I stir my red ones occasionally to take a head count. Others here may say not to do it. I don't know about nightcrawlers, though. If you stir, dip in from the side with a shovel and lift up, thereby reducing injuries.

Thanks socks I used my hand an they were still doing their thing.

Great! Actually "stir" wasn't a good choice of words. I just lift up here and there for a look, usually when I add scraps. They are always clumped around a pile of kitchen scraps with a few stragglers here and there.

Thanks, for the info! I bought a pound of red worms today.

tey, can I make a suggestion? instead of peat moss, a better alternative is coir peat. Peat moss becomes water repellant when it dries out, coir peat doesn't and in a hot climate, the coir will retain the moisture much better and for longer and will be much easier to re-wet. it's also very neutral in ph. I think you'll find the bin will be much less prone to drying out in summer if you use the coir instead.

I dont know how readily available it is in texas but even just one or two coir bricks reconstituted with water is usually enough for an average sized bin. It doesnt break down so you dont have to keep replacing it and the worms just love it, especially in hot weather to keep them cool.

tey, sorry I shouldnt have called it coir peat - it's usually called "coco peat" or "coir". It's not peat at all it's actually the fibre from coconuts which is shredded up and they usually compress it into small bricks for sale. all you do is put the brick of coir into a bucket of water and let it swell up into loose coir and then use that as the worm bedding. :)

Where do you get coir? I'd like to use it but never find it in the stores.

trancegemini_wa,

Thanks for the suggestion I'll look into buying some. Where are you located at?

Socks, I've seen core on worm sites before. Try Happy D Ranch I think.

Hi Tey, Im in West Oz :)

socks, the coir bricks are pretty readily available over here in the - I guess what you call "big box stores"? If you can't find it in your regular stores, try somewhere that sells hydroponic supplies because it's also used as a soil-less growing medium :)