Storing Crawlers?

How do you keep crawlers alive for a long time? I get about 1200-1500 Crawlers in the spring but have a hard time keeping them throughout summer. By the end of June they are pretty much Dead. Is there a trick to this?

I use the HABITAT boxes from frabill and their bedding. Important things to keep in mind are temperature, moisture content, not to overcrowd, sort periodically to remove dead ones, change bedding if necessary, and add food if necessary.

I usually only keep a about 400 or so around at at time, so this way might not be practical for you, i guess you would need ten to twelve of these size containers. You probally could make your own containers on a larger scale using some wood and styrofoam sheets if you have a basement or cellar that stays at the proper temperature. I use an old refrigerator or most of the time my basement floor maintains a good temp.

How have you tried in the past? Make sure containers are of a porous material like wood or styrofoam, and aren’t to deep.

Try and find a copy of Fishing Facts magazine’s,
“Lunker Love Nightcrawlers”
I think it is back in print, and will tell you anything you will every need to know about nightcrawlers.
good luck
Jack

I keep 500-1000 crawlers on hand all summer,and the most important thing to remember is to not have the bedding to wet and dont overcrowd,
the cheap beer coolers will hold about 500,
the way I get my bedding to the rite consistency is to fill a 5 gallon bucket 1/2 full of very cold water and add a dechlorinator like De-clor,an aquarium water conditioner, I then start dumping the ground-up newspaper bedding in and pack it down till its saturated with water, I then take it out in hand fulls, and wring out as much water as I can and place it in a Styrofoam cooler and fluff.
once I get the bedding rite I soak a section of newspaper in the water and wring it out, this is to cover the bedding to hold in the moisture,
I then add the crawlers on top of the newspaper and let them crawl in to the bedding on their own, this helps to keep grass and sticks out.
once a week I dump them out on a tarp and take out any dead, soft(dead but just dont know it yet) or broken ones,
they eat the bedding so I will add more at this time if needed,
most of the time you can keep them in the basement, but if it gets real hot out, or your not running the Air Conditioning then keep them in an old fridge,
as for feeding I use the Frabill food and only feed them every other week,

as for getting crawlers, I dont pick them up off the street they never seem to last as long, I get mine on rainy nights when they are out of the holes (not half in. all the tugging can damage them if you pull to hard)
if you do buy them dont waste your money on 1/2 flats go for the full flat, if you take care of them, they will last a long time.

Yep, somewhere in the 400-500 range is real managable. Use the bedding, good water and the food. Change everything out every 2-3 weeks. Keeps them happy. I have a fridge set on a fairly low temp. No problems.

-J.

(QUOTE)as for getting crawlers, I dont pick them up off the street they never seem to last as long,

Why is that I wonder? Think they pick up too many contaminants ? I still collect them off the streets on occassion but haven’t figured out a way to keep them alive for more than a couple of weeks

last year I had someone give me 200 big fat ones , that he said he got out of his yard, so I put them in one of my boxes, and in less than a week they killed all 500 in the box found out later that he was picking them up off the street and his oil stained driveway

I used the Frabill habitat container last year and had good luck with it. I also kept alot more that the 10 – 12 dozen it recommends keeping in it. It kept them alive for close to 2 months. I picked most of them out of the grass, but also grabbed a bunch from our street after heavy rains. I didn’t have any issues with the ones from the street either. You need to make sure you don’t keep any that are broken or stretched too much when you pick them. I kept them in the fridge. Don’t put too much water in the bedding either. Only take out enough crawlers that you plan to use with each trip. Try to keep them cool when your fishing if you want to put them back in the large container after each trip. It seems like it only takes a couple bad crawlers to spoil the whole bunch (just like most things).

I always use a large styrofoam cooler with Frabil bedding. Keep in basement on concrete floor. They live.

I’m no expert and can’t really add anything to the comments here but just so people know even a dummy can do it. I have about 4 dozen in a Frabill foam box in my basement fridge that are still going strong since last Aug. Been more of a fun thing to see if i can keep them alive. Trust me there have been times this winter as I was adding beer etc to the fridge and needed more space, I was wondering why am I doing this.

I had some till January then I needed more room for beer
so I introduced them to a Minnesota winter