Well, I can only tell you about my worms. They ARE Eisenia fetida and none of them have yellow tails! The stripes are bands around the worm that is a lighter red alternating with bands that are a darker red.

Great...

Why is it so hard to find this particular worm without paying 30 bucks for it?

I've been reading around and found this worm classifier which identifies Eisenias through their "different colored tails". I also followed a link from this forum to a tidbit explaining that diet can also lead to different coloration.

I really wish I had a way to figure the species of the worms I captured

According to this picture on the web, these worms with yellow tips are red wigglers

http://www.wormcomposting.ca/images/redworms2.jpg

those in the pic look exactly like the worms I received when I bought EF. I bought 2 batches from different places, and my worms did look different in each batch. Some of mine have more distint stripes than others.

I'm just gonna cross my fingers and hope that the ones I have right now are Eisenia fetida. Upon further inspection, they are incredibly similar to the ones in the picture I put up.

the ones you got from the manure pile are EF [one of their favorite hangouts] - they're are not necessarily very active, and are only "bunched up" under certain conditions, particularly when temps are too low or space is limited .... color variation is common, even in one bin, and some strains don't show the stripes

Bill

I opened up my bag today and found a ton crawling out. Looking inside the back, alot weren't moving, some had the middle of their bodies pinched together for some reason. I wonder why they were all so sluggish, I left them in a bag of manure only for one day.

Anyways,upon further inspection, I'm pretty sure these are Eisenia fetida (just noticed the stripe pattern). Thanks for the help everyone