Sounds like you are on the right track. I use peat for my bedding, but I know others use newspaper. (Peat is not the environmentally best option.) Keep putting some kitchen scraps so they can begin to decompose and the worms will go after them. Keep your bin damp but not overly wet, and it can become too wet if you put in more food than they can consume. My rule of thumb is that if the bin does not smell bad, all is well.

I think if you watched your worms for a few minutes, you would find they would move down away from the light. I don't think they are sick.

If you want to read more about keeping worms, get or borrow from the library Mary Appelhof's book Worms Eat My Garbage. But it sounds to me like you are on the right track, but you are right, it's not an instant gratification deal.

Just remembered, I think I've read that its good to throw in a handful of garden soil. Maybe it's beneficial bacteria, grit, or what I don't know. Maybe others here can correct me if I'm wrong on that.

Have fun with your new friends.

Soil is used by a worm for grit. Worms have no teeth. They have a gizzard where their food and grit are mixed to digest the food. I don't put soil in my bin(s). I mix crushed eggshell in their bedding. This gives them grit and it also supplies them calcium to help support egg development.

Jen, worms can process about half their weight in food each day. But if you think about it a coffee cup full of worms won't have a lot of worms by weight. Call it maybe 5 or 6 ounces at the most? So that means that until they start multiplying they'll only be able to get through about 3 ounces of food in a day.

I think you're on the right track; it'll just take a little time for them to get up to speed. Under the best possible conditions a worm population will double about every 6 weeks, give or take - and of course it takes some time after they hatch for them to gain weight and really get efficient at feeding. So it'll likely be three months or so before you have enough worms to process significant amounts of food. If you want to quick-start your bin, you might consider buying a pound or so of worms.

Or just wait. They'll work it out for you. :)

--Paul

It's working. Thanks for the reassurance.

I fed them some apples that had been frozen and thawed and they were gone in a couple of days. I've also noticed that the other things I put in there are gone. It smells a bit like dirt but nothing bad. They've spread out to cover the whole of the bottom and they appear to be quite happy and busily composting.

Thanks again for the reassurance!