I know Canadian Nightcrawlers need to be refrigerated. If I want to keep them long term what king of bedding and feed do I need to use?

Keep them hydrated but, don't drown them. I always water them the days before fishing so the are plump and juicy. A pinch of corn meal is what I use. If you want, toss them in the flower bed. Next heavy rain or watering, you can pick them up with there friends as the float on by...

We used sphagnam moss, old newspaper, and fed coffee grounds, corn meal, tea bags in a buried worm box when I was a kid in Indiana. I've tried to keep them in the refridgerator here in Texas but had no luck. I am thinking you could keep the worm box in the beer keg ice box. The, when they died, at least you would have something to drown your sorrow in.

I do not know how long you are wanting to keep them but they keep just fine on a shelf in the door of my frig for 3-4 weeks.

Yeah, I always try to bring a few dozen nightcralwers with me when I go fishing. Fished on the bottom, everything eats them from bass to catfish to carp to buffalo to sandies to...well, everything. I usually buy them at walmart, you can get two dozen there for the price of one dozen at most baitstores, but I put them into a different sterofoam container. And they keep just fine in the refrigerater in the bedding/dirt they come in, they always end up eaten by fish longer before they run out of dirt/food lol.

IVe never kept them long term,but I'm sure a mixture of dirt and coffee grounds kept moist would work,,in a cool dark place..
I also get mine at walmart,they have the best price around..

livebait

A refrigerator is too cold if you want to raise them or just to survive a long time. I've kept Canadian nightcrawlers in just plastic storage bins with a combination of the stuff you buy to breed them in and potting soil, etc. and had them breeding to where I had to start up other bins and then had to start giving them away. I think you don't want to keep them outside in the TX heat, but if you have a place to keep them reasonably cool that should work. I just kept mine out on the deck in the shade, but that was in VA.

FOOD FOR THE WORMS:
Corn meal sprinkled over the top every day feeds them really well, but put in a little veg oil or bacon grease (not hot) every once in a while.

Shredded newspaper is good too, not only for soil, but I think they actually eat it as the bacteria break it down. Keep the ph just a little alkaline -- a little lime (limeston) helps, but be careful with it. Lime also helps bacteria break down organic material. Dolomitic limestone has magnesium in it, which can turn the soil too alkaline, so be very careful with that.

I once saw a pile of old newspapers that had just been left to stay wet and rot outside, and it was full of earthworms. They absolutely loved it -- had it pretty well broken down into some fine compost.

Coffee grounds can be too acidic, unless you let them compost with some lime and regular earth for a while.


Monitor the worms' health constantly.

After the soil gets old, swap some out for some new and use the old for garden -- absolutely excellent compost. Some people raise worms just for this purpose, but they usually use just regular old earthworms for that.

I remember going out in the middle of the night in the mountains of NC with a flashlight to catch nightcrawlers under some spruce trees. They would lay on the ground with most of their bodies outside their holes and ready to zip back in their hole if they felt or sensed me. Had to be very careful not to vibrate the ground and very quick to peg them down with one finger right at the hole once I shined the light on them. Then I would use them the next morning to catch big bluegill from the mountain lake I walked about 3 miles to. Ah, those were the days. 12 years old and not a care in the world. Used a metal rod and a crude baitcaster -- I remember the day I tried to cross an electrical fence with that thing in hand.

An electric fence??? Did the worms start glowing? I'm sure the came to the top after that.

My Grandfather a WWII vet and campground supervisor upon his retirement back in the 70s used to get the biggest longest candian crawlers you ever seen. This was actually up around Newaygo Michigan.
Theyd cut about a half acre field and water it good with lawn sprinkler ona long water hose and latter that night they go clean up on them by the jugs full.
He had an old fashioned type refridge laying on its back partialy burried.
He opend the door sort of like a door ona storm cellar.He had all kinds of bedding and kept worms there. He had such a huge bed well done full of worms and a good marklet for them.
He sold'em around $2 a mason jar full or $5 for a small coffe can full.
A lot of Walleye fisherman bought them from him and they locals that camped regular ther elike them for what they called rock bass(Crappie?) and smallmouth Bass.
Never forget that. That was a huge worm bed with a steady supply.
Tired to make a bed out of a styrofoam cooler once. It lasted about 3 weeks and the fireants found them.
Havent tried since. you know...firearnts can clean things out pretty darn quick!!!

