How to look like a nutter for your amphibians but save some money

Ok I am sure some of you more experienced owners will know this but thought I would share this for anyone that didn't and doesn't mind looking silly :rofl:

Upon walking my dog tonight in the rain I happened to notice the ground was one big giant axie dinner!!! I could not believe the amount of worms out there some as big as nearly 30cm's (now even my biggest Mojo would struggle to get his chops around that)!!!

So being annoyed at myself for only just buying 3 tubs of puny worms today I went out again with a torch and a tub and must have got myself 60 odd good looking worms!!!

So for anyone that wants to save themselves a bit of money and has a worm farm/tub like me do yourself a favour and rather than avoid the rain (yes like me far easier to send hubby out with the dog), take yourself out on a little worm expedition (oh and saw a few cute frogs aswell)!

THE IMPORTANT PART - make sure you have your excuses all ready for when you bump into someone though (not hard where I live facing the fields a lot of dog walkers) "oh yes funny you should ask, I am collecting worms for my sons worm farm, its a school project" therefore avoiding the funny looks when trying to explain to a non amphibian owner what you are doing to the cute little wormies !

I used to go behind my faculty with a spoon, a jar and a pair of tweezers to go worm hunting. For some completely unidentified reason, people looked at me in a funny way. Maybe everytime i went digging i happened to have a bad hair day.

zoezakella said:

THE IMPORTANT PART - make sure you have your excuses all ready for when you bump into someone though (not hard where I live facing the fields a lot of dog walkers) "oh yes funny you should ask, I am collecting worms for my sons worm farm, its a school project" therefore avoiding the funny looks when trying to explain to a non amphibian owner what you are doing to the cute little wormies !

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better even, pop a large one in your mouth, chew, and swallow, and inform the person that earthworms are a nutritious renewable resource that has been woefully neglected. There are some delicious recipes on the web: see here

Molch said:

better even, pop a large one in your mouth, chew, and swallow, and inform the person that earthworms are a nutritious renewable resource that has been woefully neglected. There are some delicious recipes on the web: see here

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:ha: I think I would just say I was preparing for a fishing trip.

I'm sure I've mentioned this here before, but I once read an angling book that recommended catching worms from bowling greens on a rainy night, with one pocket filled with sand. This is so you can dip your fingers in the sand to improve your grip on the worms.

(like Azhael, I prefer tweezers)

zoezakella said:

THE IMPORTANT PART - make sure you have your excuses all ready for when you bump into someone though

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Slightly off-subject, but equally as bizarre.....
A few years ago I used to brew a lot of home-made wine, if I had a free source of the main ingredient (out-of-date fruit from the market, gathering berries, etc) then for the price of a bag of sugar, then the world was my oyster (a rather alcoholic oyster, I might add).
So I find myself collecting elderberries from several overgrown bushes in the local graveyard, one sunny afternoon.
After getting a few buckets of berries (with the stalks still on), I stepped back out of the hedge and back onto the cemetary path, to look up at the bushes.

Now, let me explain that there's a nursing home for the elderly in the next street.

Imagine a teenage nursing assistant wheeling a wheelchair-bound 90-year old through the (beautiful) nearby grounds on a pleasant afternoon........to then witness a long-haired bearded bloke step out of the bushes, grinning to himself and holding a large bread-knife in his red-stained grasp........after a century of 'locked gaze' and 'time standing still' cliches, I managed to signal to the girl that having half a dozen buckets of elderberries doesn't make you Charles Manson.
Her blank facial expression didn't change as she turned the wheelchair in 180 degrees, demonstrating remarkable grace under 'pressure', I felt.
I listened out for police sirens in the distance through-out the whole time I spent sterilizing demi-johns in the kitchen.
Anyone who's interested, add some fresh grated root ginger.....(easy home grown,btw)

EEK This is getting off topic, I do apologise for my ramblings

Molch said:

better even, pop a large one in your mouth, chew, and swallow, and inform the person that earthworms are a nutritious renewable resource that has been woefully neglected. There are some delicious recipes on the web: see here

