Using Worms As a Feeder?

[Sebastian]

I'm just wondering if anyone can give me some input on this idea. Theres a lady one town over from me who is selling a variety of worms for composting. I found their nutritional facts (for red wigglers and earth worms) on a fish board. They seem to be incredibly healthy, with red worms (Eisenia fetida) having
Moisture- 84.8%
Fat- 2.0%
Ash-0.7%
Protein- 10.5%

They are also constantly gutloaded and you can add calcium to their diet easily to increase that. I've been hearing though that red worms have an awful taste that most reptiles dislike. However Night Crawlers, while preferred taste wise, are quite bad at reproducing from what I hear. I live in Canada so I wonder if I couldn't raise the Canadian night crawler...

It was then mentioned briefly that the Albama Jumper (Amynthas gracilis) might be the way to go as they are very similar to night crawlers but are easier to breed and keep. My worry is they are way too big to feed to a skink, though I suppose I could cut them up, i'd just prefer not to. Does anyone know anything about this species?

She also sells European night crawlers.

Can anyone tell me which type of worm would be the best choice? I'm looking to raise them indoors and use them as my skink's main source of food (with crickets, mealies and supers thrown in for a healthy variety).

[Spindown]

dont use red wigglers. They produce a foul smelling bitter taste when stressed, and many animals spit them out and wont eat them.

[Katrina]

If you can get nightcrawlers, definitely feed those - they are great feeders. Red wrigglers, like Sapphire said, aren't a great choice. Unfortunately if you want something easy to raise and good for composting, it's the red wriggler. Nightcrawlers seem much harder to raise - I've researched it but never actually went so far as setting anything up with them.

If any feeder roach varieties are legal there, those would be your best option for healthy feeders that are easy to raise. I wouldn't bother with red wrigglers. If you can figure out how to successfully raise nightcrawlers they would be great but I haven't heard of anyone successfully doing it (and it seems like too much work, from what I've seen). I can buy them fairly cheap for 50 of them, so I just do that rather than bothering trying to raise them. I only feed as treats though and not as a staple protein source.

Good luck!

[Sebastian]

Fair enough, thanks guys. Any info on the Albama jumpers? I've read they are everything hte red wiggler is (easy to breed and easy to keep) but in the form of a night crawler. Which sounds pretty perfect lol. Too perfect! That's why i'd love to know if anyone has had any experience with them.