Blaptica Dubia food

Mike41793 said:

They don't seem to care much for the skins, as they do the meat. When I give them grapes, melon, pepper, tomato, etc. They'll eat all the fruit and meat out and then leave the skin or the rind. That's when I take it out. Maybe they'll eat it eventually if they get hungry enough, I'm not too sure. If the potato skins and what not still have some of the meat of the potato left on them, then I'd say toss them in there for sure and let them munch on them.

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Dizzle said:

Hey thanks man, just what I was looking for; a response from someone who has experimented in the past with this. I'm probably better off just crushing up some peanuts and mixing it with the other dry food I give them then, throw out the skins.

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ratluvr76 said:

If you have a vermicomposting bin the worms will eat the peanut shells happily.

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Mike41793 said:

I've always been interested about this. Do you have one? I'd love to see how you have it setup

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ratluvr76 said:

Yes, I have a worm bin.. Eisenia hortensis (European nightcrawler, Belgian Worm, Super Red, Carolina Crawlers, Blue Worms, all different names for the same worm).

I'll post some pics later but for now I'll just describe it, it's really simple to set up.

You need 2 Rubbermaid or similar style storage bins. I think mine are 18 gallon? but you need one with no holes and 1 with ventilation holes around the top edge and a series of drainage holes in the bottom.

fill the bin with the holes between 1/4 and 1/2 full of shredded newspaper, cut up cardboard, cut up cardboard egg crates etc. Mix in about 2 cups of compost, (I use earthgro manure based compost), 2 cups topsoil (again, earthgro, but the brand shouldn't matter as much as that it's organic with no chemicals). About half way down in the newspaper layer, bury 2 cups or so of organic kitchen trash, such as vegetables and fruit, bread, noodles, grains etc etc. Stay away from anything meat or animal based, don't add onions, garlic, hot peppers, the worms don't like that. Add enough water to thoroughly moisten the newspaper. You want it damp not wet.

I put "risers" in the bottom of the bin that doesn't have holes in it, any drainage from the worm bin will go in there so there needs to have something to sit the worm bin on for air flow in there. Plus, if you sit your worm bin down to far into the drainage bin your ventilation holes will not be open. I use upside down pill bottles for this but some glass jars or something, anything sturdy will work. Your "risers" only have to be about 1 1/2 to 2 inches tall but they have to be the same height, 1 in each corner of the drainage bin.

don't add your worms yet, set this all up before you even order your worms (I bought mine online).
once you get your bins set up and assembled, go ahead and order your worms, by the time you're worms get to you, the bins should be "seasoned" enough.

take your worms out of the package they come in and add them to your bin.. there you go, you have a vermicompost bin.

I bought a pound of worms, with EN's that works out to about 575 to 800 individuals

In about 4 months time, my worm colony has doubled in size.
If you want to know more, I'll tell you how to harvest the castings and start the bin over again.
You can keep them at room temperature. If you're bin is doing well, you won't notice a smell, in fact it smells wonderfully "earthy".

---------- Post added 08-29-2014 at 09:08 AM ----------

I'll probably make a new post about this.... >.< didn't mean to hi-jack your thread. sorry.

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ratluvr76 said:

Here's the promised "tutorial" for my version of a verma-composting bin.

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/sho...wler-(Eisenia-hortensis)-vermi-composting-bin

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