This is a terrible answer, but they sound fine :). Don't worry about them. If they stink or start to escape, then you'll want to tweek the bin a bit, but otherwise, just try not to feed them more than they can eat. If you're pocket feeding wait to feed them until you see worms in the previous feeding. In a few months you'll really be able to tell they're fine. There will be lots of casting and lots of worms.

Good luck,
Mariann

If there is no smell, that's a very good sign. Are you feeding regularly? Does the food get eaten? 1/2 a pound is not a lot of worms. You might try feeding half the bin at a time (top feeding). You will then be able to see the worms work their way into the new food. When they are active in that food, you can add food to the other end. Keep doing this and you will get a pace, the worms will be happy and start populating your bin with more happy worms. I think the worms born into your bin do even better than the first generation.

MKitten, that it a good answer. I've been pocket feeding but not keeping track of the pockets or on a schedule. I've been looking to see if they still have food, there was a good mold bloom so it looked like they had enough food. Plus their bedding is food so worst thing they can eat the newspaper. SQH1, that's a good idea, I think i'll start feeding on a schedule and keep track of the pockets or top feeding.

Thanks guys,

Too bad the worms can't just give me a thumbs up :)

I keep a list of date, location and type of food.
Handy if you want to find that 1lb of watermelon rinds from 3 weeks ago.
Also can see how much food one is recycling.
Thanks

Don't you just love Mariann's terrible answers?

KellyS

I will repeat what everyone else has said but with the embellishment attained by the unfortunate events of the confluence of bad luck, Murphy's Law, my own moment of carelessness, and the curse of all wormers at one time or another.

If the worms are not happy, they will let you know by either leaving or dying. Hope that they leave before they die. If they die in a big clump in that contained bin, you will carry that experience to your grave, and while you're cleaning up the mess, you'll wish you were in it.

If they leave, you'll just have to pick up little curly, dried up things that look like real skinny worm corpses.

In order to avoid the above, keep em wet, cool, and fed. That's it...,unless avian flu is determined to originate with the worms that birds eat. Then this whole thread could be pretty damned insignificant.

Chuckiebtoo

Chuckiebtoo..I have missed your posts. What's up? I feel the need to send a case of happy spirits, of sorts, to TX....OR I could just throw back a few in your honor. Did something bad happen?

Bad things happen every year at about this time around my house, Susan. For a month or so before the "HOLIDAY SEASON" tra-la-la-la-la, the woman I married not knowing about the holiday mentality embedded in her cosmic being since the Pilgrim days, declares that "we've got to do something with the guest bedroom", or "the carpet in the den needs to be replaced...with tile, AND hardwood", or "this kitchen just WILL NOT DO this year".

Being, in spite of the reputation I've cultured with most of my posts regarding our REAL illegal alien problem, of relatively sound mind and acute realization of the repercussions of arguing with such a woman during her "time of the year", most...no, all...of my time becomes consumed with basically rebuilding my house from within. Again.

Most of these repairs and updates are invisible to the naked eye of an ordinary human being, and even to her until the HOLIDAY SEASON, tra-la-la-la-la, which, coincidently, begins, for her, right after Labor Day which also happens to be the start of football season...as best as I can remember since I'm always too busy with hammers, and saws and stuff to watch anything other than the highlights on ESPN.

Mad! Me? Naw. Bad? Uh-Oh, here she comes.

Chuckiebtoo