worms are pretty hardy critters indeed! my regular compost piles get worked every day, using the material from a filled bin to cover each days additions to the 'working bin', which takes about a week to fill then gets turned into the 'fill' bin - working them back and forth like that weekly, there's always worms leapin and hollerin, but they don't seem too unhappy, even when the pile's steaming!

when they get so thick I think I'm shoveling hamburger, I transfer a few wheelbarrow loads of'em to the long-term worm compost where they can happily spend their retirement breeding and eating and turn the compost to castings

Bill

I set up a home-made compost tumbler which, of course, requires heat to cook the compost. To my surprise, when I harvested the compost, there were a few worms in it. I'd always been told that the worms would die in a closed cooking compost tumbler b/c there is no escape from the heat. I guess there are always a few hardy souls.

On the subject of the hardiness of worms, I just finished a batch of aerated worm tea. While cleaning up the equipment, I found a couple of red wigglers that had been thrown into the bucket of water with the compost. Dazed and confused, but still alive.

Chuckiebtoo