# Culturing Whiteworm



## BigC (Mar 18, 2010)

*Enchytraeus albidus* (Whiteworm)

































*Temp*
The optimum temperature for reproduction is 15° - 21° C. Below 9°C the worms will stop breeding and above 27°C they will die.

*Breeding*
For breeding you will need the following:
• _A Container_; e.g. an ice-cream tub or similar with holes punched in the lid. Pinholes will suffice so as not to attract fly infestation.
• _Medium_; Potting Compost; I make my own with a little garden lime added, as worms do not like acid soil. Aquatic soil is also a good medium.
•_ Food_; To begin with I use granary bread cut into 1” squares and soaked in milk. when the Culture matures I then use full slices of Brown Granary Bread fully soaked in RO water, this method has presented me with my best results in terms of yield thus far.
Place your compost in your container to about three inches deep and gently firm. Spray this until it is nice and damp, but not soaking wet. Empty your starter into a depression in the centre of the container. Gently level this and add a square of bread to begin with. Cover this with a piece of glass or slate (the later works best). Cover the box as white worm’s don’t like light.
The worms will begin to slowly disperse into your culture box. To begin with the worms will eat very little and you may find that the food will grow a white hairy fungus. If this is the case carefully remove the uneaten food, taking care not to remove the worms that are attached to the base of the rotting food. Replace with fresh food. Check the culture every day to ensure that they have enough food. You will find that as the worms multiply, the food will be consumed more quickly.
You can increase the number of cultures by adding some worm filled media from your new culture once it is established (as you did to start your first culture), or upsize to a larger container.
Your culture should be ready to harvest in about 8 - 12 weeks.

*Harvesting*
A common fault is that people attempt to harvest too early. It usually takes at least 8 weeks for the worms to be collected in numbers large enough to both feed fish and sustain the culture.
To collect the white worm place them in a plastic tub containing a small amount of water for around 5 minutes (this is long enough for the worms to purge themselves of any compost), by this time they will have collected together in small balls and are easy to collect and feed to fish.

I hope this small collection of easy to culture livefoods helps some folk to give it a go.


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

Great tutorial threads Big C !

Dunno how applicable the white worms are for frog feeders but glad you posted and please post often.

Welcome to the hobby.


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## BigC (Mar 18, 2010)

LOL
I don't know if the thread is applicable either, but I did read one thread on the subject somewhere so it may or may not be of some relevance. I also culture Grindalworm which are smaller. Should I also post my article on these as well.
Regards
C


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

I don't know of anyone who cultures any kind of worms for darts..

NOW Caudates!....there's your market. John C is active on this frog board and he runs Caudata.org which is a huge gummy lizard forum. I love newts and someday I'll have a room full of them too.

I would say the percentage of cultured insect food for darts is approx.

86 % Fruit flies of which 75 % is smaller Melanogaster

10 % Springtails which all thumb and pum froglets need.

4% Bean Beetles, roaches, crix ect

just a ball park example to get you started.


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## BigC (Mar 18, 2010)

Nobody trying *Confused Flour Beetles *or their larvae (Tribolium confusum)
ATB
C


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

BigC said:


> Nobody trying *Confused Flour Beetles *or their larvae (Tribolium confusum)
> ATB
> C


Yep...every so often someone will post an inquiry about them. I have them in a culture right now. Hard to harvest. Most frogs do not like the little hairs on the larvae - some eat them and almost all frogs do not like the acidic adult beetles.

Bean beetles are on the upswing due to ease of culture and feed out. they hold powder well and are a good addition.


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