Simple question: Are the worms you buy for fish bait okay to feed baby box turtles?

That's where I get mine...I also get red wigglers which are smaller

It seems to be mixed reviews on this...I've heard that fish bait worms are fed less than desirable food as it makes no difference to the fish it's meant for. Of course it makes all the difference to our pets. I purchase my worms from a reptile store and I have been feeding my 2 eastern box turtles and redfoot these worms without any issues. These worms however were meant for fish bait.

I've added a link for you to check out, apparently this worm company located in Toronto, Canada supplies most of North America. There's a short video as well just to show you the process. It looks like it's pretty safe.
http://www.pagonislivebait.com/index.html

By the way, my 5 month old ebt hatching will dive into a large Canadian nightcrawler, and it funny to see the little guy devour a huge worm, but only takes a few bites and refuses to eat the smaller red wrigglers (trout worms). I've heard the smaller red wrigglers secret something which are a turn off for the turtle.

I think I'll start a compost pile in the near future to make things more convenient, have peace of mind and save some money too.

I've looked into this subject as well and found raising practices vary...
There is a wholesaler nightcrawler business out of Yakima, WA that provides night crawlers to much of the Northwest and he keeps them in newspaper and they digest it. That can't be good for turtles!

Something I do that may help: take the store bought worms and put them in potting soil with some organic matter to digest. Give them 2 weeks and that should flush their system and create a much healthier worm for your torts.

The red wigglers smell pretty pungent and my turtles won't eat them either. However, last year I was digging in my horse manure pile and found so many worms, that I started my own little worm farm for the turtles. My red worms don't smell like the ones you buy for bait, but they are the same red wigglers. So I think that whatever "they" raise their red wigglers in probably isn't good for the turtles. I'm not able to do the worm farm for the night crawlers because my weather isn't good for them. They die after only a dy or two.

I have a plastic 55 gallon drum cut in half with small drain holes in the bottom. I put a layer of rocks in the bottom, then I filled it up with decomposed horse manure. I use newspaper, paper towels and kitchen garbage (no meat) to feed the worms. And I have a piece of wood cut to fit, laying on top of the soil. This is placed in shade where no sun ever hits.

Thanks, everyone. I will stay away from the fish bait section. I need to get a good compost pile going. Mine just consists of a mound of grass clippings right now.

I imagine your local bait shops and pet stores probably get their worms from the same places.
If you aren't able to find or produce your own consistantly, store bought worms are certainly better than no worms!

I used to feed bait "night crawlers", but when i started composting the worms came to me.

I get all of mine at the bait store. Never had a problem. It may be that fish aren't picky, and nutrition isn't important for them,but worm raisers have to provide a healthy worm. If the worm isn't healthy, they won't move well, won't reproduce, won't stay alive at the bait shop. Always check them before you leave to make sure that they're alive and well.

You can buy bulk earth worms from uncle Jim's worm farm. They have a pretty good selection.