Keeping / storing lobworms.

[philocalist]

I know this topic has likely been covered before, but I still can't seem to find anything like a definitive answer; I'm hoping that the collective knowledge and experience on here can come up with something workable and reliable!

 

Simply - what is the best way to keep lobworms? I'm not trying to keep them for months on end - I'd happily settle for a few weeks!

 

Unfortunately, there was a catalyst (this afternoon) for this post.

 

Over the past week or so we've had several evenings where there was rain, then on-going dampness and warm muggy weather through the night - lobbies were out all over the place, and our house backs onto a small park, so collection was dead easy - I had maybe 300 or so large lobworms split between 5, 3-pint maggot boxes. Boxes contained a small amount of soil and a pad of newspaper, dampened well with rainwater - the boxes themselves are the Greys ones with the klip-lock lids that allow ventilation, and they'd all been kept in an outbuilding, so they were cool and to a large dgree kept in darkness.

They've been checked over every day or so and all was OK apart from the removal of an occasional casualty, usually the morning after a new collection.

Last checked on Wednesday night, they were OK; checked this morning prior to nipping out for an overnighter tonight and 90% of them were dead

 

No reason at all I can pin down; temperatures have been OK, not apparently too dry / moist, low light levels etc. Boxes were clean / steralised before use; no dead worms left in there to cause problems etc, no overcrowding - I'm scratching my head for the cause, as the fatalities were spread across all boxes ... I'd split them over several boxes to avaoid any overcrowding and also to try and contain any potential problem with some of them dying, reasoning that if one box had a problem, the others would be OK.

 

Anyways, going back to the original question, does anybody have any sort of workable, reliable method for keeping / storing lobworms? I'm happy with something that will work for maybe a few weeks rather than long-term storage, and using a fridge is out, as there are usually maggots in there, and the ammonia given off by them would kills the lobbies PDQ!

 

 

As an afterthought - I put what was left out for the birds who seemed very happy ... does anyone have any sort of an opinion about whether they may still have had any use as a bait, either as they were (dead but not yet decaying or stinky), or maybe frozen / liquidised at a later date to spice up groundbait maybe?

[robtherake]

Anyways, going back to the original question, does anybody have any sort of workable, reliable method for keeping / storing lobworms? I'm happy with something that will work for maybe a few weeks rather than long-term storage, and using a fridge is out, as there are usually maggots in there, and the ammonia given off by them would kills the lobbies PDQ!

 

Not necessarily so. There are two adjacent boxes in one drawer of our fridge; one with worms in soil; another with maggots. Both last for weeks and the worms (so far) remain healthy.

[Rusty]

It seems like you’ve done everything right.

 

I keep mine in a fridge and until recently they used to be stored next to a bait box of maggots. I’ve never had a problem doing this before but the last couple of tubs I bought all died from the ammonia so now I have two fridges.

 

The only things I can think of are perhaps the temperature and maybe not removing the dead ones soon enough, one dead lob will kill the others very quickly. Other than that I’m at a loss, lobworms kept in the right conditions will stay alive for months.

[kirisute]

Bucket+ decent manure + compost+ bit of sand/soil+ lid with holes in.

Will keep for ages! Happy as larry! Put fresh compost in occasionally or straw/manure and water with a watering can sparingly maybe once a week....

Same method will keep smaller worms as well!

Best way is to just find a mature manure pile somewhere and dig them from there, put that in your bucket and add your lobs..you'll end up with some very good smaller worms as well as good lobs

Edited August 30, 2013 by kirisute

[robtherake]

Did you pull the worms from their holes? In my own experience, the attrition rate for lobs that you have had to forcibly extract is far greater than for those you've dug up.

 

More soil, or whatever medium you're using may help, and as Kiri implies, some sort of food source if you intend to keep them for any length of time. Pieces of cooked potato, placed on the surface of the soil cut side down, is as good as anything.

[kirisute]

Best way to pick lobs is washing up liquid and hose/ watering can with sprinkler. Squirt a but of liquid onto a grassy patch...generously water and sit and wait.

[JOHN.H]

