Micro
Worms
Starter culture purchased
from from Angelfeathers
on Aquabid.com.
Angelfeather sent a very nice starter culture out to me and was very nice
to buy from.
This is a very easy culture
to keep.
All you need is a small container (i.e. sour cream, yogurt, cottage cheese)
water, oatmeal, brewers yeast and some micro worms.
After experimenting with
several types of media for raising these worms, i.e. white bread, baby
cereal, old fashion oatmeal and mixtures of cornmeal with baby cereal,
I have found that just straight oatmeal with brewers yeast seems to have
a longer shelf life than the others.
However, I also found that the quantity of micro worms grows faster in
baby cereal or white bread media. So, I suggest baby cerealor white bread
as the culture media for expanding your culture quickly and oatmeal for
keeping cultures longer.
Making the media
for your culture:
If you are making the
Oatmeal media:
Make oatmeal according to the directions. (I tried microwaving my first
culture of oatmeal and realized that you must watch it cook or you will
have oatmeal all over the microwave and not in your container!)
Usually the oats will not be soupy enough after cooking, so you may need
to add water and stir after the oatmeal has cooled. Keep you media soupy
while growing your culture. (see picture of new media
below)
Add a very small pinch of yeast to the top of your
media after it has become room temp. (I have added yeast when media was
still very warm, and later had problems with mold.)
Now you can add a couple
of drops from your old culture to the new media (even if your old culture
is stinky). In a couple of days, the top of your new media will be completely
covered with micro worms.
Daily,
check your media and make sure that it is 'soupy'. If not, spritz with
water.
HARVESTING:
Some breeders suggest wiping the side of the container with a finger tip
or que-tip of worms that will be attached to the container
just above the media. For me, this sometimes contaminated my tank
with the media that was still stuck to the worms.
I tried taking the worms
from the que-tip and swishing them in a small glass of water. Eventually
the worms would settle to the bottom and could easily be removed with
a pipette.
This worked well, but I found the extra step a bit too time consuming
for me.
Another method for HARVESTING:
I found information on the
Internet, (I would post the URL if I could relocate it to give credit
to the editor), that suggested placing a brown paper towel right on top
of the media and spraying water on top of it creating a pool of about
1/2 inch of water. The worms seem to find their way through the towel
and are then easily collected without the media. You can then easily spoon
out the worms.
It's important to keep the towel misted as it dries out faster with the
extra surface area.
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Oats used for media |
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