month. Went 2 weeks on vacation and we've been back about 3 weeks now, maybe 4.

I'll empty and we'll just start over. Really could kick myself because I set that cooler out to the street without thinking of using it for the worm bed.

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Originally Posted by G3 Fisherman

I lost all of mine this summer due to the heat....just too many 102 degree days.

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I lost all mine too. We had 44 days in a row where temps approached triple digits every day. I went to the thrift store and bought some insulated 5 gallon drink containers with lids. I used a heated needle to put a goo gob bunch of holes in the lid.

Get new dirt. Use your old dirt in a veggie garden. I use a mix of miracle grow garden soil, peat, manure, crushed egg shells. Cover with damp newspaper or damp burlap. Feed then corn meal and coffee grounds. Keep them in a cool garage where it does not overheat or freeze. That should work and you will have fishing worms. Be sure you are raising red worms.

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Originally Posted by G3 Fisherman

I lost all of mine this summer due to the heat....just too many 102 degree days.

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Originally Posted by shipahoy41

I lost all mine too. We had 44 days in a row where temps approached triple digits every day. I went to the thrift store and bought some insulated 5 gallon drink containers with lids. I used a heated needle to put a goo gob bunch of holes in the lid.

Get new dirt. Use your old dirt in a veggie garden. I use a mix of miracle grow garden soil, peat, manure, crushed egg shells. Cover with damp newspaper or damp burlap. Feed then corn meal and coffee grounds. Keep them in a cool garage where it does not overheat or freeze. That should work and you will have fishing worms. Be sure you are raising red worms.

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Keep the soil damp not overly wet! I feed mine twice a week. Take what you need when you go fishing and leave the rest doing "the electric slide dance"

I kept mine in a bait fridge. I would get the styrofoam containers from the pet stores and keep the night crawlers in them. They would fit perfectly in the fridge. I would keep 3 or 4 boxes in the fridge, along with a styrofoam minnow bucket of minnows. I used the worm bedding from WalMart and they kept just fine. I would take 10 dozen out at a time and put in a small bait to go container and when I came back and had worms left over I never put them back with the others and would just put the bait container in the fridge. Next time I would add to the bait container what I thought I would need to use that day. EB

Yep get rid of that mix it'll just kill any that you put in it. Instead of regular foam box's go to a pet store and see if you can get some of their fish shipping containers, they're a heavy duty foam that's sealed and when surrounded by ice packs or in a fridge work great (from Lunkers Love Nightcrawlers, Fishing Facts book).

I don't know if it was so much the heat that got you but too many worms in the box!!!!! which ate up all the nutrients and just overcrowded the box?? It only takes one dead one to wipe them out.

Fatman