On the other hand I seem to remember that worms enjoy a 80%humidity level which is certainly outside of my comfort zone so maybe hydration is completely irrelevant.

My worms are happy in a pretty mucky environment and any pure water (rain) that gets added to my bin quickly becomes less than pure. I don’t see that using distilled water would be of any benefit* or harm to the worms unless they were in a particularly sterile environment. And if they are in a sterile environment then thats more likely to be your problem.

*although de-chlorinating it might be a good plan

You could look at is testing pH level.. also something useful for the science lessons?

It seems like it could be dangerous getting your earth worms near distilled water ( depending on how their skin is structured)…It seems like having liquid high in nutrients on the inside of their skin membrane and very pure water on the other side of the membrane might cause either water to enter the worm or nutrients to leave the worm? Reading your description of the worms “bleeding out” sorta made me think of this… nutrients being sucked out of the worm by the distilled water it was put near.

Btw, about the urban myth I think I read somewhere that for humans at least drinking distilled water doesn’t cause the wrong nutrients to be sucked out of the body as it passes since we have semi-permeable membranes that only allow desired nutrients to pass in the correct direction through.

Why not add a tablepoon of used coffee grinds to each container? Worms love grinds, it will look better than ripped up newspaper, and won’t smell bad.

I don’t think they are crawling out of the bedding looking for food! It is something else, I think! Because they were coming out of the bedding to the top of the cup, I was almost sure it was air they were needing! if there is air holes, it is something else that is making them die.
Maybe it is the Styrofoam!! Are you located in Canada? I could send you a few of the paper cups I use for my worms, If they are still dying, then there is something wrong with your packaging material!
At the Moment I would not be going to the woodworking shop and getting the saw dust, if there is ceder saw dust or any treated wood saw dust this will also kill your worms,
I use composted cow manure and peat moss as my material in the cups, where as the manure is the food source, I soak it bedding over night, then I use it in the cups, it lasts for weeks, again you squeez out most of the water, so the bedding is nice and damp, not wet!
Coconut Coir, is OK, but it dries out alot quicker then the peat/manure material. do you have a farm close to your school, where you could get some nice composted manure?

hope this helps a little.

Also, we refridgerate them for a few days before we have enough to take over to the gas station. How long should they last in a fridge? And should they be crawling out of the bedding to the top of the container?

Thanks again
Chris

I am Bentley’s worm farmer friend that uses the paper hot soup cup for selling my worms to the Fisherman,
I am pretty sure your styrofoam containers are not the problem, these type of containers are used still by almost all bait shops, except myself and a few others using the paper cups
How about air flow, is there air holes in the lid? What are you mixing in with the packaging material as a food source? if any!
Just before you see the worms starting to die, is there an anarobic smell? Like Bentley said, earthy smell is needed! To keep the worms healthy.
Good composted material for the packaging is a great bedding and food source for the worms,in the bait cups, if you try this and they are still dying, It is not the bedding material, you will need to go back to what I said before, (no air) maybe the container is toxic to the worms.

Keep use in the loop!! we will figure this one out!!

Jeff