Red wigglers are more of the type to be adventurous and go explore, where European nightcrawlers are more of the conserved type which likes to stay where they are until it becomes life threatening. If the conditions are different (say lower temperatures or lower moisture content) then this may favor the Nightcrawlers. If it sounds like the red wigglers will always win, that’s not necessarily so. Worms do the clever thing in being able to control their population, which means another limitation for the chances of European night crawlers to proliferate. Having a dominance in red wigglers will also mean a competition in resources. So with more red wigglers around it will lower the chances of European Night crawlers finding their mate to breed. Sure, the European Nightcrawlers will still grow, but worms cannot cross breed and can only breed with their own species. Since red wigglers are much more prolific in reproduction, at room temperature (25☌) you will very quickly have a bin dominated by red wigglers.
They also prefer a cooler temperature range of 15☌- 25☌. It takes an average time of 65 days to reach sexual maturity and even then they only produce 0.28 cocoons per day.
On the other hand, European Nightcrawlers do not grow as rapidly, but is more robust and can adapt to a wider moisture range. Their temperature range is 18☌ – 28☌ and can live up to 5 years. Each cocoon hatches 2.5-3.8 worms (Earthworm Ecology, C.Edwards 2004).
Under optimal conditions for Red wigglers, from the time of birth to sexual maturity ranges from 21-30 days, where then the frequency of depositing a cocoon is 0.35- 1.3 per day. The two type of worms have quite different characteristics in terms of birth cycles, environment adaptability and sexual maturation. This is for the benefit of the European Nightcrawler because they are larger, worth more by the pound and they also breed slower. Having said this, Red wigglers (Eisenia Feotidas) and European Crawlers (Dendrobaenas) are both not native to North America, but the point is they can live happily side by side together.Īlthough they can both co-exist, if you are looking to breed worms, I will suggest you separate them and not breed them together. I’m not going to go into the environmental and ecological risks in detail, but a section mentions that “There is evidence that native earthworm populations can coexist with exotic earthworms and in some instances may have an advantage if the site is not highly disturbed” (James, 1991 Dotson and Kalisz, 1989 Callaham and Blair, 1999 Callaham et. I was reading some research papers the other day about the concerns of the introduction of exotic (foreign) earthworm species into American land. In terms of co-existing alone, the answer is yes. “Can red wigglers and European Crawlers coexist in the same basic bin?” ~ Jim E
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