Worms in a new environment sometimes do try to escape. It takes a while to get used to new bedding. Some people say to leave the lights on in the area of the bin so that they stay down in the bedding to avoid the light. Make sure that the bin isn't too wet as that will cause worms to climb out so they don't drown.

Air is a good thing so if you don't have air holes around the bin, definitely keeling the lid off will help.

A lid is not necessary (unless there are pets trying to play in the bin or something), many of us just lay cardboard or paper over the bedding.

As to them being a bit sluggish, I've noticed my bin worms are pretty easy to handle (I've seen disturbed wild worms bounce around like they were on a griddle so that I couldn't even grab em.) Perhaps it is something to do with bin worms being protected from predators and not needing to bounce away from birds and such. Perhaps that trait has been bred out of them in captivity.

Yes I had similar experience when starting out. I would hazard a question about how many worms did you receive in the mail, 250, 500, 1000? Assuming you already have holes made in the plastic tub, and they are adjusting by crawling along the sides and under the lip of the tub and cover meet, it may also be too much food in there initially. Start with small amount of food to see how long it takes them to make it disappear into worm poop. I found newspaper handripped into strips and crumbled so that they aren't flat works cheaply for bedding material too. BTW you will probably get little mites in the bin too. They will congregate if your bin starts to get too moist. I usually wipe them up with a damp tissue and toss the mites out. Enjoy the worms and vermicomposting. Its great for your flowers and vegetables.

Those disturbed wild worms bouncing around like they were on a griddle were probably encs or "african night crawlers", or they are also called Alabama jumpers because that is the way they act all the time. EFs or red wigglers are more calmer than those worms. Use a lot of newspaper strips and they will eat them if they need food. You should not feed them much at all. Don't think of them as pets that need to be fed all the time but as spoiled animals that need to finish what they had for supper before they get any more.

Worms always try to escape when put into a new environment. Leave the lid off and the light on for a few days until they get used to their new home.

Deanna