As some of you already know, most web sites also state that one cannot raise Alabama Jumpers in a controlled environment and have them reproduce. Well it has been over a year now that I have been raising Alabama Jumpers prolifically as well as studying them. These are probably the most fascinating earthworm I have come across to date. Their ability to adapt to different conditions is astonishing!

First to better understand the Alabama Jumpers, one must realize the originated in the tropics where they survive through long periods of drought followed by torrential rainy seasons.

What most are already aware of is that they survived moderate winters in the southern half within the continental USA.

However, only recently I have found they survive much harsher winters and been able to verify this. In fact what makes this even more amazing is the fact that most of the country had record low temperatures this past winter and yet we have located the Alabama Jumper worms as far north as New England this summer!

The areas thus far are in upstate New York as well as in Massachusetts.

What makes the ability to adapt from one extreme to another is not yet known or over how many generations however I have not seen nor heard of any other worm being able to adapt to such muggy, humid, high temperatures to the frigid cold weather.

I do know from a past experiment last winter that the Alabama Jumpers will begin to slow down as their metabolism begins to slow at temperatures in the low to mid fifties.

I am working on another experiment, one which I hope to be able to see how far down under ground the Alabama Jumpers will burrow, perhaps shedding some light on the ability to survive the extreme cold weather in the continental U.S.

The exciting part to all of this now proves that just about anywhere in the continental U.S., avid gardeners with clay or hard packed non producing soils can take advantage of the Alabama Jumpers and the work they perform, revitalizing these types of soils with worm castings and aeration holes due to their burrowing underground.

Below are some newer pictures I have taken recently of the Alabama Jumpers on the Organic Worm Farm, a highly reputable worm business to order worms from.

The problem arose originally with the extremely cold winter across the country this past winter. This sent the Alabama Jumpers grown outside in the fields down deep while also killing off a good number of them. Hence the other farms were left with no Alabama Jumpers to sell.

Before I realized this I sold off a larger portion of my Alabama Jumpers stock than I should have, leaving us short on our breeder supply. Over the past few months we have been breeding and studying ways to increase the growth rate of the Alabama Jumpers in our bins which are in a controlled environment. We are now seeing an increase in the weekly growth rate of 23% to 24%. I am hoping to see this about double in the coming weeks.

So what does this mean for you?

I am currently releasing limited numbers of Alabama Jumpers for sale again for the next few weeks. After this, I hope to be wide open offering unlimited numbers per week.

You can visit our online store to order your Alabama Jumpers today!

Thanks again for your patience,

Bruce Galle

He asked me to look at his pile of donkey manure and inform him of what type of worms he had in the pile.

As he began to scratch off the top layers, worms began appearing. At first there was a good mix of red worms, including European nightcrawlers. Then he scratched off a little more and I jumped to grab some worms. To my complete amazement, here were Alabama Jumpers living naturally in his manure pile.

I was not sure how the Alabama Jumpers would do as a manure worm, especially since they seem to prefer hard packed material.

After examining the pile I noticed the Alabama Jumpers were residing below the top quarter of the manure where over time it had begun to become more compacted.

Well I ran home with my little bag of manure and realized my test was shot out the window. I decided just to setup a little manure pile outside and throw a quarter pound of Alabama Jumpers into it. I then grabbed a number of the small juvenile Alabama Jumpers and headed over to the manure pile.

Once I released the Alabama Jumpers they had all disappeared down into the manure in less than four minutes. They took right to the pile, even the young juvenile worms.

I plan to allow the pile to sit for a week or so before proceeding to scour through the manure to see where we are at. I will take pictures and post them at that time.

I do believe as the manure compacts a bit the Alabama Jumpers will do great as there is plenty of decomposing organic matter for them to eat and the temperature should remain a constant for now as the manure has already gone through its heating up process.

Bruce

I snapped this picture of some Alabama Jumpers at about 5am this morning, showing them on the surface feeding. It is difficult to catch them for as soon as I lift the cover off, they scramble below ground. This time I was quick enough to catch some of them in the act!

One thing to notice is that there are a number of new born Alabama Jumpers also eating on the surface. You can see a few of them towards the center of the picture.

One thing to keep in mind is that Alabama Jumpers do not only feed on the surface as this worm bin also has food on one side of the bin buried below the surface. In short, if there is a food source below the surface, the Alabama Jumpers will munch on it also, converting over to worm castings.

This is one reason the Alabama Jumpers do well for garden composting in the southern half of the United States. They will locate and consume organic matter above and below ground, revitalizing and enriching your soil in your yard and garden areas.

To order Alabama Jumpers or any other of our worm varieties, visit the online worm store at Order Worms.