Worm Breeding: Cheap Bait for Fishing Fans
Worm breeding is a great way to save money on fishing bait because you can simply multiply a small amount of animals and ensure that you have enough worms for the next fishing week. That way you can stop wasting money on bait and save a trip to the fishing supply store. Here is a quick guide on worm breeding.
What You Need
You will need a medium plastic container in which you can store the worms. Fill the bottom with a thin layer of cat litter (or mulch) and top it up with a generous amount of gardening soil. Then add a layer of compost, leaves or coffee grounds. You should moisten the contents with about 2 cups of water, but make sure you distribute the water evenly. A good way to do that is by spraying it onto the soil instead of pouring it. Finally you can finish off by adding another thin layer of cat litter and gardening soil. Sometimes it can be very effective to add ripped pieces of egg carton to the gardening soil.
Breeding Worms
The worms will feed on the coffee grounds, leaves and egg carton. The mixture in the container should always be moist and it should be kept in a cool place at a temperature between 46°F and 50°F. The humidity in the container is very crucial because the worms will die if the earth is too dry. Daily watering is a must and spraying water has been reported to be more successful than pouring it. This is because pouring can lead to over-watering and the container will start to rot as well as everything in there. Even if it is a little gross, you must touch the soil and feel whether it is too dry. Thus, worm breeding is very simple because apart from the initial preparation and the watering, there is not much else you need to do. The container should be exchanged every 6 months if possible.
Not all types of bait are suitable for worm breeding and the best varieties are Eisenia Foetida and Eisenia Hortensis. It is important to feed the worms regularly by adding some vegetables, lettuce, fresh leaves and coffee ground. Fruit, meat and other foods should not be put in the container because they are going to rot and you must remove old food and replace it with fresh foods once a week.
Worm breeding can only be done by choosing one type of worm, so avoid mixing different varieties. You can start off with 25 worms which should be plenty to create a community. Breeding will commence about 10 weeks after the worms are placed into the container. To avoid that flies and pest can enter the worm community, put a cotton sheet on top of the container, but do not close the container with a plastic lid as the worms will suffocate.
If you find worms lying on the surface, you can assume that they are sick or dead because healthy worms will dig into the soil. Thus, it is good to remove the ones that are not moving on the surface. If you go fishing and did not make use of all worms you took, you can put them back into the container.
If the conditions are unfortunate, your entire worm colony may die due to pest, virus or disease. If this is the case you must throw the contents of the container out, clean it thoroughly and disinfect it to wipe out any dangerous bacteria. Then you can start breeding worms again following the same instructions as above.
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