Is the Bedding too wet?

Hi florida mimi; Is it a OSCR or OSCR Jr. In either case use full sheets of news paper over the bottom holes to keep the worms into the bin. A single thickness will work and the worms and microbs will break it down slowly and liquids can drain out and air can get in.

larry

It's the OSCR Jr. Since the mother load hasn't arrived yet, I'll pull the bedding out and put the newspaper down. I did the bedding exactly as posted. I put about an inch of water in a bucket and then placed the shreaded newspaper in... squeezed the beejeebers out of it so it felt like a wrung out sponge.. I tried to even stay on the dry side.

Hi All! The trick to bedding dampness is this. If when you touch a worm and it is not damp and slippery its to dry. If the bedding when sqeezed yields more than three of four drops its getting on the wet side. 70%-90% water content is what you are looking for. Most worms will live in this amount of moisture. Worms are like people each has his/her own comfort zone.

larry

I'd also like to throw in the possibility that the worms you bought, ( I don't know what Fish N Franks is.) if it's a bait shop. There might be a big chance that the worms you bought were NOT Red Worms. My local Bait shop sells regular old Canadian earthworms under the name Red Wigglers... ( learned that the hard way.) If they happen to be Night-Crawlers, They will not stay in your bin!

The Red Wigglers I bought at Fish'n Franks are legit. I asked him where he got his and it's a Florida Worm Farm that I had researched.
On a side note, when I went to the bin to add the newspaper, there were 9 suicides surrounding the bin. It looks like they crawled out the bottom holes of the holding bin and then up the side of the collection bin and out the air flow holes.. since I added the newspaper bottom this morning there hasn't been any more escapees. Thank you all again, for your help! I'm having a lot of fun with my bin! My DH thinks I'm going crazy.. but since we started hardcore recycling and composting we're down to about a bag of trash a week!!!

There are some types of composting worms that are more prone to escaping than others. I think the african nightcrawlers are one of em, they are also often knows as red wrigglers and are the ones that may bounce around like crazy when disturbed. Some people have to use very bright lights to keep them in the bin.

Anyway, most worms will stick around once they get used to their new home.
I've found it often helps (if your bin has the space for it) to put the new worms into the new bin by simply opening up the box and laying it into a hole in the bedding in the new bin. That way the worms can move out of the bedding they are used to at their own pace. This only really worms if they came in paper/cardboard packaging along with bedding. I've heard a few horror stories about people shipping the poor worms in a plastic bag or container with almost no bedding. Not a good way to arrive alive.

Here is a link that might be useful: My bin