If I order, I am concerned that the worms will be outside in the cold freezing mailbox. Will they survive?
356414
Well it depends who you are ordering from. If it is rainbow mealworm company then all of them are most likely to survive
356415
That's what I worried about too! I don't know what to tell you, other than ours were dead. They were really nice worms too. Fat, long & shiny. I was home when they got delivered.
356416
You can have them hold the package at the Post Office do to the weather and you just pick it up. My mailman will not leave them unless someone is home to get the box.
356417
ive had them shipped in colder weather....they will put in a heat pack and these are overnighted I believe... if your going to be home to receive it from the carrier id say they should be fine ..but I wouldn't leave them out in a mail box all day till you get home from work..
727622
Thank you for taking time to answer. If I froze them I would definitely wrap them tightly in plastic first. I freeze all my other flours and meals so they won't get weevils. But I will take this into consideration.
1941521
It will definitely but i think it might tale ages. If worming up the food is 30-40 min. Frozen food will take probably 1.5 hour.
717656
It should not be an issue. I am not sure what the cold rating is. It gets down to -20f here and they work fine.
1136944
You should just keep them in the fridge. If you have a large amount, layer them with newspaper and small amounts of worm food. These people are very good no noticeable dead worms even when a few are expected.
260481
I think the typical "cool dry place" out of the sun would be best. I would apply them as soon as possible to avoid them going bad. I don't know that cold will affect them. "it is likely that extremes of cold, drying or high summer temperatures would kill off nematodes..." Avoid extremes. How to apply? That was annoying and messy. If I recall, it said to mix the stuff with some water and soil, then spread after the sun has gone down. That would give the nematodes time to dig info the soil before the suns comes back up. The directions were on the container. The real question is - did it work? I'd have to say yes. We've had grubs outside our yard and found the occasional grub in the yard. Significantly less of an issue than before. I'd like to think they worked. Without some sort of test, there's no real telling. A lack of grubs, no an elimination of grubs is good enough for me. Another thing we did was buy fishing worms and applied them to the soil. Here in Arizona, the worms are, pathetic. Since then, we've had worms in our yard and they've been healthier looking than the scraggly things that we used to find. Terrible soil here in Arizona.
214939
Terri, I would send them back they shouldn't have arrived that way. To prevent in the future you can keep them frozen until you eat them? I buy them for my birds so the worms and bugs won't bother them. I wouldn't eat them.
28787
My worms arrived in a small box with some slightly moist bedding. Having lived in Vegas, I understand your concerns. They should be okay for a few hours, just be sure to get them into fresh, moist bedding in a cool location right away.
854642
the box is pretty well marked and the worms are in bedding inside a nylon kinda bag (nice) and then in a box. the worms come with instructions on how to care for them as soon as you get em. they thrive nicely but they WILL get out of the bed you put em in. not bad though cause more worms means more worms in the long run.
194595
when you buy them in the store....they are not cold. Just on a shelf. I don't know why you would receive them frozen. Hmmm
235513
Perfectly safe. These aren't the same types of worms that infect your animals. They only go after the insects in your soil.
720365
I'm not sure what time my plants were delivered, but they survived the temps ok. It's prob in the low 40s-upper 30s in the hall where my mail gets dropped. Certainly won't be great for them if they're left out on a cold doorstep or mailbox for hours, but mine seem just fine.
3697
Hi, Amy. Good luck with the dried meal worms. We can't keep enough in he feeder during the cold months into early spring. We have noticed a slow down, but they still disappear in a couple of days. If you are a little more adventerous, try LIVE meal worms. The birds go nuts for these. The drawback is that they have to be kept in the fridge but if you're OK with that...a tupperware container with strips of news paper and some holes in the lid works just great. Bluebirds are our biggest consumers but other birds frequently stop by for a snack. Best wishes and good luck!!! alan in MA
2260488
We had the opposite problem. We ordered our worms in the dead of winter in upstate ny. They were dropped off on our front porch for hours before we noticed them. The package clearly said "perishable" and "live" yet the PO still left them to freeze, which they did. Out of 200 we probably had 50 still alive. If you need them in the summer go to Walmart. But if it is a cooler season for you then these are nice worms that come nicely packaged. Price wise walmart worms are 30 for $3ish. We supplemented ours with a few containers of walmart worms. As far as we know everyone got along. No worm wars. But many babies. ;-)
735972
I got mine in the winter months and they were packed right and did not freeze even though they were left at my mail box. It was not below zero when they came but it was freezing.
883346
My husband handles this so I asked him. it should not matter. We water the yard where the worms are. Our neighbor uses them too. They seem to work and we had not put any out in awhile but my husband noticed we may have one again so he put the last one out and ordered more.
1851146
Red wrigglers are known as Eisenia Fetida not 100% sure for these ones . As far as I know you can't have them too cold .