Can I use oatmeal for wax worm bedding?

Image by Tim Musson
The finished worm farm

The bottom bin contains the soil and worms from my old worm farm. The top bin contains the new bedding, food, a little soil, and some worms. The bin shown in the previous two photos is the top bin in this photo.

Over the next few weeks, worms from the foodless bottom bin should migrate to the top bin (through all those 6mm holes) to find food and lay eggs. The mostly worm-free soil from the bottom bin will then be used in the garden.

Worm farms can be kept inside or outside, but shouldn’t be exposed to direct sunlight, heat (above 30°C), or cold (below 10°C). Where I live the climate’s pretty mild, so my worm farm sits outside most of the year. A healthy worm farm doesn’t smell, so that’s not an issue.

Maintaining the farm

Worms deal with most food scraps (including smashed up egg shells), but they’re not so keen on citrus, onion, garlic, meat, or dairy products. Meat and dairy products stink, too.

Whatever they’re fed, it’s best if it’s chopped up a bit before being added to the bin. Worms prefer food that’s already beginning to soften and rot, so I store scraps in a plastic container for a few days before feeding. Covering the food with a little soil helps avoid fruit flies and smells. I’ve noticed a few small critters besides worms in my worm bins, but none seem to cause problems. Just a sign of a healthy little ecosystem, I expect.

Although worms can escape pretty easily, they won’t try to unless conditions (temperature, moisture, food) in the bin are wrong. See the links below for information on ideal conditions.

After several months of adding food scraps and soil, and carefully avoiding over feeding, the top bin will be heading towards full. I’ll empty the bottom bin (nice new soil for the garden!), put in some new bedding, and place it on top of the farm. Then keep on repeating that cycle.

More information

Wikipedia: Vermicompost – Troubleshooting
Cheap and Easy Worm Bin!
Red Worm Composting: Getting Started
Freecycle (a good place to look for tiger worms and old plastic bins)

Question by experincso: Can I use oatmeal for wax worm bedding?
I have 1000 wax worms that I want to breed and I heard you need to use bran, honey, and glycerin for the bedding but I want to use oatmeal since I have that around the house and I’m not sure if it will work so please answer fast.

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