Edited cause I cant type or spell

Ranger Rick - Rock Bass and Crappie are a totally different species. Rock Bass are a seperate species, and look a little bit like a Warmouth. They're a panfish, big mouth, and aggressive. Much more common up north then down here in Texas.

Dragon thanks for the for the 411(info).
I left michigan when I was 5years old and have only visited maybe 4 times since and been over 20 years since I ben there last.

Got alot of yankee kin up there and hard to make out all the fish they talk about having...walleye,rockbass,smallmouth,Pike,Muskie,
Steelhead,lake trout,Kokanie,Salmon,etc etc...

I just looked it up and seen on TPWD where they actually refer to Green Sunfish as Rock Bass.
I had caught what I thoguht was alarge crappie as akid ona trip abck inmid 70s up to michigan ona freeline tossed under a dock and theyall said it was a RockBass.Guess thats where my confusion was cause that fish was in y mind a large Crappie,but hey the yers plays tricks on ones memeory you know!
I used to have access to a pond in Huntsville Texas,Where I really grew up, that had Black Bass and Warmouths.I do know what the Warmouths are now,but I called them somethin entirley differnt back then. Huge mouth great fighting perch that fight hard on UL gear.
Id take them as well as a mess of Sunperch anydya!!!

The Warmouths were just as fun to catch on little beetle spins as the LMB were on plastic worms!
The Huntsville,Riverside,Trinty areas(Trinity River,bedias creek,lake Livngston, lake Conroe etc was the first palce I heard Crappie/whites refered to as White Perch too. Oh and the Freshwater drum...Gasper Gou!

Nick names and fishery names can be confusing!

To keep the ants out, you can make a plywood box on legs and put the legs in coffee cans or tuna cans and fill with water.

I did this with red wigglers I bought for compost and fishing but they were just way too small to fish with.

Unless your wife likes to fish, I doubt you can get away with an indoor worm bin which is what you'd need for canadian worms...

Can use moistened torn to shreds newspaper for bedding with a bit of dirt in it. I fed them coffee grounds and kitchen scraps for several years until I gave up because they were too small. I heard of a big Texas Wiggler (really european but puts up with our heat) but their website was down when I tried to buy some a couple years ago.

John

Ranger - I was born in Texas, but spent at least half my life, probably more, living in other parts of the country including Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota, as well as Colorado, and Utah, so I know just what you mean. Every area has their own nicknames for the same fish lol.

Just like everyone here in Texas calls Bluegill and Sunfish, "Perch." But when I first moved back to Texas, I had no idea what they were talking about. I kept telling everyone their "Perch" were actually bluegill lol. Cause of course up north "Perch" are just that, actual Yellow Perch, a totally different species that is very common up there, makes very good eating, but is very rare down here.

I actually miss the big variety of fish that they have up north, it seems they have many more species, much more commonly then we have down here. I've always enjoyed catching a variety of fish, so I miss that down here.

When I first caught Warmouth down here, I thought they might have been a species of rockbass, as they're a little bit similiar, but I found out they are actually a totally different species.

I tend to pride myself on my correct indendification of all the fish species I've caught, and catch, so I've done ALOT of research lol.

I think the TPWD mention of Green Sunfish as RockBass is referring to a local nickname, because they are totally seperate species.

Here is a link to a picture of a rock bass.

http://www.great-lakes.org/graphics-2/rockbass.gif

They don't usually get anywhere near that big, that's a record size Rock Bass.

Here's another picture.

http://fish.dnr.cornell.edu/nyfish/Centrarchidae/rockbasspic.html

That's an identification picture.

And finally, another state record class rock bass, a real good picture of what they look like.

http://www.catchphotorelease.com/laurao.htm

Like I said, they don't usually get that big, average of 4-10 inches.

I did the deal with the nightcrawlers in the flower bed thing. I have no idea what kind they were. I bought them at a bait shop on 2499 in Flower Mound. I kept them for a couple of weeks in a refrigerator (my beer fridge in the garage) until we were leaving on a 10 day cruise. I turned the 10-12 I had left loose. Now all I have to do is turn the sprinklers on and they eventually float to the top.

The only drawback is that they spread to the yard. I am getting those little mounds in the yard after rains now. I wish I'd never done it.

Kevin

I've never had any problem with keeping nightcrawlers in the fridge, in the containers they come in lol. Maybe that just means I fish too much...