Worm Bin Heater Users

Comment by The Happy Cat Worm Farm =^..^= on October 4, 2009 at 6:51pm

I remove about 1/3 bedding an worms to one side of my worm bins then i put in rice mixed with goat poop newspaper cover with vermicompost or pea moss and water it will start to compost and heat up it gets about 100 degrees in this small space an it gets 80 to 90 degrees in the rest of the bin my bins are 3X3 wooden bins. To keep the reaction going i add more rice an pea moss until it reaches the top of the bin before it cools i start the same thing on the other side then i take the compost out or mix it in as new bedding. =^..^=

Comment by Eve on October 4, 2009 at 8:00pm

Yes that would be an excellent way to warm up a bin if you have enough room for the worms to get away from the heat if it gets too hot.

Comment by Eve on December 24, 2009 at 8:02am

I have found another heater idea.

Searching for something to heat my meal worm farm i found a small 4 watt heater for plastic cricket keepers. So they can be placed on a plastic worm bin without worrying about melting the bin.

The heater is a Repti Therm Mini from Zoo Med. $12.95 US

The heater itself is small just a 4 by 7 black plastic strip with a sticky back. They recommended that if you place it under the worm farm to place it to one side so if it gets too hot the worms can move to the other side of the container.

In any case it is just barely warm. I have to place my fingers on it to feel the heat. But the heat is slowly heating the bin and seems to be keeping a small section of the bin warm without drying out the area.

Comment by The Happy Cat Worm Farm =^..^= on February 20, 2010 at 8:38pm

well all i got my light bulb heaters working an so far they are keep my 3X3X3 bins at 74.5 degrees i am using two 15 watt bulbs per bin. will be posting some pictures soon. =^..^=

Comment by Eve on February 25, 2010 at 8:09pm

Just a little added note about the Repti Therm Mini heater. I was in the pet shop today and noticed that the prices on everything has really jumped so i checked out the heaters and they have gone up 10 bucks. It no longer looks like a good option at $23 per.

Comment by Eve on May 26, 2010 at 7:17pm

I built mine in April. So its never too early.
BTW mine is still plugged in. It just doesn't have as many layers of insulation as it had in the dead of winter. It just isn't staying warm for that long. Leaves are on the trees but its still dipping into the low 30's at night.

Sure am getting tired of having to cover the plants every night.

Comment by Eve on June 7, 2010 at 9:39am

Yes manure works very well. I would use it but i don't have a source for the fresh stuff. And it would have to be kept outside. If i put it outside the bears would hang about to dig up the worms. I don't want to put out anything that would keep those monsters around. It was bad enough to have one chase my car last winter.

Comment by Don Dillon on October 29, 2010 at 6:16am

Just bought and received a soil heating cable from ACF Greenhouse supplies. arrived in 2 days ;)

3034120 $30.95 1 24' Soil Heating Cable

It looks perfect for my 24" x 24" FT bin. cable very flexible, and looks like plenty to keep do a nice coverage.

I plan on just laying it out across the top layer of moist bedding, then covering with about 12 to 18 inches if dry leaves, paper, straw, etc. Keep feeding through the winter, probably just feeding right on top of the cable. If the bin stay fairly active through the winter, then I may have to reposition it in a couple of month... no big thing ;)

I let ya know how it turns out.

Comment by Sue on November 11, 2010 at 9:50pm

Finished it this pm and it's in the FT now. I set the thermostat at 70F. Don't want to go too high and cook the poor fellas.
It will be hard to muck around in it because of the grating. Just making sure the cables won't be touching.

Comment by Andrew from California on November 12, 2010 at 9:19am

Looks good, Sue. Is the end of the thermostat's probe on the left side below the 2nd cross bar? Is it just part of the cable or is there a metal bit?

Comment

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next ›
• Page