Review: Worm World

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Small boy was very pleased to receive My Living World Worm World for his sixth birthday, back at the end of June 2021. He’s always loved being in the garden and getting dirty, forever turning over plant pots to see what’s lurking beneath. He was sticking his hands in the soil before he was one and frequently pops out to the patio to eat mint leaves straight off the plants (or indeed rocket when he was three, which seemed a little adventurous in terms of flavour for a toddler, but each to his own).

Where to buy Worm World

We bought Worm World at our local B&M, the packaging is slightly different compared to the same product on Amazon, so maybe they were stocking an older version. Anyway, this Amazon one looks like it’s pretty much the same:

What’s in the box

… and what’s not. Spoiler – there are no worms in the box!

The box contains a clear plastic wormery that needs a little construction, several little bags of coloured sand, a lid and a cover for the wormery, and a booklet telling you all about how to set up your wormery and how to look after the worms.

The box also doesn’t contain any soil, not really unexpected though. I can’t imagine that it would be easy to store and keep moist soil without risking leaks or mould. So if you’re thinking of getting this set but you don’t have access to a garden, make sure you can get some soil somewhere. You don’t need much, maybe 1kg or so, maybe less. You also need to be able to dig up some worms from somewhere.

Getting set up

Because we knew we’d be away for a couple of weeks over the summer and we didn’t want to risk the worms drying out while we were away or to have to find someone to look after them, we waited until early October to get started. Small boy and I read the instructions together and he fitted the feet to the wormery himself.

Then we went hunting in the garden for soil and worms. We followed the instructions and layered the soil and coloured sand so we could see each layer clearly.

Then we went digging for worms. The instructions said we’d need about 15, so it took a little while and several holes in my recently cleared out vegetable patch to find enough. We chose some little skinny short ones and some big long squishy ones. We put the worms onto the surface of the top layer (soil) of the wormery.

It had started to get some condensation on the inside of the plastic, but that was just because the soil was cold and damp I think. It cleared fairly quickly.

Once the worms were settled in, we added some leaves for them to survive on over the coming days and weeks. We had no idea how many they would need or if they would prefer some types over others. So small boy and I had been to the little wood half a mile from home and collected a whole variety of shapes, sizes, dryness, species to try out.

Letting the worms get on with it

It turns out worms are a very low maintenance pet. We sprinkled a bit of water on from time to time and topped up the leaves when they got eaten. The worms definitely liked the little bits of fern but we’re so keen on the waxy laurel leaves. There wasn’t much to sit and watch – they like the dark so when we took the cover off to see them, they would quite quickly recoil away from the light and go deeper into the soil.

However, the layers of coloured sand helped us to see how busy they had been. Even after the first night, there were tunnels appearing that crossed through the layers. We could see the voids next to the tank and sometimes spot worms slithering through them.

By the time they’d been at in their plastic home for about five weeks, the layers were almost completely gone.

Back to the wild

We decided that it was time to let the worms back out into the garden after about six weeks. The booklet that came with the wormery didn’t recommend keeping them in there long term. They just had a little stay in our worm hotel before getting back to the very important job of breaking down all the organic matter in my vegetable patch, ready for planting courgettes and cucumbers next summer.

Conclusion

Small boy loved his wormery. He was very able to set it up almost on his own and to read about the worms and how to look after them. For a family with one parent allergic to furry things (himself) and the other with an aversion to scaly things (me), the worms were an ideal pet – clean, undemanding, low maintenance, and fascinating.

Have you every kept worms or any other unusual creatures? We’re considering the ant farm from the same range, but I think himself might be less happy about small insects escaping and making their permanent home in some nook or cranny of our house.