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What Do Red Wigglers Eat?

Writer Ethan Hayes

Red wigglers feed on a myriad of food items, which they can compost.

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This makes them most desirable as they are popular composting organisms for vermiculture.

These wiggly red worms specifically feed on organic matter.

So what you feed them depends on how well they can compost it.

Hence, it is essential to learn about “what do red wigglers eat?”

So you’ll at least know what to put in their worm bins.

To learn more about what they can feed on, we’ll highlight the list of their preferred food items.

Insects, Animals, and Fish

Red wigglers tend to be herbivores, composting certain foods and avoiding others altogether.

That said red wigglers don’t eat meat, insects, maggots, or other worms.

Fruit, Vegetables, and Plants

When you’re breeding dozens of red wigglers in the worm bin, you would want to know what to feed them.

Red wigglers can easily compost certain foods, which are their foods of choice.

That said, red wigglers eat grass, hay, straw, leaves, plant roots, grass clippings, coffee grounds, and coconut coir.

All of these and more provide a great opportunity for red wigglers to perform vermicomposting.

Besides these, red wigglers eat wood chips, peat moss, mold, and bread as well.

As for fruit and veggies choices, red wigglers eat tomatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, bananas, avocado, corn, and cornmeal.

Given their vermicomposting capabilities, red wigglers eat paper, cardboard, hair, egg shells, and dirt.

You can let certain foods rot before offering them to your wiggly buddies.

You can do so by putting such food items in their compost bins.

What red wigglers don’t eat?

Red wigglers enjoy a variety of feedings, including odd things like paper.

However, red wigglers can’t consume certain veggies and fruits.

That said, red wigglers don’t eat pineapple, oranges, cabbage, pine needles, potatoes, rice, or seeds.