I am seriously thinking about starting a small sandworm farm

[Swimmer]

It worked for the Sea Bait guy, because he started the company as the end result of Masters thesis/project in England. He was born in Mass.(Hopkington). The school floated some of the money and he solved his water tempt problem by locating on vacant land around an energy plant next to the ocean. Warmer water was always available. All he had for ponds were cinder block circle with black plastic tarps as liners. He said he made a mistake moving to Maine not realizng how cold the winters become. Had to build a structure with shelved beds made out of 2 x 4's and 2 x 6's again covered in plastic. Sand of course is lined on the bottom and is suctioned out at the end of the growth cycle onto srceens and voila there are your worms. Guy said there was a noticable difference in growth rates when water is warmer. Pete Santini of Fishing Fanatics on the North Shore is close with the owner. I asked him if the worms were the same at ther diggers sold him and he said no difference and the wholesale price to him was the same, so it must be financially feasible to market the worms. Thier being sold up and down the east coast. Your either going to need a structure though or a warm water source I think to be effective in the northeast.

[Mr. Sandman]

I read some of the work he did in England and I think the key to really turning a decent profit is to keep your overhead as low as possible. Heating salt water to grow a worm involves $...waste heat is the key. I think the ideal place to pursue this in a large scale is at the exhaust end of a Nuke Power plant located south of SC. Initially I am not trying to make a profit; I just want to see if I can do it. So I am going to try it on a small scale first and perhaps lease some space in an existing facility that is not being fully used at the moment. This will cost me money. If it looks good I may try to expand it but lets see if I can grow them first. If it looks promising, I know I can get whatever resources I need expand to whatever scale is necessary. So for now I am considering more of a hobby then any kind of business.

It does not look to me like his US commercial expansion dreams have materialized. Several years ago I spoke with him and he was expecting great expansion plans within the next year...that was several years ago. Last year his stuff was hard to get and only a few selected shops had them and they were spotty. A year or so ago I asked him what the problems were and it sounded like $ issues more then anything technical but he was not really clear on that.

I know the worm diggers in Maine don't like the idea of worm farming as they make up to $1000/week digging worms and there are over 1000 lic's issued for worm digging. Then you have the boxers, wholesales, shippers and weed guys too. It is a small industry in Maine and has been for a long time. What really upsets them is the state is helping this guy commercialize the business for a potential of 50 jobs...while putting the diggers out of a job. (NPR did a blurb on this a couple years ago)
The big benefit of farming with warm water over digging is the growth rates are MUCH faster in 65-70 deg water then in the cold Maine waters, also you can feed them optimum growth foods and get them to breed much more frequently.

Lets just see if I can do it as a hobby first.

[Skitterpop]

I received some investment literature from Peter but they only want relatively big money (for me that is) and you have to sign off on a non guaranteed / high risk agreement.

I`ve been watching SeaBait for some years now and they could go big but I cannot afford the initial investment or the risk.

[mikecc]

I tryed them last year and will not go back.
The blood is GREEN the worms are Green.A lot of the tails were broken , put them next to a wild one and you will be shocked.
As long as the wild are available I'll stick with them.
I had to leave my seaworm guy last year (after 20 years) found out he was giving me smaller worms and another shop larger quality.
As soon as I left he was begging and promissed the quality would improve. Told him to take a hike.
The new Guy Quality is better in size and freshness. I was able to lower my prices by 20%

[Joe]

You'll have to change your screen name to "Mr. Sandwormman," of course....

[Skitterpop]

Scumbag salesperson.... "oh , you found out I was screwing you and your customers ....sorry....now that you caught me I promise to do better....F em

[MakoMike]

Sandy,
Just curios as what do they eat?