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Fussy Eaters

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:49 am
by ecogran
I have had my worms 2 months and they are eating hardly any of the food I put in the bin,but they are very keen on cardboard.Is this normal?

Re: Fussy Eaters

Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2020 9:52 am
by WillyWorm
Hi, worms view anything as food. What we call bedding, browns, carbon or cardboard is all food to a worm. It is unusual for them to prefer to eat cardboard to more nutritious fruit and veg.
You did not tell us what you have been feeding. Also did they eat the dried food which came with your bin?
The are a few things which worms won’t eat and which are dangerous to the worms if too much is put in their bin, these include, anything from the onion family like leeks, onions, garlic, chives. Anything from the citrus family, lemons, grapefruit, oranges. Some even say pineapple though not a citrus has the same problem. The last thing is spicy things. Things on this list have the potential to damage the worms delicate skin through which it breathes, therefore worms will stay well away. If you have any of these in your bin remove them ASAP.
Root veg like potatoes, carrot, etc take a long while to breakdown and become available to worms. Worms don’t have teeth and depend on micros and fungi, etc to breakdown their food so they can suck it up. Root veg have developed protection against these microbes which are the same as the ones which live in the garden, if they had not the we would have little to eat. If you have fed root veg in the last two months then it won’t be available to the worms yet.
You could try removing all the food from the bin and start again. Just feed one thing such as a piece of chopped up cucumber (normally gets eaten very quickly) if that’s eaten try an apple core, used tea leave (tear teabags open) melon rind, etc I find leaves from cabbage and lettuce a bit slow but they go in a week or so.
There is lots of goodness in corrugated cardboard the glue used if vegetable or animal glue. I fill my bins to the top with it when going on holiday.

Please keep us updated
Will

Re: Fussy Eaters

Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2020 1:17 pm
by ecogran
Thankyou willyworm for the info.They ate the dried food ok and some finely crushed eggshell,but I will follow your advice about softer food and will let you know how they take to it.

Re: Fussy Eaters

Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2020 6:48 pm
by WillyWorm
If they eat the dry food it tends to indicate there is something they do like in the current offerings, and the two reasons I suggested earlier are the most likely reason.
Please do let us know how you get on, that way we can all learn.
Willy

Re: Fussy Eaters

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2020 10:54 am
by ecogran
The worms are eating more fresh food but I think the bedding is still a bit too wet.when queezed .

Thanks for advice Willy

Re: Fussy Eaters

Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2020 12:13 pm
by WillyWorm
Hi Sounds like things are moving in the right direction well done. Wet bedding won’t stop worms eating and it’s easy to add more dry shredded material to dry it up.

Willy