Bulk nightcrawlers

Hey guys I’m ordering a flat of night crawlers. I’ve never done this before. I want them to last all summer. Give me you’re tlc tips. What do you feed them? Also what do you store them in once they arrive? Thanks

I try to feed them to the fishes as soon and as fast as I can. Many you tube videos available for your entertainment and education.
Also, this is old but still relevant information.

How many crawlers are in a flat???

I believe it’s 500. Wen I get a 1/2 flat for sturgeon fishing they tell me it’s 250.

Yes it’s 500. How many bags of 5lb bedding do I need for 500 crawlers?

Styrofoam worm farms that fit in a fridge. Don’t overcrowd them. Feed mine worm food and or yellow cornmeal

Agree worm food is all I have used. Never done a full flat however but maybe 100-150 at a time. Pull the dead ones out.

growing up we use the tub out of an old washing machine, put some screen on the bottom of it to keep the crawlers in and let the rain drain out. We buried it on the north side of the house in the shade so they would stay cool and would put an old window screen over the top so they couldn’t all crawl out. The only thing we ever put in it was maple leaves (that’s what we had in the yard) and they loved those things, they didn’t really like oak leaves. We would go out and catch them after a rain and just dump them in there. We fished enough that we didn’t have to pay attention to it but we would dig to the bottom to get our crawlers each time and toss out any dead/sick ones each time. We had free crawlers all summer long and they would make great compost.

I’ve been buying crawlers in bulk for several years now. My biggest issue with keeping them alive is temp control. I’ve kept them in my basement, garage and garage fridge. I’ve never had a great garage fridge the I think the temp varies too much. It is either too cold and I freeze them, or not cold enough and they go bad. I’ve always used the styrofoam worm coolers with bedding. Last summer I was freezing half gallon milk cartons filled with water and changing them every 2 days. This worked well until you forget to change them after 2 days and it is really warm. I’ve bought food for them but not sure it is necessary. Early in the summer, I go through alot of crawlers.

Hey guys thanks for all the replies. I went to scheels and they sold me a couple styrofoam boxes from frabill for keeping worms. Let’s hear you’re opinion on these please? A guy on another forum told me they are notorious for killing worms because you can’t sanitize them.