Use a hot glue gun to hold the screen in place. I'm new to worm composting myself and having fun. Good luck!!!

I have no screen anywhere on my Rubbermaids, but plenty of holes. I don't think you need screens. If the bin is not too wet and they have food to eat, why would they leave? It's bright and dry outside those holes, not appealing. I know some people talk here of worm escape, but I've had almost no trouble with that.

Lucky daughter to have a loving mom willing to share time with her. Have fun.

Thank you for your answers. Tomorrow the worms should be here and my bin is all ready for them. As well as my doughter-Sophia. I am a staying home mom ( since last week!) and I sure enjoy time with my child.
I used a hot glue to glue the screen...I think I have drilled kinda big holes. We will see how the composting goes. I will start my garden in 4-6 weeks ( we live in Florida) and I hope to have some good stuff from the worms by then. I am sure Sophia will bring pictures or something else about our "wormy "summer project for her first show and tell at preschool.She is very exited about worms beeing here tomorrow.

thanks
kasia

You wont have much vc in 4/6 weeks. Worms take a little while to get started (a week or so) and at first they don't eat half their wait in food. What have you got in the bed for bedding? They do well on newspaper strips, small pieces of cardboard, a few rotten leaves, 1 handfull of garden dirt, and a little bit of blended up cantalope or something sweet like that on top of the bedding and covered with a little newspaper to keep the flys and bugs off of it will do to get them started. Don't leave any food for the worms out where flys and bugs can lay eggs on it as you will be raising maggots instead of worms if you do. You and the daughter are going to want to feed them every day and you will probably kill them if you don't resist the need to feed the new "pets". If they have good bedding they can go without "food" for weeks without any problem. Make sure that the have eaten all of what you gave them last time before you give them any more! Best to even give them a day after they finish it before you feed them again. Newbies always kill their first batch, mabye you can be the first to keep them alive. You will also be wanting to see them often, keep the room in dim light when you want to see them and you will be able to get a good look without disturbing them to much. If the worms want to leave they will go right through that screen as they can stretch out and get very thin. Keep the bin in a lighted area for a day or so to keep them in the bedding till they get used to their new home. Good luck!

Thank you wifke for your letter. I do have strips of moist newspaper and some moist cardboard in our bin. The worms didn't make to our house today.Hope to see them tomorrow. I have bought a cantaloupe last weekend and today it's cut in small chunks ready to be served for the "new friends". I think about keeping the bin in my laundry room since we live in Florida and porch or garage get very hot. ALso maybe there will be less chance for bugs to get to the bin. Do you think that keeping small light above worm bin will help them not to go anywhere? I am thinking of something like a desk light. I hope not to kill the"pets".I have done lots of reading at this forum and I will folow the book "Worms eat my garbage." Hoping for good...

kasia and sophia

Most any kind of light will work for the first few days. I would blend up some of the cantalope for them to start on. Once you see them eating they should be fine.

I'm in central FL and our bin is outdoors. Where did you order your worms from? There is a place in Sorrento FL that sells worms. We got ours from them at the Reddingers Flea market near Mount Dora.

Anyway, our bin is really big and wood so being outdoors is probably not as difficult for it. A small rubermaid bin outdoors in FL would probably need regular ice bottles changed out to keep em happy enough to breed.

As for placing the food on top and only covering with a sheet of newspaper. I think I would still recomend burying the food in the bedding since fruit flys can manage to get under some newsprint.

We feed our worms by making a trench in one end of the bin adding the food and putting the bedding back over the food. Then we check every other day to see when the food is gone. Once the food is gone, we make a trench in the other end of the bin to put the next feeding.

Other people I've heard making holes for feeding smaller amounts and move the holes clockwise around the bin to keep from feeding the same spot too often.

If the bedding gets coated with too much smelly food liquids it could attract pests too so you might occasionally and some fresh bedding on top if you start to notice fruit flys or anything.

Once your worms get settled in (it helps to place them in the new bin with the bedding that came with them so they can move into the new bedding at their own pace.) An occasional sprinkling of corm meal is said to be a real treat for them.

Well, the worms supposed to be here last week and still waiting.
I ordered worms from WormsWrangler.com & Howdy7's Store. I just left third message on their answering machine and if I don't hear form them soon I will cancel order thru my credit card. The worms should be "next day delivery " and it's a week we are waiting for them.
The bin is in my laundry room and waiting.I think I will keep it there for a while and if there are any smells or bugs I will ship it to my husband's garage or back porch.
Did you have a good luck with the company you had ordered worms from? Just in case I have to place another order...
What part of FL do you live? I am 1 hour south of Orlando and I don't think there are any local gardening/vermi club.

kasia

Kasia,
I actually bought and picked up my worms directly when I visited wonder worm's stall at the flea market. Here is their web site
http://www.ourvitalearth.com/
They are around an hour North of Orlando. I believe they ship via USPS priority mail so they would probably ship early in the week so you would get it before the next weekend. They ship 2lbs of worms in a box that is probably more than 6" by 6" by 6" along with the bedding which is shredded paper and cardboard so they transition well into the new bedding.

The worms made it here last Wednesday. So it's almost a week and looks like they are happy. Sophia comes with all bunch of names for them and enjoys them too. The bin is in my laundry room, feels like it's moist inside the bin but not very wet.The worms are all over the food and there is plenty of little white something.Could those be eggs? I can't stop myself from not opening the bin at least once a day. We will post soon if there are any changes in our bin.

thank you for support
Kasia and Sophia