African Nightcrawlers - Eudrilus Euginae

African Nightcrawlers, scientifically known as "Eudrilus Euginae" are a species of earthworm, and are one of the very few earthworm species that can be used for vermicomposting. They are the largest, and the most voracious of all the composting worms.

They are native to Africa (who would've guessed?) but have been introduced to the United States, so getting your hands on these guys as an American is not too difficult.

African Nightcrawlers are easily identified from other composting worms by a few tell-tale signs;

1) ANCs are quite large. Other composting worms don't reach the same size.

2) ANCs have a uniform purple/brown color without stripes or banding.

3) Their clitellum is much closer to their head than red wigglers or european nightcrawlers.

Here is a medium sized African Nightcrawler (left) next to a large red wiggler (right). Note the color difference, and the placement of the clitellum on the African nightcrawler is closer towards its "head."

I may be the only person to think like this, but when I see a Red Wiggler, I think it's clitellum makes it look like it's wearing a shirt. But with the clitellum higher up, the African Nightcrawler looks like it's wearing a turtle neck.

When you've worked with worms as long as I have you get a little crazy, my apologies!

The major "drawback" of using African Nightcrawlers is their temperature requirements.

Being a tropical worm, they are adapted for warm weather. 75°F to 85°F is their optimal range.

Temperatures below 60°F can harm their productivity, and temperatures below 50°F for prolonged amounts of time can be dangerous for them.

So if you live in a non-tropical climate, African nightcrawlers may not be the best option unless you can keep them warm and toasty all year round.

Since African Nightcrawlers have a lot more muscle to them, they are able to burrow deeper and easier than red wigglers. You can best accommodate them by housing them in a bin that's at least a full foot deep.

For this reason, african nightcrawlers are generally not recommended to use in a CFT as they may roam in the bottom of the cft where the cutting bar is.

Being fed routinely is important for ANCs. My experience is that they will definitely get "hangry."

They are also less forgiving of whacky conditions in the bin - so avoiding mistakes like overfeeding or overwatering that could get your bin out of balance is a higher priority than with red wigglers.

They seem to also have an affinity for some higher carbon foods, such as cardboard and leaves.

So if you're looking to vermicompost to deal with all the cardboard amazon boxes you get, these guys could be a good pick!

In ideal conditions, African Nightcrawlers are said to eat (and poop) about 3x faster than Red Wigglers. This should be comparable to the ANCs eating their own weight and a half in food daily.

Hungry Worms is happy to be offering African Nightcrawlers on our website! Shipped free and guaranteed live. Click on the link below to check them out!