Is there anyone willing to give me their phone number so I could call them with any questions I have as I continue to go through this learning process?

organicapache,
I can't be certain of your exact situation but it could be space, food and moisture related. Most new worm farmers do overfeed and over moisten their worms to start.

It is good that you still have lots of small worms (just make sure you are not mistaking potworms for your redworms. Potworms will be white to translucent while even baby redworms are going to have a pink to red color.)

The link is now gone but I read one guy's description of how he shrank his worms. He essentially caused a population explosion with plenty of feeding and otherwise perfect conditions and then neglected them, the larger worms could not survive in the overcrowded conditions without the overfeeding but the hatchlings adapted to the reduced food supply and overcrowding by staying small. He found that if he took some of those small worms into a separate bin with a good food supply and no overcrowding, they you grow to normal size.

I have not tried his experiment so don't know how reasonable it is.

How big is the container your 500 worms were put in? With the holes in it, and overly wet bedding, you may have lost many of your large worms to escape depending on the location of the bucket. There is also a chance that something about the bedding, food, water or something else may have killed off a large amount of your worms. Chlorinated water is not good for worms. A pesticide covered food item could kill many worms. Over feeding in a small container that retains heat could leave the worms with no safe place to wait out the compost heating process. Bedding that is very different from what the worms are used to often causes them to try to escape before they become comfortable in their new home.

Good luck and tell us what you figure out or ask more question!