When worms try to escape it's because they don't like conditions in the bin.

Good bedding is important. I use shredded newspaper, torn up corrugated cardboard, and dry leaves that have been soaked in water.

Marshall

HI i have been keeping worms for five years now and i havent closed the light since. i have anywhere from 10 to 15 bins at any givin time in a room (about 3000 worms per bin) . even if conditions are right you can never be sure that the worms are going to stay in the bin. fresh compost takes a few days of getting used to by worms . if you have a coffee grinder you can put a couple of eggshells and grind them to powder, then take a couple of pinches of the shells and sprinkle them around the top of your bin( just a couple of pinches) this will help regulate the ph balance of the acidic compost and your worms should calm down. And a thing that works well for me is that after putting worms into a new bedding i always wait 24 hours befor feeding so they eat at the bedding a bit and get aclimated to it at the same time. hope it helps you out.

I would put in some more friendly bedding. I put in some organic home made compost with the news paper and card baord. THey really like old wet cardbaord. having some soil in there helps. Where they came from probably had compost, soil or at least worm castings all over, so the new moist news print might seem like a foriegn place to them. you could put soil or compost in just half of your worm bin and see if they like it. Egg shells crushed up very fine and boil some leaves and put them in there too. News paper or any thing natural is hard to break down with out any soil in it or with out much worm castings in there. Once the soil is mixed in with paper, cardbaord or leaves ist will start to break down and end up as food stuff for the creatures in the bin and the worms too. The creatures are bacteria and stuff we cannot see. Newly wet news print is not food instantly, it is only a place to hide for now. BUt in time it will break down and get slimey or decompose and become food. Good luck BIll C

It can be difficult sometimes getting worms to settle in to a new, somewhat sterile environment. Bill is correct in that adding some soil or more friendly material like compost or aged manure can help them settle in. Another thing to try is to buy a can of pumpkin (same as used for pie filling) and adding a few dollups - pumpkin is favored and they will be attracted to it and the processing will create the microbe environment they desire.

If you have an old flowerpot from last year with old potting soil in it, dump it into your bin. Not sandy soil, though. Only peaty stuff. Used coffee grounds and a little corn meal are nice enticements, too. And I agree that cardboard is better than newspaper -- or at least part cardboard.

Here is a link that might be useful: my website

Thanks so much for all the suggestions! I prepared new bedding yesterday. This time I soaked shredded newspaper, cut up cardboard, and dead leaves in water, then squeezed it and mashed it up a bit before putting it into the box. (So sad to see some dead worms in the old pile when I was transferring them.) I don't know if the worms will like it more, but it LOOKS more like a place worms would hide in. The box is still uncovered under a florescent lamp, and I'll probably keep it uncovered for another week before I move it to a dark spot ... hope everything goes well.

Your worms are probably just wondering where their home went. One day they are in a bed they are used to and happy with and the next they are in one they don't like and start crawling out to find their old home. Always works better to try to find out what they are being raised in and try to give them something sililar in their new bed and then gradually change it to what you want and hope they don't notice. If you woke up somewhere else in the morning you might consider walking outside to see where you are at also!