Worm Biology And Farming Facts For The Beginner

There are about 8000 worms on the planet and most of these live in water with about 2500-3000 being earthworms. They vary from being two or three centimetres long up-to a whopping three metres which is called the Megascolides Australis and is the biggest of its species in the world. Contrary to popular belief if a worm is cut in half it will die and not become two. There are certain earthworms which will eat their own body-weight everyday and the waste of that food (vermicast) is passed through the body every 24 hours. Worms are two-thirds protein which means that in a field of livestock there will be more protein underground in the form of worms and other organism than on the surface. They will only mate with their own species and they are hermaphrodites which means that they can self-fertilise as well. By nature these creatures are quite hardy and if they are living in deep or well mulched soil can survive rather harsh conditions but they will die within two hours under direct exposure to sunlight. This is due to the skin being its lungs so that breathing is only possible if the outer skin surface of is kept moist. Their life expectancy is between two and three years under good conditions. Tiger worms and red-worms are the most commonly used in worm farming as they love rich moist rotting materials.

To be blunt this creature is actually a digestive tube surrounded by a fluid filled body which is, along with its skin, part of its circulatory system. It is made up of between two hundred to four hundred muscular rings which act like a hydrolic drill as it burrows through the earth. Digestion of earthen material which the worm eats takes about 24 hours before the waste is passed through the anus as nitrogen rich castings. The breeding cycle begins at about two or three months and will reach full maturity at about twelve months. Worms will speed up the breeding process in times of extreme weather and will cease breeding in a very hot dry spell. They produce a capsule every week which will hatch up-to twenty young every two or three weeks therefore under good conditions a pair of worms can potentially breed up-to 1500 young in twelve months. A point to keep in mind is that breeding rates vary according to food types so the higher the level of nitrogen in the food then the higher the breeding rate.