I would say it sounds like your primary problem is over feeding. The only times I have had a mite problem has been when there was too much food and or too much moisture. Too much food can also create the too much moisture problem.

Now the other thing that is possible could be that the bin heated up. This can be caused by over feeding, especially if you feed certain foods that can "heat up" such as grains (stale bread etc). Also if you mix the food into the bedding, rather then just in pockets, that can add to the heat factor.

Now them clustering on the lid could also be from not letting them settle in for a day or two with a light on. I have "settled" in several shipments now and the last one I received I for some reason went brain dead and skipped the light for the first night. Checked them two days later and I swear the entire pound of worms was attempting escape under the lid. Put a light in the room and kept the lid off and by morning they had all crawled back down, haven't had any escape attempt since.

I would say you probably had more then one issue. I would think the sick worms and mites is from over feeding. The escape attempt is probably from skipping the light and or your bin getting hot.

Take it slower, add food in one or two pockets, then when it is almost gone add another pocket. Soon you will have a better idea of their rate of consumption and can better guage how much food to add and how often.

I could be more specific if I knew how many worms you started with - 1 pound or two pounds? And what size your container is?

Don't worry too much, I think most of us had these problems with our first batches. I still struggle with the mites occasionally.

Kat

thanks for the advice, kat. i'll keep the light on for at least 24 hours to make them settle into the new bedding. i have the light on now and i still have a few in a pocket behind the handle. does that seem strange? plus i'll do as you suggested and add just a small amount of food in a couple of days.

oh, i started with 1 pound of worms and my plastic container is about 18 gallons (and solid blue).

another thought/issue: i hated to admit it before, but some of the newspaper i'm using has color print. the local newspaper here is very, very colorful - so i've avoided it like the plague. instead, i've picked up a bunch of abandoned wall street journals. but these still have some color pages. are there really any newspapers today that don't have some color print? could it be that i'm poisoning the worms with this bedding? could this be making them sick and lumpy (along with the mite infestation)? am i going to have to go on a long quest to find 100% non-color newspaper? oi...

Sounds like you definitely overfed them. The swollen clitellum and lethargy are classic signs of sour crop (protein poisoning caused by overfeeding). It's no wonder they were trying to escape, their home was full of gas.

You know, I think all the hype about vermicomposting has made people think they can buy a pound of worms and expect them to eat all of their kitchen wastes. And really, a pound of worms can't eat very much, nor can they eat it very fast. I think, unless you are planning on buying many thousands of worms, they won't make much of a dent in a family's kitchen scraps.

MargoRed, I am not criticizing you, I just think all the hype is a bit misleading.

I don't think the ink is a problem. I've read that all inks used in NA are soy-based now, so color paper isn't bad for the worms (the slick advertisements will take forever to break down tho, so I wouldn't use those).

I wouldn't expect the sick worms to recover tho, MargoRed. From what I've read, once the worms get sick with Sour Crop, they rarely recover without medicines.

http://www.happydranch.com/87.html
This is a link about mites. Most are not harmful to your worms, but they are usually a sign of bedding problems.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sour Crop is on page 20 I think

No mites are not necessarily a problem, but they do make the worms....uncomfortable, in my opinion. I have observed that during my mite outbreaks that the worms do not surface, the go deep in the bin, where the mites are not present. Then as soon as the mite bloom dissapates they slowly come back to the surface. So for those who surface feed rather then pocket feed the mites forcing the worms away from the food could be problematic. No as a rule the do not harm the worms, but they do change their behavior, and I believe make them flee the surface.

Kat

thanks a lot for the advice. recluse, i definitely don't take offense to your thoughts. you're totally right - after reading a few glowing reports on the wonders of vermicomposting i jumped in head-first expecting to my worm bin to act as a living garbage disposal. now i know different and have definitely learned from my experience.

yep, my worms definitely have sour crop. the mites flourished in my bin's unhealthy environment. they were a symptom, not the main culprit.

i'll be starting a new bin next week. my worms (what's left of them) are pretty much done for. the next time around i will definitely start things off on the right foot. i'll hold off on the food for a few days, then give them just a little to start with, and wait until they've finished that before adding more. thanks for the help, guys. i hope i don't have to learn more valuable lessons the hard way.