I knew about the petpets but forgot about the wearable. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.Thanks for the link. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. HILLARD: For NPR News, I'm Gloria Hillard.Ĭopyright © 2010 NPR. RHYME: Well, when I was a little kid, my mother always told me there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, so I used to get on my bicycle with a shovel and go try and get to the end of the rainbow and I'd dig and never no gold.
And I asked him how he came up with the name Rainbow Mealworms for his business. HILLARD: Fred runs the business with his wife, Betty, who prefers sitting in the main office behind the desk.īETTY RHYME: I love them but I don't go near them. They kind of sound like aerosol spray cans. To get them to hiss you have to rub their stomachs. At adult stage, they're about two inches long with black legs and amber-colored bodies.
Next door is home to thousands of hissing Madagascar cockroaches who seem to be pretty quiet right now. HILLARD: In large troughs, tens of thousands of crickets crawl through what looks like a colony of egg carton. RHYME: All these buildings here are in crickets. HILLARD: Moving outside and down the block, I hear a familiar chirping.
I always have ever since a little kid I like worms. They're raised on whole wheat and cactus. HILLARD: Fred shows me a huge plastic tray with thousands of the wiggly caramel-colored mealworms, his super worms, as he likes to call them. And I'd take them and sell them to a fishing tackle store. RHYME: I grew up in Minnesota and I used to go behind a farmer when he (unintelligible) fields, behind the plow and pick up the worms. HILLARD: And the Madagascar hissing cockroaches, more on those popular reptile treats later because for Fred Rhyme, it all began with worms. He's pointing out the tan cottages that are home to his worms, and I'm thinking, at least they're quiet neighbors. HILLARD: In a baseball hat, Hawaiian shirt and tennis shoes, Worm City's unofficial mayor, Fred Rhyme, is giving me a tour of his makeshift town. The town has grown.įRED RHYME: I keep 120 million worms on hand all the time to ship about 25,000 square feet of worms. Another hand painted sign welcomes newcomers to Worm City, population 90 million. In the middle of the block, a graying wood plank sign advertises Bait & Tackle. GLORIA HILLARD: On the edge of this industrial warehouse neighborhood of Los Angeles, is a block-long street lined with small houses.
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