Worm slime is high in nitrogen and also helps bind soil particles for good soil texture. The Kansas State University Research and Extension service says that earthworms can freeze entirely and be slowly thawed back to life.
Although worms can't survive freezing temperatures, they lay eggs that are encased and protected by very small cocoons. They can survive through winter to emerge as tiny baby worms, once temperatures warm up again.
During winter most worms stay in their burrows, prisoners below soil frozen hard as rock and topped by ice and snow. They are coiled into a slime-coated ball and go into a sleep-like state called estivation, which is similar to hibernation for bears. (The mucous, or slime, keeps the worms from drying out.)
Place the worms in a covered container, taking care to keep the majority of the soil in the worm box. Either take the worms fishing immediately or store them in the refrigerator for up to a week.
The container or bag should then be kept at a cool temperature, around 10degC is ideal, a cool shed or garage is fine, we do not recommend putting them in a refrigerator but if this works for you, don't change.
A 32-ounce container with about 1-2 dozen worms and filled with moist compost should keep the worms healthy and active for about three weeks. Store them out of direct sunlight at a temperature between 50 and 85 degrees.
But if you can't get them fresh, frozen will work, too. Since catalpa worms only come out for a short while during each cycle, freezing them will provide a consistent supply of the fish-catching critters.
Worms need food!
They will eat some of their bedding, but they really love scraps of fruit and vegetables. Worms will eat the parts you won't, like cores and peels. Don't feed them too much or too often at first. A yogurt container full of scraps once a week will be enough.
Worms can live for 4 weeks without fresh food.
These temperatures are also the ideal temperatures for your worms. Which Temperatures are Dangerously Cold? Temperatures below 50° Fahrenheit (10° Celsius) will slow down worm activity. Temperatures below 40° Fahrenheit (4° Celsius) will kill your worms over an extended period.
They might sense something, but it is not painful and does not compromise their well-being." The government called for the study on pain, discomfort and stress in invertebrates to help in the planned revision of Norway's animal protection law.
If an annelid is cut in two, they can regenerate to some degree, and in some species you can even end up with two worms. The common earthworm, however, will only regenerate from the tail end; the head end always dies.
Temperatures below 32℉ are fatal, and will most likely kill off your entire composting community. On the other side of things: Temperatures that exceed 80 degrees are almost as dangerous as freezing temperatures. Red wigglers are not likely to survive above 85 degrees.
The temperature
For optimal performance, the worms and the whole composter ecosystem need a temperature between 15° and 25°C / 59°F and 77°F. Below those temperatures, the ecosystem works at reduced level. Above, it does not work properly and it can even be lethal for the worms above 35°C / 95°F.
Abstract. Low temperatures affect the rate of growth, development and metabolism of parasites and when temperatures fall below 0 degrees C may expose the parasite to the potentially lethal risk of freezing.
Place a cube of frozen bloodworms in a worm feeder cone to help contain the worms and make less of a mess in the aquarium. Other fish keepers prefer to defrost the cubes in a small jar of tank water for a few minutes and then feed the liquid using a pipette or turkey baster.
One of the main reasons why fish like worms is because they're plump, juicy and wriggling. Bass especially want a larger, wriggling target and would hesitate to strike a dead worm over a live one. All the same, dead worms do work for fishing.
Freeze (and then thaw) food.
When food is frozen, the water in each cell expands and breaks the cell wall, which speed up decomposition. Freezing also kills any insect larva that may be in the food.
Almost all worms can regrow their tails if they are amputated, and many earthworms can lose several segments from their head end and they will grow back, the Washington Post reports. For some worms, however, the more segments that are cut off, the less likely they are to be fully regenerated.
85% of the weight of a worm is water and they can loose 70% of their body weight without dying. First aid for a dehydrated worms involves putting them in a glass of water for a few hours, while you rectify the wormery conditions, then put them back in the wormery.
Worms are beneficial for container plants. Red worms or regular earthworms can be used in plant containers (although earthworms should not be used in the vermicomposting bin because they will die). Benefits of keeping worms in plant containers include: Better air circulation.
Worms are ready to breed once they mature from 50 to 90 days. Earthworms are hermaphrodites; they can be male or female (a great advantage!). They can perform both male and female functions and mate every 7 to 10 days. The mating process takes around 24 hours.