Somehow I’ve grown a brown thumb and have been fascinated with growing nightcrawler worms for money. The million-dollar question is the hassle worth the money (if there is money)? Also, how much investment and time does this worm business take right?
Nightcrawler worms can make good money because they create fertilizer, castings, tea, cacoons and you can sell the worms.
Keep reading and I’ll go over in more detail the 4 ways to earn money with nightcrawler worms and what to consider when starting this business. Lastly, I’ll share what nightcrawler worms eat and a way to increase your earnings even more.
4 Different Ways to Get Paid from Nightcrawlers
There are many different ways someone can get paid from Nightcrawlers. The first thing that may come to your mind is selling the nightcrawlers to fishermen.
Sure, this is one way. According to my friend HERE, nightcrawlers sell for around $30-$32 per pound and you’ll sell about 350 to 400 nightcrawlers per pound.
Contrary to popular belief (myself included) selling the nightcrawlers might be the last step. The first way to earn money with a worm business is by selling compost.
Compost is a natural organic fertilizer. This is valuable because chemical fertilizers are not as attractive. Fertilizers are used for growing plants, lawns, vegetables, gardens, and flowers.
Gardening is “only” going to grow in popularity due to the (going green) movement, rising food prices, and the boredom of retired people.
The second way to earn money raising nightcrawler worms is worm castings (A.K.A. worm poop). Turns out worms eat your garbage and poop gold (what’s better than that?). The castings can be sold on their own, even better is to mix their poop into a concoction that easily improves the soil.
According to this HERE, the concoction sells for $25 bucks a gallon.
The third way as I mentioned earlier is to sell the nightcrawler worms directly. Local fishing places could buy the worms, you could sell them direct to consumers and even some pet stores could buy them.
The fourth way is to harvest the cacoons and sell them. Each cacoon may hatch anywhere from 2-7 worms and they are designed to protect the worms as they grow.
You might be getting excited now, but hold on there are some things to consider with this business.
5 Things to Consider When Starting a Worm Business?
The first thing that came to my mind is how much of a pain in the ass this business is to start. The good news is you can actually start a worm business with as little as 100 worms.
It doesn’t take a ton of seed (I mean worm) money to start.
The next thing to consider is where the business will be. According to Kyle HERE, you don’t even need a garage, but it can be done in a closet.
There are different systems to this business, but the first thing to consider is not killing your worms. Just like you don’t want to be too hot or freezing, well worms like nice temperatures.
Worms prefer to be at 15 to 25 degrees Celsius. This is 59 to 77 degrees Farheneight. If it gets too cold they just might freeze to death.
Not killing your worms might just be priority #2. Of course, getting your partner ok with this project just might be priority #1 right?
Also, if you tell people your growing worms and they laugh in your face, you’re going to have to be ok with that.
You might also be thinking that a worm farm is going to stink like shit. The good news is that as long as you don’t overfeed them (some people think it’s a common mistake) your worm farm will not smell because they eat up all your organic garbage.
Plus worm poop doesn’t smell (contrary to what some people think).
Another thing to consider is how this business works. You put worms in a bin and each bin produces money. The more money you want to earn the more bins you will need.
This source HERE says he earns $250 a month for a single bin. You might be skeptical, but there are many ways to earn money with this business.
Also, consider the marijuana business, how much fertilizer they need, and how fast that is growing. There is even a way to rent worms out (believe it or not).
Some businesses suck up your time like the TSA line at an airport. I know you’re insanely busy and might be wondering how much time this business takes.
Kyle says HERE that it takes about an hour total a week to care for the worms, and costs nothing.
What to Feed Your Nightcrawler Worms?
The great thing about nightcrawler worms is they eat a wide variety of stuff. The nerdy term is detritivores and this means they can eat decaying matter. If you have a dead body (I’m joking), a wide variety of items can be fed to them.
There are discarded plant materials, I’m talking about grass clippings. If you drink coffee then the good news is the old grounds can be used as food.
Heck, even old eggshells can be used to keep these critters alive. Another idea that might sound crazy is even feces. Yea, if someone has horses nearby their droppings can be used along with tons of other stuff.
You could even be the hero in the neighborhood picking up ALL the dog poop (You’ll be loved)!
Anything that was once living can be used as food including fruits and vegetables. The real question is what do nightcrawler worms NOT eat?
Food that is highly oily or greasy like meats are not the best for the worms. Dairy products are also not the best choice such as cheese, milk, and butter. Processed foods probably should be passed on. Even yard waste that has been treated with pesticides could be unhealthy.
Basically, the standard American diet might make nightcrawlers unhealthy.
The main thing is to try not to overfeed your pet worms. The previous food you gave them should be mostly gone before you add more.
Conclusion
I hope this post on worm farming with nightcrawlers was “at least” a little helpful. Another side hustle, that I’m a huge fan of is affiliate marketing. Even better, you could do affiliate marketing with a worm-farming business and earn money in BOTH ways.
Document your journey and then promote products you enjoy along the way. I’ve been doing affiliate marketing for over 10 years and I’m giving away a free eBook on ideas that I feel can be very helpful at this link HERE.
Bye for now.