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I love that idea!
Here's a link to a short Ted-talks lecture about the massive advantages there would be if we as humans might reconsider our protein sources..... Marcel Dicke: Why not eat insects? | Video on TED.com

Ken - u never fail to make me :rofl:

Ah, it's called "crawler hunting" and for those of us who grew up(or still live) in rural midwestern U.S(I'm in Michigan), it's perfectly normal and acceptable! I used to use a simple metal coffee can and a flashlight, with a 5 gallon bucket on nights when you really wanted to go all out. We had nights that we easily caught several thousand nightcrawlers.

never had this problem, my grandparents have a vegetable garden so i just use a hoe, i never had to explain anything to strangers. although i think i would use the fishing trip excuse

I keep meaning to take a container out with me when I go out after heavy rain, the amount of worms on the pavement is ridiculous.

caleb said:

I'm sure I've mentioned this here before, but I once read an angling book that recommended catching worms from bowling greens on a rainy night, with one pocket filled with sand. This is so you can dip your fingers in the sand to improve your grip on the worms.

(like Azhael, I prefer tweezers)

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This is a technique I have used for years for collecting worms for fishing and my pets, worms are sensitive to vibrations so tread softly and speak quietly, also use a dim light (head torches are great) so you dont scare them , they are quite easy to catch but you get a bad back doing it, try and enlist your children to help, they think it is fun.

I've noticed my usual dog walk route is filled with worms making a bid for freedom across the footpath late at night. I tend to put them in excess poo bags and bring them home

I'm using a pitchfork to catch them. Stick it in the ground and gently tap against the handle, while it stands in the surface. The worms will crawl out of the dirt as it's suddenly boiling down there. Some say the vibrations that the pitchfork is causing simulates rainrall or a borrowing mole. Use this method shortly after bad weather. If you've hit a good spot the worms will jump for your throat. Try to find an excuse for walking around with a pitchfork before you try this of course.

In response to the original thread...

I have just done exactly the same thing! Yesterday when I took my dog out to my favourite nature park early in the morning I noticed that there were lots of small worms crawling on the gravel path. It had rained the night before and so they were everywhere. I was surprised the birds hadn't beat me to it!

Small worms are hard to come by in my back garden (my salamanders are still quite small!) and so I had a field day picking up lots of small thin worms.

Used a dog poo bag yesterday but may take a small tub with me next time I go there!

You're not the only one!

Forty five minutes collecting worms, about 200 lobs. Wast worth it ? wandering around a dark field with a head light, in the rain, on my own , looking like a weirdo.... Absolutely.

I went to the park a couple of nights ago, but only caught 2. I'm going to try it again with a red gel filter on my heartorch, since the light was startling them and making them dart back down their borrows before I could grab them. It also might have been a bit cold for them; only a few of them had most of their body out of their burrows.

What was it you said about gloating in another thread, Ian? xD Bloody hell....when i go worm hunting i spend twice the time for a mere fraction of the worms (and mostly tiny ones) and sacrifice my back a little more everytime...
This is just not fair...

Niels D said:

I'm using a pitchfork to catch them. Stick it in the ground and gently tap against the handle, while it stands in the surface. The worms will crawl out of the dirt as it's suddenly boiling down there. Some say the vibrations that the pitchfork is causing simulates rainrall or a borrowing mole. Use this method shortly after bad weather. If you've hit a good spot the worms will jump for your throat. Try to find an excuse for walking around with a pitchfork before you try this of course.

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I couldn't find a video, but this remember me a scene in godzilla, where the scientist uses electricity to make all the earthworms crawl outside the earth.

Azhael said:

What was it you said about gloating in another thread, Ian? xD Bloody hell....when i go worm hunting i spend twice the time for a mere fraction of the worms (and mostly tiny ones) and sacrifice my back a little more everytime...
This is just not fair...

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lol, I have been collecting worms for over thirty years, for the first twenty it was for fishing but in the last ten mainly for amphibians. There is a specific set of tactics/techniques for maximizing your catch, I would be happy to start a thread with them if anybody is interested.