RED WIGGLERS or EUROPEAN NIGHTCRAWLERS are the most common type of composting worm used in Canada, and both work really well in your Worm Studio.
SOME FACTS ABOUT COMPOSTING WORMS:
NOT YOUR GARDEN VARIETY
They are not your garden variety earthworms! Composting worms are not native to Canada (actually no worms are!). These worms thrive in warm and crowded environments, and they stick close to the surface eating decaying food and leaves.
Garden earthworms like to bury deep into the earth into cooler environments.
But don't worry, composting worms are not invasive, as they cannot survive the Canadian winters, and neither can their cocoons (although if released into the wild, they could eat through quite a bit of ground cover, which could cause small scale problems.)
LIGHT + TEMPERATURE SENSITIVE
Composting worms are most active between 15-30C, and they will die below 0C. They are also light sensitive! Any light will paralyze them after about 15 minutes. That is why they like to bury themselves into your worm bin when you open the lid! If you want to pick one up to say hi, just make sure to put them back home after a minute or so. We want to keep our friends happy!
COCOON LAYERS
Worms lay cocoons which contain between 4-6 baby worms! Worms do not have male and female genders like humans, so they are both able to lay cocoons and fertilize them, so any two worms can mate! Although they are fast reproducers and their population increases quickly in the worm studio, it will stabilize over time - nature generates no excess!
