Microworms / Walter Worms starter Walter worm cultures

Microworms / Walter Worms I have several starter Walter worm cultures (microworms) avalible £2.99 including p+p. You will receive a small bag with a starter culture in, with plenty of worms to start up your own culture. Paypal preffered. Email for further details. Heres some tips for culturing them. Walter Worm / Micro worm Culture Care Sheet. What are Walter Worms. Walter worms are a type of micro worm that were first isolated by Helmut Walter from Germany. Walter worms tend to stay suspended in the water for longer and so they are more easily accesed by the fry. Culturing Walter Worms This is how I culture my own Walter Worms. Get some plain porridge oats no added salt or sugar etc. Then mix with water in a bowl until it forms a thick paste like consistency. Now sprinkle a small amount of yeast into the mixture and stir it in. Then get what you intend to culture your worms in like a margarine or take away tub, spoon about 3-5cm of oats into the bottom. Be careful not to get any on the sides, if you do just wipe it off with a damp cloth. Now get your ordered start up culture and put a couple of spoonfuls on top of your mixture then using the back of a spoon flatten the mixture. Now get your lid and pierce some holes to allow for some air circulation but not too much you still want it fairly humid in the tub to encourage the worms too crawl on to the sides of the tub. I personally like to keep my cultures in semi darkness as apparently this helps so what I do is if the tub is clear is to wrap some newspaper around the sides and lid to try to prevent light from entering. Leave culture at room temperature and within a couple of days there should be worms starting to crawl up the sides. I generally find the more yeast added the quicker the worms are ready for harvesting but also the cultures dies quicker. Same about temperature the warmer the quicker. After a while the culture may dry out and its best to sprinkle some water back on top but not too much. After a few weeks depending on temp and amount of yeast the culture will go a dark brown colour. This means it is on it way out as the worms have eaten most of the oats so this is a good time too start another culture. Harvesting Once you have set your culture up depending on how much starter culture used, amount of yeast and temperature you should be able to start harvesting in 2-3 days time. To do this you will need something to wipe round the edges like a small paint brush or a cotton bud or similar. Once the worms are around the sides simply wipe the paintbrush or similar around collecting worms as you go being careful not to collect any of the oats as this will affect water quality rapidly. Now you can either swish the worms directly into the tank required or into another container with water and then using an eye dropper or turkey baster can be put in to tanks as needed © Tim Jones 2008 Advertiser: Tim Jones Telephone: 07593685387 Town: Birmingham County: West Midlands