I live in the Dallas area and its to hot as well. I would wait to order your worms until the temps are in high 70s or 80s. Mine are kept on a covered porch and they are not liking the heat. I will have to move them in doors soon.

I got mine from Decker worms in Magnolia. I'd wait until it was a little cooler. They were $100 for 5 pounds, included shipping. Never heard of blue worms, usually it's red wigglers that everyone vermicomposts. I probably have his phone #, never mind, it was on my nightstand.
He's a really nice guy and you could probably go pick them up.
They aren't happy right now & I've got them in the coolest part of the yard.
Tally HO!

I've heard from Decker about some Europeans. I called two other guys which should be selling worms and neither returned my calls or emails. There must be a high turn over in suppliers in this business.

I don't think that there's a high turnover, just that they don't ship when the weather is too hot for worms to travel safely through the mail. And I think that they take time off in the hottest part of the year.

Most web sites that advertise worms for sale have a phone number you can call. I tried that just to get some general infomation about raising worms and found all the folks to be very helpful and friendly. One lady even told me that she doesn't ship if the weather report predicts temps above 90 since the box of worms may get even hotter inside. And she told me she enjoyed talking to me and that I could call her anytime. you just can't much better service than that.

I kinda feel like most of these places that raise worms to sell aren't big commercial operations with lots of employees and huge mountains of compost full of billions of worms. Rather they have a couple worm beds in their backyards, and when they get an order for worms, they go out in the morning on a Monday or Tuesday with a little hand shovel and mesh bag and dig up a handful of fresh worms. Then they take it stright to the post office and mail it off. They don't want to take a chance on the worms getting stuck in the post office over a weekend. Every one that I have dealt with has a full replacement guarantee if the worms arrive dead. I've only ordered worms a few times through the mail and have not had to deal with any fatalities yet.

Cheryl

Yeah, Decker is a mom & pop operation. They are the sweetest people on the phone. They do have a website but call him to order, he'll give you a better deal, he can't figure out how to work the website!
Tally HO!

I bought live bait worms and used those in my composting contraptions. I'm probably not the best worm mommy b/c I don't check them everyday. But I try to water them often when it gets hot like now. I honestly probably only water them about once a week during the summer. They still multiply like crazy. I think if your container is large enough, they burrow into the middle where it can stay moist and cooler than the edges.

I have the red wigglers, and they are in my glass shop now, where it is cool!

I never heard of the blue worms- what is this?
Where are they from? Any way we could be introducing something that would erradicate our natives? I know mine are kept in a box, but eventually I would like to put in an outdoor operation, and I would expect some to 'escape'.

If not, then I would like to try them.

Janie

You can also do what I call 'in-place-vermicomposting'.

I put all the veggie scapes, left over rice, beans, old bread, etc. in a container with a lid on the drainboard (I use plastic Swanson gallon ice cream pails that someone gave me) and when it is full dig a hole in the garden and dump them in, cover and tamp down. There is no need to chop the contents up. The earthworms compost it in a matter of days and the soil left is soft and rich.

My dogs never try to dig it up except for one time when I put left over chicken soup in it. So no meat products should be added if you have pets -- just like they tell you about the compost pile.

Happy vermicomposting!

I HAD red wigglers. A handful was given to me but I think they are all gone now. I haven't seen any in my compost pile. I've kind of decided to stick with straight composting anyway.