I think something like this happened to someone else on this forum. Several people replied to thier questions--it seems putting the worms under the sink can be a big mistake. It is too hot for them there. The hot water pipes are a problem. If you have a dishwasher next to the sink that would make it even worse.

I am enjoying my worm farm. I hope you try again.
Audrey

20 oz Pepsi bottles are not worm bins. I am not surprised your worms died. If you want to keep worms, do some reading on forums like this one or give it away.

Marshall

If you really want to start up with worms, get Mary Appelhof's book Worms Eat My Garbage. That'll get you going!

I don't know why your worms died. A Pepsi bottle is very small, and if the lettuce was fresh, probably it didn't provide any food for them, maybe it was too wet. Are there cleaning products under the sink? Maybe some fumes or something.

Don't give up...

Thanks for your responses...except Marshall, who was kind of hard on me, newbie that I am...I would expect the person setting these things up at the farmers market would know what they were doing, so I trusted their wisdom, clearly a mistake. I have also read that they work well under sinks, but I guess that was wrong too. I don't really have a cool place to keep them...I live in an apartment, so it's either warm inside or out (summer) or cold (winter) outside. Guess it's not going to work for me. :-( Oh well.

Dont give up!!!
Im new too and ive made mistakes and I plan to make more.

I would have assumed the same thing as you if I went somewhere and they had someone doing pepsi bottle bins.
I think the person doing it probably had good intentions though and that there was no harm meant.

I think (IMHO) if the pepsi bottle was really watched and monitored then it would work if it had a very few worms and only for a short period of time.
I also read that keeping bins under the sink is ok but it may need to be larger cause being so small it would heat up faster and dry up faster.

Small bins require you to be more accurate,larger bins are more forgiving.

Is there any way you can move your pots/pans or something from another cupboard to under the sink and put your bin in that space Or maybe under a coffee table.
Maybe keep it out on the balcony and insulate it in the winter?

I have both of my bins in my kitchen right now.

That 20 oz. bottle is a 1 worm display case, nothing more!

"She had us layer shredded wrung-out damp newspaper, then some chopped lettuce, more newspaper, more lettuce, etc. ending with newspaper. Then dropped in ten worms, then covered with a black mesh material rubber banded on, and brown paper wrapped around the sides of the bottle for darkness."
I am going to guess and say there was too little air, too much moisture and, perhaps, the bottle/bin heated up.
I would be more happy with a start-up bin made with a 3 gallon rubbermaid type tote, a half pound of worms and shredded dampened paper.
Most definitely I would try to find this person and relate my problems. Most likely, if this person is trying to promote vermicomposting, they would be good with knowing your problems.

I would also say don't give up Violet. A 20oz container is going to change much more and need to be checked more than a Rubber Maid container ( the size you throw laundry in ).

You said you live in an Apt. If you have a linen closet where a rubber made container would fit on the floor of it I would suggest that location. Both vibrations and heat ( temp fluctuations ) tend to stress out worms and so if you have a garbage disposal and put the worms under the sink they are probaly not going to like it, but even with no disposal the heat build up under a sink would be tough on them. A dry linen closet should be much more sustainable. Try and keep at least a 3 " layer of shredded newspaper or coregated over the working worms to keep fruit flies etc .. out.

One more suggestion, I would add a handfull of outside soil from anywhere around your APT where something is growing to add some of the good micro organisims that will help your worms. Make sure to poke some holes in the top ( for some air ) and the bottom ( so that any excess moisture can get out ) and place a 'tray' the size of the container underneath to catch any excess moisture from the breakdown of fruit, veggie scraps etc ...

HTH and Good Luck