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50 Cocoon Challenge – Shredded Cardboard

Cardboard-Only 50 Cocoon Challenge Bin

I just wanted to let everyone know that I finally got my ‘50 Cocoon Challenge’ (Cardboard Edition) bin set up on Monday. I won’t say it was easy to track down 50 cocoons for this bin, but the important thing is that I DID manage to do so, and we are now off to the races!

Again, the idea here is to ONLY feed this bin moistened cardboard, and to once again see how long it takes for worms to hatch and, more importantly, reach adulthood. The reason I say it’s not quite as important to monitor hatching times, is simply due to the fact that all these cocoons are likely at different stages of development – it would have been next to impossible to round up 50 brand new worm cocoons unfortunately.

I am also really interested to see how the population of worms develops over time with only cardboard as a food source. Speaking of which, I should mention that the “cardboard” in this case refers to shredded corrugated, and “drink tray” (aka “egg carton”) cardboard – my two favorite types.

I basically filled the bin about half way with the cardboard, then moistened really well (making sure to mix everything up nicely) before adding the cocoons.

As promised, I will also be starting up another 50 Cocoon Challenge bin with only moistened straw – so look for a post about that sometime in the next week or so!

Should be fun!
8)

Written by Bentley on December 3rd, 2009 with 5 comments.
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5 comments

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Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Bobby (customer)
#1. December 3rd, 2009, at 1:10 PM.

I am really looking forward to seeing how this “Challenge” turns out. I have access to lots of corrugated boxes that I can feed my worms.
Thanks for the interesting website

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Bentley
#2. December 4th, 2009, at 3:53 PM.

Thanks Bobby!
8)

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com RIck
#3. December 4th, 2009, at 10:13 PM.

I have been saving up cardboard for months to cut into squares. But my worms aren’t cocooning! Other than that I am good to go.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Christian
#4. December 6th, 2009, at 11:59 PM.

It’ll be great to see how this turns out! The maturation process has been a bit of a mystery to me and now that I have a bin going in my apartment I’m curious about the reproductive rate that I can expect. The more worms the merrier!

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Bentley
#5. December 11th, 2009, at 4:17 AM.

I need to write an update post already – I found hatchlings literally a couple of days after the bin was started!!
I will be curious to see if they reach maturity as fast as those in the “regular” challenge bin (the food waste one I did first)

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