Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if anybody keeps compost worms as a live food for your turtles? I"m thinking of getting a culture going so i will have worms during the winter.

So does anyone else keep them and if so how are you doing it.

Yes. Its very easy. I use a large rubbermaid storgage box filled with top soil and a tiny bit of peat moss. The hardest things are keeping the soil moist enough while avoiding funguis and turning over the soil without killing lots of worms. If it gets above about 75 degrees though they start to die. I think probably 50 - 60 F is a decent range. I feed them all sorts of fruit and veggies and table scarps. I place peices of bark near the surface for easy gathering (they tend to rise to the surface and gather beneath the bark)
I have found very few turtles which will not eat them.
I add caclium carbonate powder to the soil. It may not actually help but it can't hurt.
I'd start with at least 5000.
Try to get a soucr which has not been raised in chicken manure....they worms tend to cause problems.
I got mine from wormman.com

Thanks, I'm getting some from a friend.He said he could give me "a handful" so i'm not sure exactly how many that is. I can always buy more later as i found a place that seel them locally.

How fast do they reproduce? If he give me a handful of worms how long before i have enough worms to start feeding them to my turtle? How exactly do they reproduce.I have read websites but none really say how they multiply and if you have to watch out for worm eggs when you take out and ad new soil.

Sorry for all the questions.Thanks for helping.

worms are hermaphrodites, having both male and female reproductive organs.. they cannot mate with themselves, they do need another worm, after mating both worms will become gravid, I'm not sure how long it takes for their eggs to form.. and hatch.. maybe someone else here can tell you more.

I am also looking for clean compost worms. I was unable to locate the website wormman.com. Can anyone recommend another site? I have in the past bought great looking nightcrawlers from a large chain sports store without realizing they may have been raised in unsanitary conditions. I later inquired on the method of farming and all they could tell me was that they were from Canada and are available all year long. Worms are definately my turts favorite.