Worms , having been one of my all time favourite baits , I would say this , trap your target behind the saddle with you forefinger , further back if possible . Keeping adequate pressure with second finger and thumb slowly , wait for the lob to relax ,( practise will teach you this ) If it is a struggle to pull from its hole , you will probably have caused so much internal damage that it will inevitably die and rapidly take its erstwhile healthy compatriots with it . Let those ones go.I have always refrigerated lobs after capture and kept them in either damp sphagnum moss , if available or torn up shredded soaking squeezed wet newspaper . Layer of paper 7-8 lobs , layer of paper and so on .. Lobs now cost £7-50p for 50 , so you potentially had £45 -00 worth of bait . I always inspect daily ,and you you can tell one that is on the way out because as soon as touched it will not contract and be of a pallid colour.I have not found keeping them fridged up with maggots to be a problem, but any way , do the maths , £45 of worms , equates to about 18 pints of maggots ( I get mine for £20 a gallon) . No one stores that amount of maggots ( except tackle dealers) so it would be more viable to keep the worms . As regards the washing up liquid trick , I did try this donkey`s years ago when the ground was suitably soaked and it is true that dependant on the density of worms , they will come streaming up but will positively shed/ extrude their natural slime and will soon die , or if used , should be of immediate usage, however I would not recommend.Refrigeration after capture seems to allow the worms to rejuvenate so this is why I advocate this .You will know by instinct /observation when you have got it right . When I have unused worms that are looking a little jaded , with no imminent prospect of swimming lessons , I take a few spade fulls of earth up , liberally water ,and liberate them for future re-capture.As an extra , and something I read about 30 odd years ago which is still true today is that football pitch goalmouth areas are one of the best spots as all the grass is either trampled down or basically missing. These nocturnal expeditions should be conducted on wet nights when there is not a lot of wind and hopefully not too many people about as you can be accused of being something you are not , 60 years old and 100% heterosexual--hope this helps

[Phone]

Philo,

 

Or keep them well fed in a localized part of your garden. They won't go far. Then you can "fiddle" them up. In just ten minutes you can gather a whole bucketful of fiddled worms with no more equipment than a rusty handsaw that's missing a few teeth and an old pail.

 

Are you old enough to know how to "grunt" these worms up?

 

OK, I'll tell you. Bury about a 3 inch limb 2 - 2 1/2 feet deep in the center of the feeding area. - - - Make sure the area is damp the day before you need worms. - - Take the old saw blade and run it back and forth across the buried limb. The vibrations bring them to the surface (be sure it is making a grunting or moaning noise. You'll get the hang of it pretty quickly). Stop occasionally and pick up those laying in the ground. Don't be greedy, pick what you'll use and return the unused to your "feeding area".

 

You can stump fiddle worms in the wild the say way. Just be sure the area is wet. I'm not sure if you can do it in the UK but I used to cut an inch or two sappling. They are even more effective because the the root system.

 

Phone

Ohh, for the good old days. (I bet Newt knows how to stump fiddle)

Edited August 30, 2013 by Phone

[BoldBear]

I keep my worms for months in a bucket filled with damp spagnum moss and earth.

NB: Spagnum moss is sold for pennies in garden centres and is used to line hanging baskets.

 

The bucket has drainage holes in the base and the spagnum moss is kept damp.

 

I feed the worms with slices of Apple and potato peelings and lay these on top; I also lay the occasional lettuce leaf on top.

I keep the bucket on the cold concrete floor of my garage.

 

I replace the soil every couple of months but the spagnum moss just needs rinsing with water to keep it fresh.

 

When I need some worms I lift the slices of Apple & pieces of Potato and there are usually lots of worms underneath; I assume they are feeding on the slices.

 

Remove any dead worms (if you get any) and try not to mix the worms with other species, although redworms seem to live quite happily with lobworm.

 

I often find tiny worms where the worms have spawned so conditions must be ok for them.

 

Good luck

Keith

Edited August 30, 2013 by BoldBear

[philocalist]

Thanks for all the advice so far guys; I'm reasonably happy that I was doing whatever I could to have the best chance of keeping the worms healthy - I'm just at a total loss as to why they would all die so quickly for no apparent reason - no chance of external contamination etc - I'm left to wonder whether the place in which they were left really was as cool as I have always surmised - any thoughts on what temperature would be problematic for them?

Someone mentioned about dead worms killing off the others quickly, but I was pretty meticulous about removing anything that looked even slightly suspect; I'd guess the maximum time between checks would have been maybe 36 hours, usuall daily though. 95% of these worms were picked off the surface with little or no chance of trauma at that stage - literally just crawling about above ground in the warm muggy nights following the rain ... one thing that NEVER ceases to amaze me is HOW fast the little buggers can move / vanish if they DO have their tails still in a hole!

 

On the subject of refridgeration, I may have to pass on it where worms are concerned ... there's a dedicated fridge / freezer that contains nothing but bait and the odd liquid refreshment, but the problem, apparently common with combined fridge / freezers is one of not being able to adjust temperatures seperately, in that the fridge thermostat typically also affects the freezer temperature (in an increase / decrease kind of way) - it can be tricky to balance a setting at which stuff stays frozen properly in the freezer without stuff starting to freeze in the fridge.

 

'Grunting' worms, phone? Guess it can't hurt to try, but I'll likley get more funny looks doing that in daylight than I do lurking around the park after midnight!

 

I'm lucky in that (weather permitting) I can walk maybe 100 metres from the house to a village park and pick worms almost on demand - IF the weather is suitable - it's just so much more convenient to have a store of them handy.