Earthworms from my yard

[gale]

how do I "prepare" them? We never use any chemicals on our yard at all. We do have cornfields around one side but I could easily collect the worms from a part of the yard (we live on 10 acres) that is not near the cornfield. I just keep imagining holding a worm in the water and watching the fish attack it.

 

[Bloomjack]

Put some boiling water from your kettle over the worms. This will kill the worms and clean them. Then chop the worms up according to the size of your fish.

 

[WILDER]

Having got the heart for that.

 

[midcuk]

give them a good squeeze as well head backwards to squeeze all the crap outa them.
i put them in whole and live for my oscars after a wash/squeeze

 

[astroboy]

I don't think all that squeezing and boiling is necessary. I just rinse off any dirt and then chuck them in, you'll be fine living on 10 acres. I live in a large city (big backyard, no pesticides) and there haven't been any detrimental effects on my fish

 

[Nidge]

My god! some of the answers given!

I feed my fish earth worms all the time, You dont need to squeeze them or do any thing like that. All you do is prepare a small container and put a piece of damp cloth in it. Catch the worms and put them in the container and leave them there for a few days by then all the dirt and stuff will have passed through them, If you cant handle cutting them up, Dont, Catch small ones for your small fish and big ones for your big fish. Earth worm are a very good food source for fish.

 

[Talisman]

All sounds gross to me.

 

[gale]

Thanks everyone. I'm not too squeamish when it comes to earthworms (centipedes are a whole nother story) so I will try it when the ground thaws and they start appearing. I can go out at night and get a few and do the container w/ damp cloth trick.

 

[SMSBrunetteGirl]

I wouldn`t do that,usually *wild food* from your backyard have diseases or sumthing

Ohhh,nevermind what I said i never knew you could feed them earthworms..I wish I could when it gets warmer but these apartments use chemicals I think

 

[Mr Miagi]

I agree with nidge on this one.

I feed my spiny eel garden worms occasionally. You probably wouldnt need to constantly feed just the normal community fish with worms. What fish are you feeding the worms to?

PS, i just get them and wash'em in my hands and in they go!

 

[Discomafia]

What fish are you feeding the worms to?

Yea, wanted to ask you the exact same thing...

 

[GuppyDude]

i biol mine to take care of any bacteria, slise them down the middle to remove all the guts and dirt, and accordeing to teh size of ur fish u chop them up. great for guppys, and iv heard cichlids love them too

 

[gale]

What fish are you feeding the worms to?

The fish in my sig-I think the betta would like it. All the others love bloodworms so I'm thinking they would like an earthworm every so often. I wouldn't do it more than once a week or so, maybe every 2 weeks. Just for a treat once in a while.

 

[Discomafia]

I'm sure my betta would love an earthworm, I never tried giving him one. I wish I had earthworms in my backyard... But I'm sure it's polluted, so I'd rather not. What sized earthworms should I feed a betta? You can get them at bait shops, right? I may do that in the future, plus, I'm sure my newts would appreciate it as well.