Thursday, January 15, 2009

I have worms

Today while running errands I saw a worm farm and a worm starter kit, so I bought it. I'm really looking forward to it maturing and expanding. There is still another level to go on. The instructions that come with it however are not overly clear.



? I can feed citrus as long as I add some lime?

? What about this - the guinea pigs eat corn cobs, which I buy when they are cheap, or the fruit shop has old ones, can I then give the empty cob to the worms, would they eat that.

? Also the guinea pigs make their bedding out of Lucerne hay and shredded paper, which I clean out each week. Can I put that in the worm farm?? The instructions mention no cat or dog poo, so does that mean no guinea pig poo too.. It seems like such a waste to throw the hay and paper away each week.

? So far I've read conflicting reports on if I can feed them meat? If I can feed them egg shells?

? So basically they live on kitchen scraps, not grass clippings? Moist paper?

2 comments:

  1. ? I can feed citrus as long as I add some lime?

    They don't like citrus or onion as it is acidic so if you are going to put some in, only use a little.

    If it you do accidently put too much in you can add some lime to help balance things out.

    ? What about this - the guinea pigs eat corn cobs, which I buy when they are cheap, or the fruit shop has old ones, can I then give the empty cob to the worms, would they eat that.

    You can throw in any kitchen scraps, but being so thick I'd imagine that it would take quite a while for them to eat it.

    ? Also the guinea pigs make their bedding out of Lucerne hay and shredded paper, which I clean out each week. Can I put that in the worm farm?? The instructions mention no cat or dog poo, so does that mean no guinea pig poo too.. It seems like such a waste to throw the hay and paper away each week.

    You can't use any manure from animals that have been treated with worm treatments. Other than that I can't find any reason why you can't use guinea pig bedding/poo etc. I'd be wondering if your worms would eat through it quickly enough though until their population is bigger.


    ? So far I've read conflicting reports on if I can feed them meat? If I can feed them egg shells?

    No meat. It will smell and attract vermin/dogs/cats etc and you could end up with maggots in your worm farm instead of worms.

    You can feed them eggshells - apparently they really like them, but crunch them up into small pieces.

    ? So basically they live on kitchen scraps, not grass clippings? Moist paper?

    Kitchen scraps, moist paper, moist cardboard, vaccum cleaner dust, hair clippings/pet hair, coffee grounds and filters, tea leaves/bags.

    Grass clippings can only go in if they have not had any chemicals on your lawn or you'll potentially harm your worms. And again, it's a quantity thing. There's a lot of difference between the nightly kitchen scraps and a few catcher loads of grass.

    Hope that helps some - I'm hoping we'll have a worm farm this year.

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  2. Thank you so much, that helped heaps. With the guinea pigs eating the majority of kitchen scraps its great to know what else I can give the worms.

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