Red Wiggler worms life cycle and stages start as eggs, and ends after death. So their life span may go as long as 4 to 5 years. But this may also depend on a few more other factors such as using them for fish bait, or containing them in very unfavorable surroundings.
The breeding cycle is approximately 27 days from mating to laying eggs. Worms can double in population every 60 days.
High heat (above 84 degrees) is fatal to them. Too much salt or acidic food waste can kill them. It's best to change the bedding with fresh materials to solve the problem.
An adult redworm can lay one egg capsule a week which contains, on average, 3 worms. Egg capsules hatch in approximately 21 days under optimal conditions. Newer egg capsules will be yellow. As they mature, they will shift to red.
Blood Flukes (Schistosomes)
People get them if they spend time in fresh water where infected snails live. The fork-shaped worms emerge from snails and can then go through a person's skin and into the blood where they become adults.
Earthworms try to stay out of sunlight because the heat from the sun dries out their skin. If an earthworm's skin becomes too dry, it wouldn't be able to breath, and it would die. The red light's more like a cloudy day to the earthworms.
Red worms love fruits and vegetables from your kitchen and garden. Save your left-over, spoilt organic matter, peelings, and cores for the worms. They also like tea bags, bread, pasta, grains, shredded black print newspaper, coffee grounds, and hair. Avoid meat, dairy, oils, and acidic foods.
One material that works extremely well for both bedding and food is brown cardboard. Red worms love to eat brown cardboard. It should be shredded up into small pieces to allow for better air flow and so that the worms can eat it more easily.
Avoid feeding the worms large quantities of meat, citrus, onions and dairy foods. Some processed food also contains preservatives, which discourage the worms from eating it. These foods won't harm your worms, but they will avoid them and those scraps will break down and rot in the bin.
Worms like red wigglers need a damp, but not wet, environment to thrive. The ideal amount of water in a worm bin is just enough to produce 1-2 drops of water when you squeeze a handful of bedding.
You can use redworms to recycle your food waste by setting up a worm bin system at home. Redworms transform soil and decaying plant material into an excellent soil amendment and conditioner called vermicompost. Your food waste will disappear and your plants will flourish!
Mary Appelhof, author of “Worms Eat My Garbage” recommends two pounds of worms — about 2,000 wigglers — for every pound per day of food waste. To figure out how much food waste your household generates, monitor it for a week and divide it by seven.
Usually, worms dying in vermicompost systems can be traced back to one of a few problems: incorrect moisture levels, problematic temperatures, lack of air circulation, and too much or too little food. Keeping a worm farm means constantly checking it for these key items.
Red Wigglers need a moist environment to live. The easiest way to provide moisture is to soak the bedding material in water before adding it to the bin during the set-up process. The ideal moisture level is like a damp sponge. The bedding should feel moist, but when you squeeze it, no water should drip out.
Redworms need oxygen to live. Air circulation is a must in and around a worm box. pH level: Redworms do best if the pH is around 7.0, however, they can tolerate levels from 4.2 to 8.0 or higher.
Can red worms eat coffee grounds (and the filter)? True! Your morning cup of joe can do more than just get you ready for your day. Those used up coffee grounds make perfect worm food for hungry red wigglers!
There should always be a higher carbon to nitrogen ratio (C:N) contained in the worm bin. For worm composting, conditions are generally ideal with a carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratio of between 20:1 and 35:1. Always remember, you can never add too much worm bedding on top.
Under ideal conditions, worms can eat their weight in scraps per day. So if you have 1 pound of worms, you can theoretically feed them 1 pounds of scraps. However, we recommend you play it safe by feeding an amount they can handle every 2 or 3 days.
Banana peels are an excellent worm food.
Composting worms, or Red Wigglers, are not picky eaters. They will happily digest a wide variety of organic plant material into nutrient rich worm castings. I put old lettuce in there, rotten vegetables, potato peels, fruit, grass clipping, and leaves, just to name a few. They especially love the fruit.
When worms die in the bin, their bodies decompose and are recycled by other worms, along with the food scraps. Worm castings are toxic to live worms.
Earthworms and red wriggler worms are perfectly safe to hold bare-handed, though it's probably prudent to wash your hands before eating your next meal.
Invertebrates cover a range of creatures from insects and spiders to mollusks and crustaceans. Farstad said most invertebrates, including lobsters and crabs boiled alive, do not feel pain because, unlike mammals, they do not have a big brain to read the signals.