I do not put holes in the top of my bins. The worms prefer darkness. Also do you have drainage holes? If not and the bin is outdoors, in the rain it will flood.

Thanks for the input! I'm not TOO worried about rain, as I have several covered outdoor spots for it. Also, here in the SF Bay area it almost never rains except in the winter months, mainly late October to mid-March, and it's usually cool enough then that I'd want to cover my bin or bring it indoors in any case.

I hesitate to put drainage holes in this one, since I think that will be an open invitation to ants, and it would make it hard to put it indoors, no? I've heard of people putting worm bins directly in their kitchens, and I can't imagine doing that if it was going to drain on the floor.

I had thought that a bin had to be ventilated. Not so?

Thanks again for the feedback!

I'd use a plastic tote bin with a cover, can be purchased for $4.99 at K-Mart and you simply drill small holes all through the bottom and I put more small holes around the top of the rim and in the cover. You want it opaque because as sqh1 says worms don't like light and I keep mine in my dark basement so the holes aren't an issue for me. Should take like 10 minutes to convert, has handles, and no styrofoam pieces or chips falling off.

Also, understand if you're putting in 10 lbs of food/week in there that when it comes time to collect and start fresh it can weigh over 300 lbs. That's not something I want to try to move in a styrofoam container. Not to say it can't be done, but for $4.99 for a plastic storage bin I think you may find it worth it. You wouldn't need tape, or anything else just the plastic bin, cover, and a drill with a small bit.

Is this going outside? I haven't had luck with the outside thing, I've had to restart twice after losing all my worms when the weather changed unexpectedly or I forgot to bring them inside during a heat wave. I keep mine in my basement now which acts like a temperature buffer. I think outside bins need special provisions or designs though one poster has many blue/red containers in his back yard that are their worm bins. There's no way that will work where I live, but judging by how many the other poster had they were obviously very successful at it.

Yes, the bin must be ventilated. I drill holes in the top of the "sides" for this. If you are using a rubbermaid-type tote and are concerned with the drainage indoors, you can get another tote and leave it intact. Nest your working bin in the solid one, perhaps sitting on a brick or two.

That's a good idea for controlling drainage. It also occurs to me that I could line the bottom of the bin with nylon fly screen to keep out fruit flies. (My wife would not be pleased to have a fruit fly colony in her house.)

Just a couple more issues of concern...

1) Ants. I can see the need for drainage, but it seems that holes in the bin below a protective vaseline barrier are an open invitation to ants. I gather that a lot of people just add dry bedding to soak up excess moisture. Is that not sufficient?

If not, then would a drainage hole plugged with a rubber stopper work? Seems a 1/2" hole with a stopper wouldn't plug like a spigot might, and could be opened at need to get rid of seriously excess liquid.

Or is there some other way to control ants in an indoor bin?

2) Odor. Again, my wife will be none too thrilled with anything that stinks up the house. We don't have a basement, so the only likely site for this bin indoors would be in the heater closet in the front hallway. Any odor problem would be very troublesome there.

Thanks for all the help with my newbie questions so far.

The only reason that a bin would smell would be too much of something, either food or water. I have kept indoor bins and this has been the only time smell has become and issue. Of course too much water or too much food are really the only things that will cause problems with your bin in the first place. These are the two most common causes of various issues - from mites, to smell, to worm deaths etc. In the begining error on the side of caution. Watch and see how quickly food is being processes, you want most of any feeding to be unrecognizable in no more then a couple of days. If you have added food with high moisture content (fruits and veggies) don't add any additional water until this material starts to breakdown, since the plant matter will probably add all the moisture you truely need.

Other then those two things, it is amazing how much the bins DON'T smell.

Kat