Is constant humidity necessary to grow up worms?

Model Organism: Worms Methods & Reagents
1

Hi,

I am going to buy some incubators to grow up worms. I am wondering whether constant humidity is required or not.

Thanks very much.

best.

2

Our worm incubators do not have a humidifier, and our lab is in Utah, which has a dry climate. The worms seem to grow fine, although the plates do dry out if you leave them in the incubator for a long time.

3

Hello. Unless you enjoy a mild climate and your humidity remains constant in the lab without intervention, some level of humidity control will help keep your experiments more consistent throughout the seasons. (A consistent but very humid climate may, however, encourage strain cross contamination problems.) Have you checked with the building manager about the HVAC system in your building? If your entire building has some humidity control (our building does) then humidity control on individual incubators may not be worth the extra expense.

4

We routinely store our worm boxes in plastic bags, even for longevity experiments. It works great to prevent plates from drying out and the worms don’t seem to mind in the least.