How to Breed Big Fat Fishing Worms

First, the type of worm we will be discussing will be Eisenia Foetida (scientific name) for Red Worms/Red Wigglers. They are easy to raise and adapt very well to temperature and litter conditions. They are raised primarily for the vermiculture (worm composting) market. Size is not important in worm composting, so the average red worms/red worms are 1-2 inches long and weigh about 900-1000 per pound. Here at Southern Bait Worms we produce Red Worms/Red Worms that are 2 to 3.5 inches long and weigh about 600 per pound.

The first thing you will need to do is prepare a PRIMARY worm container. You will need at least a 1 square foot (12 x 12 inch) surface area per pound of worms and a depth of 8 to 12 inches. The bedding can be peat or coir (coconut fiber). It can be used 100 percent or mixed 50/50 with paper. Plastic bins are readily available and make good worm containers.

Let’s start with a 24-inch long x 12-inch wide x 12-inch deep plastic bin that has 2 square feet of floor space. This will be our PRIMARY worm bin which will hold 2 lbs. of worms After a couple of months you will start to see little worms in your PRIMARY container. You can feed this container with food scraps, paper, grain, etc.

Two to three weeks before you need to fish for worms, you will need to have a SECONDARY container ready. Peat or coir (coir) for your bedding. A 12-inch wide x 12-inch long x 6-inch deep plastic container with 1 sq. ft. surface area (12 qt. plastic tray) from Walmart works great. From your PRIMARY container, hand-pick 250 of the largest Red Worms/Red Wigglers, usually around 1.5 to 2 inches. Put these 250 worms in your SECONDARY container. Feed chicken crumbles grain or rabbit food every other day.

Adjust the feed so that all the feed is consumed on the second day. Three to four weeks later, your red worm/red wigglers should double in size. Do not add more worms to SECONDARY containers. Once you have used all of your fishing worms, start with a fresh container. You may want to have two of these smaller secondary containers for a continuous supply of fishing worms.