Random Worm Facts

Getting to Know Your Worms

Red Wiggler Facts

There are lots of cool things that make red wiggler worms interesting. Some of these facts can be useful for your own worm farms, and others are just fun and silly! 

• Happy worms can eat half of their body weight in a day! So if you have 20 pounds of worms, that’s 10 pounds of food.
• Feed your worms avocados and melons to help increase the amount of worms you have. These foods are considered aphrodisiacs to worms, so they really help set the mood!
• Just like fiber is good for humans, it’s good for worms as well. Add used coffee grounds (and make sure they’re used because worms don’t like unused grounds) into the farms with their food for grit. This grit helps with their digestive systems. You can also use soil or coconut core if you don’t have access to used grounds.
• Food gets digested in a part of the worm known as the gizzard!
• Red wiggler worms don’t actually have any teeth in their mouth, so they have to suck on their food! This is why they prefer foods that have been processed down or have started decomposing.
• They have glands that produce calcium carbonate, a milky liquid that actually makes up sea shells.
• Since soil can have a lot of carbon dioxide that can mess with the worms body chemistry, their castings help neutralize the CO2 that is found.
• Worms have 5 hearts!
• Red wiggler worms don’t like the light and will burrow down to avoid it. 
• They also don’t like to be in temperatures that are too hot or too cold. They usually thrive in a place like a cellar. 
• You CANNOT cut a red wiggler in half to make two worms! This will only end up hurting your worm in the long run.
• They help aerate plant roots.
• The scientific name is eisenia fetida.
• Also known as tiger worms, trout worms or brandling worms!
• When a worm is pregnant, they have a band near the top.
• Worms do not have a gender and can technically reproduce with themselves! However, they prefer to reproduce with other red wiggler worms. 
• They can survive underwater.
• They live an average of 2 years.
• Worms lay cocoons which hatch into baby worms!
• Red wiggler worms can produce 2 cocoons a week.
• Cocoons take around 20 days to hatch.
• Each cocoon can have up to 3 worms.
• A red wiggler worm reaches full maturity in about 30 days.  
• They are considered the cousins of the European night crawlers. They have a similar look, but red wigglers are smaller in length and girth.