How To Fix Wet Worm Bedding



European Nightcrawlers - Red Worms - Cupped Bait - How To Grow Worms

So your wet worm bedding has given you a "worm nightmare". What are you to do?

Prevent Wet Worm Bedding

As I previously stated, the best thing to do is not let your bedding get too wet in the first place.  To prevent your worm beds from becoming soggy:

• Don't feed your worms soggy food.
• Don't let rain blow into your worm beds.
• Don't over-water your worm bedding.

If you somehow break one of the above rules (shame on you!) and your worm bedding becomes too wet, here's what you can do.

Wet Worm Bedding Fixes

Once you've determined your bedding is too wet, you should and must do something immediately.  Don't wait.  Worms can and will die if left too long in wet bedding. Try one or any of these following methods for drying out a too-wet worm bed:

1. Remove your worms from the wet bedding and put into dryer bedding.
   Do this if the bedding is standing in water or is the very wettest.  This "nuclear option" may be the only safe and surest way to prevent your worms from drowning.
2. Mix dry bedding material into the too-wet bedding. Dry peat moss is acid, so be careful doing this. You don't want to push your bedding to the acid pH side by adding too much dry peat moss at a time.  But, if your bedding is only slightly wet, you can safely add dry peat moss to soggy bedding and absorb the excess moisture. Mix in the dry peat moss thoroughly.  Recheck to see if you need to add more or if you've add too little. Adjust accordingly.
3. Add shredded newspaper, cardboard, or computer paper to your soggy bedding. This dry material is the safest, since it readily absorbs the excess moisture without affecting the bedding pH.  Mix the shredded paper throughout the bedding and let it sit.  Check back later to see if you need to add more or if you've added too much and the bedding has become overly dry (thing "Goldilocks", just right).
4. Remove any lids or covers from the top of the worm bed. You should remove the covering on a too-wet bed anyway.  This allows the moisture to evaporate and may be all you'll have to do.  Put a light on over the bed to prevent crawling.

There you have it. Take care of your wet bedding immediately and you'll wake up from your "worm nightmare" with very few losses.

Related Worm Farm Resources:

Worm Farm Manual: Covers extensively other worm bedding problems and fixes.
European Nightcrawlers: This very popular fishing worm is not readily available. Be the first in your area to offer this excellent fishing worm.

Start Growing  Both Red Worms & European Nightcrawlers