Baking soda in worm bins?

[wakeskate420]

Has anyone used a small layer of baking soda under their wheat bran to help cut down on the smell? I'm not sure if it would be toxic to them it not, anyone have any idea?

 

[tlbowling]

Mine don't smell?

 

[sablebeauty]

Mine smell like celery cause I put some in there, lol -- but otherwise don't smell.

 

[T-ReXx]

Baking soda might not be toxic to the worms, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be a very good thing for the geckos you plan to feed the worms too...


If your worm bin smells you're doing something wrong, healthy colonies are odorless.

 

[wakeskate420]

Well I have them in a plastic bin with quick oats for a substrate and carrots and potatoes for moisture. Could it be the frass from the superworms? I don't notice the smell personally, the bin just smells like oats to me, but my parents think my whole room smells because of it. There were some dead, dried up ones in the bin also that I removed, could that be the cause?

 

[fl_orchidslave]

There may be too many veggies, causing a moldy smell. Moms can smell stuff like that It also helps to leave the bin topless for ventilation, so no gasses build up from the vegs.

 

[wakeskate420]

Yeah I did find a couple dried up carrots that were buried under the oats from the worms moving around and eating it, I think I will just completely clean out and replace the oats after the crazy shopping weekend too. Gotta love working retail lol

 

[tlbowling]

Well I think it could be a few things...I dont know how old your oats are, but maybe you need to change the worms bedding, afterall they are defecating in there. Also maybe your veggies are getting old, and stinking up the place, you need to give fresh carrots every 2 or 3 days (if your room temp. isnt too hot, if its hot maybe sooner?) You DONT want them moldy, the worms will eat it, and make your geckos sick. Also maybe you dont have enough ventilation for the worm bin? What kind of bin are you using? Does it have a lid?

 

[Dog Shrink]

I thought you were suppose to use the old fashioned rolled oats not the quick oats. There's other stuff in the quick oats that aren't in the old fashioned oats and when that gets moist it can clump and stink. Might want to give those a bash as well. Mine don't smell either and I use a large cricket keeper with potato, carrot and a wedge of apple changed 3 times a week. I also crush up about a quarter cup of good dog food which helps with gutloading from what my breeder suggested.

 

[UnicornSpirit]

I feel as if oats get smelly fast. I would switch to bran, it doesn't seem to 'spoil' quite like oats do. Not to mention, bran is easier to sift out than oats. I have experimented with baking soda but it doesn't seem to do much and I wasn't sure about my geckos ingesting too much of it from the worms. So I put a thin layer of carbon (the kind you get for fish tank filters) on the bottom before I put the worms and bedding in and it seemed to help!

I don't use the carbon anymore- I just change the bedding more often, maybe once every 2 months or so (depends on the quantity of worms). The frass (bug poop) does build up after a while and can be bad if moisture gets to it.

 

[UnicornSpirit]

Sometimes people just get used to the smell when they live with it. I think any living thing has it's own odor to some extent. Sometimes when my boyfriend visits I like to ask him, "Be honest with me, do you notice any pet odors in my room?". He is truthful lol!

 

[wakeskate420]

I just changed the bedding about one month ago, I am using a three cart sterilite drawer system, it has decent ventilation plus I keep it open about an inch or two for extra vent, I keep fresh carrots in there every couple days. I think I will change the oats out and drill some extra vent holes

 

[roger]

Has anyone used a small layer of baking soda under their wheat bran to help cut down on the smell? I'm not sure if it would be toxic to them it not, anyone have any idea?

can your container breathe ? do u have the container sealed shut?

 

[wakeskate420]

Well I just changed them into a different container that doesn't have a lid so they definitely have enough ventilation now, and I changed the oats also.

 

[tlbowling]

I thought you were suppose to use the old fashioned rolled oats not the quick oats. There's other stuff in the quick oats that aren't in the old fashioned oats and when that gets moist it can clump and stink. Might want to give those a bash as well. Mine don't smell either and I use a large cricket keeper with potato, carrot and a wedge of apple changed 3 times a week. I also crush up about a quarter cup of good dog food which helps with gutloading from what my breeder suggested.

I just read somewhere on this forum that dog food is bad for gutload, something about bacteria? You might want to check further into that? I used to put some dog food in there too until I read that! I'll try to find it and send you the link.

 

[Khrysty]

I've made little baking soda "air fresheners" for my mealworm containers. It helps cut down on the frass smell which is pretty nice. All you need is a toilet paper tube, paper, fabric, and hot glue. PM me if you're interested and I can send you pictures and directions.

Just remember to suspend it ABOVE where your worms can get to otherwise they'll eat it.

 

[tastyworms]

As an aside, smell can be related to the humidity of the room. The greater the humidity, the greater the smell. When I started lowering the humidity in our storage area, the smell diminished greatly.

If you can't change the humidity, you should probably switch to wheat bran so you can sift the bedding frequently. If you've got a good food processor or blender, you might be able to grind up the oats before you put them in so you can filter the worms from the bedding.

Changing bedding every couple of weeks would probably do the trick. Of course, it's always possible your mom is just more sensitive to smells than you...

 

[wakeskate420]

well my room stays around 10-20% humidity and has an average temp of 70. i think it may have just been the frass from the worms that was causing it. thanks for the advice, i think next time i will switch to the wheat bran :main_thumbsup: